Pentagon Shuts Down Women’s Military Advisory Group – Cites Harmful Agenda
War Department head Pete Hegseth claims committee is “focused on advancing a divisive feminist agenda that hurts combat readiness.”
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The Pentagon, under direction of former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, is terminating a 75-year-old advisory group that offered recommendations on how to support women serving in the military, citing a harmful agenda. Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a post on X on Tuesday that Hegseth says the group, the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS), is “focused on advancing a divisive feminist agenda that hurts combat readiness.”
Later, Hegseth added a comment to Wilson’s post: “Gender neutral, color blind, merit based.”
Image via X
DACOWITS was created in 1951 as women were taking on increased roles in the military, three years after World War II ended, when President Harry S. Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act into law, permitting women to serve as full members of the Armed Forces. (One month after the act passed, he issued the Integration of the Armed Forces EO, to ensure that Black women could also serve equally in all branches).
Per government website, DACOWITS provides recommendations on matters and policies relating to the recruitment, retention, employment, integration, well-being, and treatment of women in the U.S. Armed Forces. Prior recommendations have included properly fitting body armor, health care (including OBGYN, contraception education and fertility services), domestic abuse support, physical fitness assessments and more.
Since it’s formation, the Committee has submitted over 1,100 recommendations for consideration to the now-called Department of War; to date, about 94% have been fully or partially adopted.
The prospect of “disestablishing” the group has been floated for some months, watched closely by Military Times, which noted in May that 14 committees and boards were potentially on the chopping block, representing about one-third of all Defense Department advisory boards. DACOWITS had also been under consideration to be axed several years ago, but was spared in 2021 following protest by female veterans in Congress.
The Modern Military Association of America, a unified voice for LGBTQ+ military and veteran communities, stressed in a statement to GO that disbanding DACOWITS undermines national security and represents a significant step backward for the military.
“Shuttering DACOWITS is consistent with a troubling trend of marginalizing women, people of color, and other minority groups. It also threatens equity, harms recruitment and retention, and deprives qualified service members of the resources and support they deserve,” Modern Military added. “This decision, coinciding with efforts to recruit individuals aligned with extremist ideologies, marks a severe shift in military culture and values. If such discriminatory policies continue, the military as we know it will be fundamentally, and perhaps permanently, changed.”
