Author: Melanne Verveer

Melanne Verveer served as the first U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women's issues from 2009-2013. She is the executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security.

Another Casualty of Trump’s New Foreign Policy: Women

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For decades, policymakers across political parties understood that political, economic and social progress cannot be achieved by leaving half the population behind. Advancing women’s opportunities, leadership and rights through foreign policy and programs was seen not only as the morally right course, but as an effective strategy for promoting peace and prosperity around the globe.

The first Trump administration, in recognition of these facts, took actions that seemed to belie support for women’s economic empowerment—for example, President Trump signed the bipartisan Women, Peace and Security Act into law in 2017 to advance women’s leadership and protect women in times of conflict.

But Trump’s second administration has taken a sharply different approach, mounting a sustained assault on women’s rights and reversing bipartisan policies his own administration once championed.

The Pentagon Is Ending its Women, Peace and Security Program. America’s Security Will be Impacted.

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Last week, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on social media that he proudly ended the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) program inside the Department of Defense (DOD). He tweeted: “WPS is yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops—distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING.”

This attack on WPS efforts at the DOD undermines the safety and security of America and its troops, at home and abroad.

Seeking Peace: Kristen Bell Opens Up About Her New Off-Screen Role as an Advocate for Women Worldwide

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“We have irrefutable evidence that when women are included, it accelerates peace-building, it improves humanitarian response and it helps the economies of these countries that have been in conflict recover faster. But despite this, less than one percent of international aid to countries in crisis is given to women’s organizations—and I just, I find that kind of unacceptable. I think women are more than one percent of the solution.”