Oppose Hegseth’s Anti-Women Rhetoric & Policies! IWA-US Statement On the Ending of the United States WPS Program
Last month, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth threatened to end the Department of Defense’s involvement in the Women Peace and Security (WPS) Program that was adopted in the US under Trump in 2017.
WPS was first created to purportedly boost women’s participation in “peace and security planning” and protect women from violence in conflict situations. In reality, WPS serves to project women as the face of militaries, anti-people regimes and US-backed proxy wars.
As IWA, we recognize that this framework of “Women, Peace, and Security” is a counter-insurgency project to lure women into joining the military under the guise of advancing women’s equality globally. These projects do not actually bring democracy to corrupt nations or foster protection for women. Rather, military recruitment actively preys on women in poverty, dissuades women from taking part in progressive movements in their respective home countries, and functions to repress women’s movements.
IWA is critical of how countries use WPS to further their interests rather than the interests of women, especially to justify US intervention while minimizing the true impact wars of aggression have on women. Still, IWA condemns Hegseth’s anti-women posture which perpetuates a patriarchal view that women are inferior, weak, and unable to lead.
As IWA, we assert that women are a fighting force in solving the root issues underlying women’s exploitation and oppression. Women’s peace and security will not come from government programs or US resolutions – but instead comes from women’s participation in national liberation struggles and pro-people movements around the world.
Women and all gender oppressed peoples have an immense stake in turning the tide and transforming society through organizing militant actions, amplifying our voices, and supporting women raising the level of struggle in people’s wars for national liberation - from India, to the Philippines, to Palestine!