Ranking Member Shaheen Releases New Report Detailing Trump Administration’s Attacks on Programs Supporting Women and Girls Worldwide

U.S. Investments in Women and Girls Deliver Outsized Benefits: Investing in women and girls delivers outsized benefits for their families, communities and future generations. Investments in women and girls' education, health and economic opportunities increase women's productivity and earnings and improve maternal and child health, nutrition and educational outcomes. These benefits are mutually reinforcing and, over time, contribute to greater labor-force participation, higher productivity and stronger economic growth. Because healthier and more educated women are also better positioned to invest in their children's well-being, the benefits can carry across generations, creating a multiplier effect.

Ending Investments in Women and Girls has Far-Reaching Costs: These investments have widespread economic consequences. A failure to invest in girls' education and the prevention of child, early and forced marriage, for example, could result in losses of up to $2.5 trillion by 2040. Closing gaps in women's labor force participation could add as much as $7 trillion to global GDP. Such investments also yield dividends for countries' security. Peace agreements are 64 percent less likely to fail when women and civil society participate in them. Eviscerating U.S. programs and diplomatic efforts that advance gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is an unforced error imposing far-reaching impacts on women, their families, communities and global security.

Women's Representation in Senior U.S. National Security Positions Has Declined: Women now hold just 17.4 percent of Cabinet and Cabinet-level positions. The decline in women's representation is also evident in U.S. military and diplomatic leadership. When President Trump took office, nearly half of Senate-confirmed U.S. ambassadors were women; today, fewer than 25 U.S. diplomatic missions are led by women. At the Department of Defense, there are no female four-star officers on active duty and none in pending appointments for three or four-star roles. The result is the lowest percentage of women among nominees to high-ranking positions in 25 years.

Foreign Assistance Cuts Were Designed to Harm Women and Girls: In cutting U.S. foreign assistance, the Trump Administration disproportionately eliminated funding for programs benefiting women and girls, cutting 88 percent of funding for maternal and child health, 94 percent of funding for sexual and reproductive health and nearly 80 percent of funding to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. Women-led organizations were also hit hard: a 2025 United Nations (UN) Women survey found that 90 percent of women-led and women's rights organizations surveyed in humanitarian settings had been affected by funding cuts, and nearly half expected to close within six months if funding levels did not improve. Deliberate cuts also had a devastating ripple effect across families and communities globally, imposing "systems-level shocks" across public health and finance systems.

Cuts to Global Health Programs are Increasing Risks to Women and Children: In 2025, deaths among children under five were projected to increase for the first time this century, reversing decades of progress. U.S. funding cuts have disrupted maternal and child health services in some of the world's most vulnerable countries. In Afghanistan alone, 800 health clinics closed, and UNFPA estimates the loss of U.S. funding will result in 1,200 additional maternal deaths by 2028. Cuts to contraceptive and family planning services in 2025 are estimated to have left 47.6 million people without access to contraceptives and resulted in 17.1 million unintended pregnancies and 34,000 maternal deaths.

Dismantling a Generation of U.S. Expertise on Women and Girls: The elimination of USAID and reorganization of the State Department closed offices, terminated personnel and dispersed expertise on women and girls. These changes included eliminating the White House Gender Policy Council, the National Security Council Senior Director for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues and USAID's Senior Coordinator for Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality. This also included the elimination of the State Department's Office of Global Women's Issues, which led U.S. efforts to champion women and girls globally, including through women's economic security; advancing women, peace and security, the empowerment of adolescent girls, and the prevention of and response to gender-based violence.

Policy Changes Bypassed Congressional Directives and Relied on Broad Keyword Searches: In its efforts to identify programs and policies for review or elimination, the Administration used keyword searches for terms associated with diversity, equity and inclusion and other topics, including women, female, disability, diversity, discrimination, equity, gender, gender-based violence, minorities, victims and vulnerable populations. This arbitrary and inchoate process affected policy planning and terminated programs authorized and funded by Congress.