Women are in a precarious position thanks to recent attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) through lawsuits, bills, and executive orders. It’s offensive to assume, as this new administration has, that every woman, person of color, member of the LGBTQIA+ community, or person with disabilities is a DEI hire instead of the most qualified person for the job. It’s time to stop playing musical chairs with our hard-won seats at the table.
What’s been happening in the so-called war on DEI, and how are women being affected?
Gwyne Wilcox, an American attorney is the first Black woman to serve as a National Labor Relations Board member. She was fired without cause on January 27, 2025. Her firing violated the long-standing SCOTUS precedent that Congress provides tenure protections to certain inferior officers with narrowly defined duties, such as NLRB members. NLRB members cannot be fired without just cause. Her term as a board member was supposed to run through August 2028. She was replaced by Marvin E. Kaplan, a white male.
Trump also fired Jennifer Abruzzo, General Counsel at the NLRB. She was the second woman to ever serve in that role. Bloomberg News reported that Abruzzo was fired via email. She was replaced by William B. Cowen who is a white male.
Linda Fagan, a four-star admiral and the first female Coast Guard commandant was fired on Mr. Trump’s second day in office. She was given three hours to vacate her housing. Officials at Homeland Security cited border security issues and an excessive focus on DEI among the reasons for her dismissal. She was replaced by Rear Admiral Kevin E. Lunday, a white male who previously served as the 34th Vice Commandant.
Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to be chief of naval operations and the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff was fired without cause by Secretary of Defense Hegseth. Her firing has left the military without a single woman in a four-star general or admiral leadership position. Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Vice Admiral Jim Kilby announced that he will perform the duties of the chief of naval operations until a new CNO is appointed. Kilby is also a white male.
According to a military.com report, the Trump administration has ordered the removal of websites dedicated to female service members.
Before 1973, women were only allowed in the military as nurses or support staff. Women were not admitted into military academies until 1976. On January 24, 2013, the Pentagon rescinded restrictions preventing women from serving in combat units. In 2015, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter ordered the military to open all combat jobs to women with no exceptions.
We should be concerned that the accomplishments of women in the military are being erased under the guise of ending DEI which the Trump administration insists is the only reason most, if not all, women are hired or promoted.
Is the war on DEI also a war on women? What other hard-fought rights could be in jeopardy?
Until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, banks could refuse to offer credit to an unmarried woman. They could also require a married woman to have her husband cosign in order to get credit. Many banks required single, divorced, or widowed women to bring a man with them to co-sign for a credit card. Banks could also discount the wages of women by as much as 50% when calculating credit card limits.
Before the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, employers could fire a woman for being pregnant. The Act prohibits sexual discrimination on the basis of pregnancy. Women who are pregnant or have been affected by pregnancy or childbirth must be treated the same for all employment-related purposes.
Employers can no longer refuse to hire a woman if she is pregnant as long as she is able to perform the major functions of the job according to the EEOC. The law was passed in response to two Supreme court cases relating to discrimination in the workplace.
In 1898, Utah became the first state to allow women to serve on juries.
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 gave women the right to serve on federal juries only. Before then judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys could exclude women based on grounds they were “the heart of the home and needed to keep house and care for children.” They could also claim women were too sensitive to hear the grisly details of some crimes or too sympathetic by nature to remain objective. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 did nothing at state and local levels until 1973 when all 50 states passed similar legislation. This legislation wasn’t enforced in all states until the 1975 SCOTUS decision in Taylor v. Louisiana when the Court held that men and women must be treated in the same way during jury selection and service.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 established the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) and created the basis for discrimination cases in Article VII; however, the EEOC did not determine that sexual harassment was a form of sex discrimination until 1980. Before then, it was almost impossible for women to protect themselves from sexual harassment in the workplace.
In 1986, the Federal Sexual Abuse Act of 1986 criminalized marital rape on all Federal lands. Spousal rape was not criminalized in all 50 states until 1993. Some states established exemptions to marital rape. By 1996, sixteen states had repealed all their exemptions to marital rape and thirty-three states had partially repealed exemptions. This means some states still allow circumstances where men can force their wives to have sex against their will.
Women were routinely charged higher health insurance premiums than men. Sex discrimination in health insurance was not outlawed until 2010. When the Affordable Care Act was passed insurance premiums for women were lowered, but women are still considered higher risk by insurance companies because of childbirth and because women live longer and are more likely than men to see a doctor for a health concern. In many cases, women are still being charged higher rates even though according to healthcare studies women generally have better overall health than men.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act is a bill currently before Congress which could silence millions of voters by making it harder to register to vote. The majority of those silenced voters would probably be women. Under the SAVE Act, American who already must verify their eligibility to vote would be faced with unnecessary barriers to the registration process. Married people who have changed their names (those who take their spouses surname or hyphenate their name after marriage) do not necessarily have a birth certificate with their current legal name on it. Under the SAVE Act, most voters wouldn’t be able to register to vote with their driver’s license alone unless it was an “Enhanced Driver’s License” which are only available in five states, or they would need a U.S. passport or birth certificate. The SAVE Act also threatens to severely limit the ability of voters to vote by mail. If you currently vote by mail, you will have to re-register under a new system where you could be disqualified for having a different name on your driver’s license than on your birth certificate even if you have been a registered voter for years. Burdensome requirements could also impact on people with disabilities who vote by absentee ballot.
The United States already has laws in place to ensure only citizens are voting which include penalties such as deportation or imprisonment. Under the SAVE Act, election officials could go to prison for up to five years if they help to register someone without the correct documents even if the registered voter is a citizen. Who will have the ultimate say in what is correct?
According to data from the University of Florida Election Lab, about 245 million Americans were eligible to vote in the 2024 general election. Not all voter eligible people are registered voters. The voter eligible population is comprised of all people in the United States who are eighteen years-old and over minus noncitizens and felons. Preliminary election data shows that about 155 million ballots were cast. An estimated 89 million Americans (36% of the country’s voter eligible population) did not vote in the general election. Why would we do anything to make it harder for Americans to register to vote and be able to participate in our democracy?
Which rights are you most concerned about?
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