Deeply Alarmed Women Leaders Send a Letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
Originally published by Mariel Padilla for The 19th
Two women veterans in Congress led nearly 100 House Democrats in sending a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday, calling his recent comments about women in the military deeply harmful and demanding more transparency. The leaders of the effort, Reps. Chrissy Houlahan and Maggie Goodlander, called for the reinstatement of an independent advisory committee dedicated to women in the service.
“We are writing to express our deep alarm at your recent remarks and actions targeting women in the military,” the Democrats said in the letter, which was provided to The 19th.
The letter comes as Congress is setting the military’s budget and on the heels of Hegseth’s extremely unusual decision to call hundreds of generals and admirals stationed around the world to convene in Virginia on September 30. In a 45-minute address at that meeting, Hegseth largely spoke about ridding the military of “woke garbage.” He touched on women in combat roles and the need for gender-neutral standards, denounced diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and criticized so-called gender diversity quotas — which do not exist.