By Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell & Bradley Devlin, The Daily Signal | September 23, 2025
The Department of War is discontinuing a committee criticized for pushing feminism in the military, according to a memo obtained by The Daily Signal.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth signed the memo saying he has determined that the reinstatement of the Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Services should not proceed.
The committee cost the department $1,128,000 in fiscal years 2023–2024. This includes $485,000
in expenses and $643,000 in Defense Department labor.
The committee was originally created following the passage of the 1948 Women’s Armed Services Integration Act to advise on strategies to improve the recruitment of women into the U.S. military during the Korean War. But critics say DACOWITS today is largely advancing a feminist agenda with a detrimental effect on combat readiness.
The committee expressed concern for the ability of military women to obtain abortions after the Supreme Court overturn of Roe v. Wade, according to a DACOWITS information request in August 2022.
“As the Defense Department continues to examine this Supreme Court decision and evaluate policies to ensure Service members, dependents, beneficiaries, and Defense Department civilian employees are provided seamless access to essential women’s health care services, as permitted by federal law, the Committee is concerned about potential impacts to servicewomen,” the report said.
DACOWITS was disbanded in 2021, but President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin formally reinstated DACOWITS the next year. Hegseth has cancelled the reinstatement.
The under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness will take appropriate action to realign resources associated with the DACOWITS, such as the reassignment of personnel, conclusion of contracts, and the archiving of records, according to the memo.
Hegseth has promised to restore the “warrior ethos inside the military.” He has said that physical standards apply equally to both men and women, and that everyone who serves must be qualified.
“Carrying a rucksack or carrying an artillery round; carrying your buddy across the battlefield- it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman,” he told Fox News’ Lara Trump in July. “You just need to be able to meet the standard.”
Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell is the White House Correspondent for "The Daily Signal."
Bradley Devlin is politics editor for The Daily Signal.
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