President Trump's second administration has overseen a steep decline in the number of women serving in senior U.S. diplomatic and national security posts and dismantled programs supporting women overseas, including initiatives the president championed during his first term, according to a new report by Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
uncertain
president → oversee → Committee
Commissioned by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the committee's top Democrat, the report describes a systematic reversal of policies Mr. Trump once supported, warning that the changes may be weakening American influence abroad and putting women's lives at risk.
"Supporting women and girls is not separate from advancing American interests — it is how we prevent conflict, strengthen our partners and compete," Shaheen said in a statement to CBS News.
uncertain
Shaheen → commission → News
"This report documents the devastating consequences of the Administration's actions and makes clear the impact on America's national security."
Within the Trump administration, women now hold just 17.4% of Cabinet and Cabinet-level positions, compared with 52% during the Biden administration, according to the report.
uncertain
women → document → report
No women currently serve as active-duty four-star officers.
asserted
women → serve → officers
Women have also lost ground within the senior diplomatic corps.
asserted
Women → lose → corps
Nearly half of Senate-confirmed U.S. ambassadors were women when Mr. Trump took office in 2025, but fewer than 25 diplomatic missions worldwide are currently led by female ambassadors, the analysis found.
asserted
analysis → confirm → ambassadors
(Those figures use different measures and come amid widespread vacancies, with 93 of 196 ambassadorships unfilled, according to the American Foreign Service Association.)
uncertain
ambassadorships → use → Association
Figures in the report also show that women account for just 35, or 17%, of the 206 Trump nominees for State Department positions to date, a figure that was 26% during the same period of the first Trump administration.
asserted
that → show → administration
White House spokesperson Olivia Wales defended the current administration in a statement: "President Trump is a champion for women and moms across this country."
asserted
Trump → defend → country
Mr. Trump's domestic policies, according to a White House official, include signing his "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order, expanding the child tax credit,
and recently standing up the White House Women's Health Task Force to help women receive high-quality healthcare.
uncertain
women → accord → healthcare
Across the current administration, there are many women in senior positions, including Susie Wiles, who is the first female chief of staff in history, as well as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, CDC Director Erica Schwartz, Surgeon General Nicole Saphier and FDA Commissioner Heidi Overton, the official said.
asserted
official → be → Rollins
State Department principal deputy spokeswoman Paloma Chacon also defended the administration's record, saying Mr. Trump had appointed women to senior diplomatic and departmental leadership positions.
asserted
Trump → defend → positions
She said the department had ended what it considers discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices and was prioritizing merit in Foreign Service appointments.
asserted
it → say → appointments
The report's findings stand in contrast to Mr. Trump's first term, when he and senior officials from his administration backed several initiatives promoting women's development and economic opportunities.
asserted
he → stand → development
During his first administration, Mr. Trump launched a global women's economic development initiative in 2019 spearheaded by his daughter and then-senior adviser Ivanka Trump, with the goal of improving economic opportunities for 50 million women in developing countries by 2025.
asserted
Trump → launch → 2025
During his second term, however, the administration has eliminated the offices responsible for advancing those policies, canceled aid and assistance programs, and curtailed the implementation of legislation Mr. Trump himself signed.
asserted
Trump → eliminate → legislation
In 2017, Mr. Trump signed the bipartisan Women, Peace and Security Act, or WPS, which required the federal government to craft a strategy to bolster women's participation in conflict prevention, peace and postwar efforts.
asserted
which → sign → prevention
Then-Sen. Marco Rubio was a co-sponsor of the law, and he praised it in April 2025 as secretary of state, telling an audience at the State Department's International Women of Courage Awards ceremony that he was "very proud" to have supported it.
asserted
he → praise → it
(The State Department did not hold the ceremony this year, in what marks the first interruption since it was established in 2007 by then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.)
asserted
it → hold → Rice
The WPS Act required Defense Department participation, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on X in 2025 that he had "ENDED" the program inside the Pentagon.
asserted
he → require → Pentagon
He called the program "another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops."
asserted
that → call → commanders
In a follow-up post, Hegseth claimed the Biden administration had "distorted & weaponized" the initiative after it launched.
asserted
it → claim → initiative
In a statement, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson pointed to Hegseth's recent speech in Quantico, Virginia, where he said Black and female recruitment are up.
asserted
recruitment → point → Quantico
She said the military is "more ready, lethal, and healthy than ever before, remaining colorblind, gender-neutral, and merit-based as you should be.
asserted
you → say → ?
"
"Implementing the Secretary's initiatives under President Trump's leadership has allowed women to thrive at the War Department, and the surge in recruitment is proof of that," Wilson said.
asserted
Wilson → implement → that
The statement did not address questions about the Women, Peace and Security strategy.
asserted
statement → address → strategy
The Democrats said the administration across the departments has not yet utilized the $112 million Congress passed for implementing the WPS strategy for fiscal year 2026.
asserted
Congress → say → year
The Trump administration's cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development also "uniquely impacted women and girls," according to the report, because they ended programs for maternal and child health, nutrition, basic education, family planning, the reduction of early child marriage and gender-based violence.
uncertain
they → impact → marriage
The administration terminated 86% of USAID awards involving maternal and child health, potentially disrupting care for as many as 16.8 million pregnant women annually, the Democratic report found.
asserted
report → terminate → women
In Afghanistan alone, roughly 800 health clinics have closed following U.S. cuts, with the U.N. projecting 1,200 additional maternal deaths by 2028.
asserted
U.N. → close → 2028
A senior State Department official defended the foreign assistance overhaul, saying the administration was shifting toward locally managed health programs and measuring outcomes rather than the volume of services funded, adding the United States remains the world's largest global health funder.
asserted
States → defend → services
On Afghanistan, the official said the administration had suspended assistance that could reach the Taliban, citing the group's restrictions on women and girls and concerns about U.S. funding benefiting the regime.
uncertain
funding → say → regime
Rubio and other senior officials have argued that the sweeping reorganization of the State Department, including the dismantling of USAID, was necessary to reduce waste and align foreign assistance programs with U.S. interests.
asserted
reorganization → argue → interests
In a prior defense of the elimination of the Office of Global Women's Issues at the department, Rubio told lawmakers in May 2025 that "we're not abandoning women's issues," and that the functions of the office would be transferred to regional bureaus.
uncertain
functions → tell → bureaus
But the Democratic aide told CBS News that State Department officials have since been unable to explain how that transfer was working in practice, noting officials from regional bureaus have not been able to identify who was responsible for implementing women's initiatives.
A senior State Department official said regional teams were overseeing foreign assistance programs, including those benefiting women and children, but did not identify who had assumed responsibility for the functions Rubio pledged to preserve.
asserted
Rubio → tell → functions
The Aporia
