Ladies veterans in Congress and almost 100 Home Democrats are decrying the secretary’s feedback about ladies within the navy.
By Mariel Padilla for The nineteenth
Two ladies veterans in Congress led almost 100 Home Democrats in sending a letter to Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday, calling his latest feedback about ladies within the navy deeply dangerous and demanding extra transparency. The leaders of the hassle, Reps. Chrissy Houlahan and Maggie Goodlander, referred to as for the reinstatement of an impartial advisory committee devoted to ladies within the service.
“We are writing to express our deep alarm at your recent remarks and actions targeting women in the military,” the Democrats stated within the letter, which was supplied to The nineteenth.
The letter comes as Congress is setting the navy’s finances and on the heels of Hegseth’s extraordinarily uncommon choice to name a whole lot of generals and admirals stationed all over the world to convene in Virginia on Sept. 30. In a 45-minute deal with at that assembly, Hegseth largely spoke about ridding the navy of “woke garbage.” He touched on ladies in fight roles and the necessity for gender-neutral requirements, denounced range, fairness and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and criticized so-called gender range quotas—which don’t exist.
President Donald Trump and Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth
“Women have sacrificed their safety and, at times, their lives, for our country and we are deeply alarmed by this Administration’s attempts to attack their merits,” the letter stated. “We also oppose dismantling any resources that support their well-being and equal treatment. Any suggestion that women are unqualified, either in body or spirit, is a profound insult to the service women who have contributed so much to our country.”
Ladies make up greater than 21% of the active-duty drive and have held fight roles within the navy for many years.
Within the letter, the members of Congress additionally criticize Hegseth’s latest memos weakening the definitions of hazing and bullying, which is able to seemingly make it tougher to deliver discrimination and harassment complaints throughout the Armed Forces. The adjustments might hinder the navy justice reforms made up to now a number of years that aimed to assist victims of sexual harassment and assault. Practically 1 in 4 ladies within the navy report having skilled sexual assault and greater than half report harassment—although researchers discovered the overwhelming majority of incidents go unreported altogether.
“Rates of discrimination, hazing, and bullying are prevalent in the military for both men and women, but women experience these unwanted behaviors at significantly higher rates,” the letter stated. “These issues are known to affect readiness and can lead to severe health and career consequences for service members, thereby disproportionately impacting women who serve.”
Houlahan, an Air Power veteran and rating member of the Army Personnel Subcommittee on the Armed Providers Committee, stated Hegseth’s affect on the navy has been “enormously chilling.” Houlahan stated one among her family members is serious about becoming a member of the navy however her dad and mom are “really worried” concerning the setting that she can be coming into.
“That’s just my own personal family, so I can only imagine that this is affecting a lot of people as they make their decision—not just whether to join, but also whether to stay,” Houlahan stated.
Goodlander, who served as an intelligence officer within the Navy Reserve, stated she not too long ago celebrated the 250th birthday of the Navy with a room filled with sea cadets and their dad and mom. Younger ladies who’re taking a look at our navy now and their dad and mom are frightened about going right into a division that has a “person at the helm who has no business serving in that extraordinary position of public trust,” stated Goodlander, who can also be a member of the Democratic Ladies’s Caucus.
“The speech fits squarely into a pattern of what we’ve seen from Pete Hegseth since before the beginning of his tenure as secretary,” stated Goodlander, pointing to the truth that he additionally ousted the one ladies who held four-star ranks as a part of his first actions within the function.
The letter decried Hegseth’s termination of the Protection Advisory Committee on Ladies within the Service (DACOWITS), one of many Protection Division’s oldest impartial advisory committees. In its 75-year historical past, DACOWITS was instrumental in lifting the ban on ladies in fight. It additionally supplied suggestions—based mostly on analysis, knowledge and direct engagement with service members—to the Protection Division, together with on correct fight gear for ladies and parental go away insurance policies. The Protection Division absolutely or partially adopted about 94% of the committee’s suggestions, in line with the letter.
“DACOWITS has played a critically important role in fulfilling your stated goal of a merit based system by breaking down barriers to ensure opportunities for the most qualified individuals to serve our country,” the letter stated. “Our military must be a place that enables our service members, of every gender, race, and faith, to serve with dignity and bring their full talents to bear.”
Houlahan stated that the Protection Division has not been clear and that Congress doesn’t know whether or not any residual features of DACOWITS will likely be retained elsewhere. She stated Hegseth has failed to reply to requires extra info.
A cartoon by Clay Bennett.
Goodlander stated Hegseth’s perspective on ladies within the navy and his technique in main the U.S. Armed Forces are “objectively weakening us.”
“It’s clear to anybody who watched his confirmation hearing and continued to watch his inexperience and his lack of judgment exposed again and again, he’s pivoted to a performative and hateful bravado against core American ideas and against a core American constituency: women who have served and the women who will serve,” Goodlander stated.
On the finish of the letter, the Home Democrats request the “immediate reinstatement of DACOWITS.” And if no change is made by October 31, the members of Congress are demanding an in-person briefing no later than November 6 to debate Hegseth’s rationale in eliminating the committee and an in depth rationalization of latest normal health and occupational bodily necessities.
“I’m just confounded by the ineptitude,” Houlahan stated. “The fact that Secretary Hegseth believes that he’s shaping an organization around what he deems to be a meritocracy—when he is literally the least qualified person that I have ever known to serve in that office. And for him to malign 51% of the population, the women of our nation, in reference to an all-volunteer service—Ïit’s mind-boggling. I think it’s a lack of understanding that he clearly has of what modern combat is and what lethality is.”
