It has only been 100 days since President Trump took office, and millions of American women and families are already feeling the adverse impacts of his administration’s misguided agenda.
On January 21, 2017, millions of women took to the streets in cities across America to demonstrate their opposition to President Donald Trump and the values and policies he represents.1 After a campaign season filled with derogatory language about women and sexist rhetoric about women’s roles in the home and workplace, people of all genders united in opposition to Trump’s anti-women agenda. From immigration and environmental justice to defending the rights of women, workers, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities, women marched to highlight the complexity and interconnectedness in women’s lives and the need for policies that are responsive to those diverse needs.
This renewed activism comes at a critical time. Nearly 100 days into the Trump administration, there has been little talk of concrete policy actions that will help women and families. Despite repeated promises that President Trump and his administration would invest in and empower women, President Trump’s actions have made it clear that he and his team are completely out of touch with the needs of today’s working families.2
This issue brief highlights 100 ways in which Trump’s policy actions and proposals fall short of—and often harm—the comprehensive progress that millions of women and their families need. From attacking health care and undermining women’s legal rights to elevating out-of-touch, regressive nominees to key positions, President Trump reveals his fundamental lack of understanding of the myriad challenges women face and how they are interrelated. When taken together, the actions highlighted in this issue brief reveal an aggressive assault on women’s rights and equality. It has only been 100 days, and millions of women are already feeling the negative impacts of the Trump administration and its misguided agenda. Women and families have never had more to lose.
This issue brief separates the 100 ways the Trump administration harms women and families into the following themes: eroding family economic security; putting children at risk; attacking reproductive rights; undermining women’s legal rights; weakening protections against gender-based violence; undermining women’s leadership; tearing families apart; and slashing health benefits. Each section is headed by a statement President Trump made in his joint address to Congress on February 28, 2017. The order of the actions is not a ranking—the goal is to highlight the depth and breadth of the Trump administration’s attacks on women’s health, economic security, reproductive autonomy, and constitutional rights.
Eroding family economic security
“Everything that is broken in our country can be fixed. Every problem can be solved. And every hurting family can find healing and hope.” — President Trump3
Delayed increases in overtime: Trump delayed the Obama administration’s overtime rule, which would have given 3.2 million women the right to overtime pay. Single mothers and women of color—who experience some of the largest pay disparities—would have seen the greatest benefit from the rule.4
Slashed support for military caregivers: The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is cutting caregiver support—even for veterans who have not experienced any improvement in their condition and depend on a full-time caregiver for their daily needs. These caregivers are often female, and the reduction in support will place more economic hardships on military families.5
Blocked pay transparency protections: By undoing the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order, Trump eliminated a requirement for federal contractors to provide employees with basic information about their pay, including hours worked, overtime earnings, and any pay deductions. Such information is critical for all workers—particularly women, who are more likely to work in hourly jobs—to ensure that they are being paid what they have earned.6
Helped bad employers who repeatedly violate the law: By undoing the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order, Trump also made it easier for federal contractors with chronic violations of sex discrimination and other employment laws to keep getting federal funding.7
Eliminated child care for military families: Trump’s federal hiring freeze forced at least two military bases to suspend enrollment at military child care facilities when they were unable to hire child care providers. Service members depend on high-quality child care to perform their duties each day.8
Endangered women’s retirement security: Trump instructed the U.S. Labor Department to delay implementing an Obama-era rule requiring retirement advisers to put clients first. Women live longer and make less income over their lifetimes, which make them more vulnerable to poverty in retirement.9
Failed to advance equal pay: Trump’s administration made no movement on equal pay in the first 100 days, despite referencing support for equal pay occasionally throughout his campaign. Trump offered no concrete action to strengthen equal pay protections.10
Threatens child care assistance: Child care assistance currently reaches just 1 in 6 eligible children, but the Trump budget would cut it further, which could mean even fewer children served and lead low-income families to leave the workforce.11
Stalled paid family and medical leave: Despite Trump’s campaign promises and some fleeting general references to paid family leave, there has been no concrete action on advancing a comprehensive paid family and medical leave program. Nothing in the Trump budget includes a serious commitment to any form of paid family and medical leave, such as continuing funding for state grants to explore paid leave options.12
Impairs FMLA enforcement: The Trump budget would cut the U.S. Department of Labor by 21 percent, or $2.5 billion. If implemented, these cuts would seriously impair robust enforcement of critical labor and work-family protections, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA.13
Cuts nurse training: The Trump budget would cut $403 million in health profession and nurse training programs, jobs that are disproportionately held by women workers.14
Drops LGBTQ seniors and people with disabilities from data collection: The Trump administration is proposing to end vital data collection programs about LGBTQ seniors and people with disabilities, erasing evidence of disparities and potential discrimination in federal programs. Lesbian and bisexual women are more likely to live in poverty than heterosexual women, and transgender women are 3.8 times more likely to live in poverty than the general population.15
Made student debt harder to pay off: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos rescinded an Obama-era rule that limited the fees that loan companies can charge struggling borrowers. Student debt is more burdensome for women, who join the workforce with a pay gap.16
Impedes workforce access for people with disabilities: Trump’s policies would make it harder for people with disabilities to stay in the workforce by slashing Medicaid, cutting vocational rehabilitation programs, and opposing the increases to the minimum wage applied to workers with disabilities. Women are more likely to live with disabilities, partially because they live longer.17
Putting children at risk
“But to achieve this future, we must enrich the mind and the souls of every American child. Education is the civil rights issue of our time.” — President Trump18
Slashes nutrition assistance for WIC: The Trump budget would slash $200 million from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, and threaten other nutrition initiatives with a 21 percent cut to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.19
Sparked an increase in bullying and anxiety: Per the Southern Poverty Law Center, Trump’s hateful rhetoric has led to increased bullying in public schools and increased anxiety rates among children of color.20
Cuts after-school programs: Despite his campaign rhetoric on child care, Trump’s budget would eliminate $1.2 billion for 21st Century Community Learning Centers and summer programs, which provide before- and after-school care for 1.6 million children nationwide and make it possible for parents go to work.21
Slashes Head Start funding and jobs: Trump’s budget proposes an 18 percent cut to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which would kick 160,000 children out of Head Start programs and kill jobs for 40,000 people, mostly women, if applied to Head Start.22
Harmed transgender students: The Trump administration rescinded Obama-era guidance to keep transgender students in schools, including equal access to bathrooms and other school facilities and programs.23
Strips public school funding: Trump and Education Secretary DeVos want to use vouchers to channel funds away from public schools toward private schools—which are not held to same quality, equity, anti-discrimination, and accommodation standards. In addition, voucher programs can discriminate against students in admissions based on gender, religion, race, and income.24
Promotes vouchers that are especially harmful for kids with disabilities: Children with disabilities often must sign away their rights as guaranteed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, to receive a voucher. In Florida, a similar system left mothers fighting with school systems to get the children access to services and combat discrimination.25
Eliminates Boys and Girls Clubs: The Trump budget proposes eliminating the Corporation for National and Community Service, which funds programs such as AmeriCorps, Teach For America, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Boys and Girls Clubs serve approximately 1.8 million girls every year.26
Abandons efforts to tackle sexual assault and harassment in education: Appointee Candice Jackson will be acting secretary in the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights until there is a nominee for that position, which requires Senate confirmation. Her appointment raises serious concerns about how the department will address sexual assault and harassment in education, and she has criticized programs designed to help people of color.27
Endangers homeless youth: Youth often become homeless after fleeing family conflict and abuse or after being forced out of their homes because of rejection of their LGBTQ identity. With anti-LGBTQ Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, it is unlikely that the Trump administration will take comprehensive action to help some of the most vulnerable young people.28
Threatens safety of LGBTQ students in schools: Secretary DeVos’ troubling history signals that the U.S. Department of Education may not fulfill its duty to protect the rights of LGBTQ students. Her family’s foundation has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to anti-gay groups that push conversion therapy.29
Makes college more expensive: Trump’s budget would undermine opportunities for low-income students and students of color to complete college degrees by cutting Pell Grants, work-study, and other programs that make college accessible. Pell Grant recipients are more likely to be women than men.30
Eliminates pediatric services: The Trump-championed American Health Care Act, or AHCA, proposed the elimination of essential health benefits, which include pediatric services—meaning that a family’s insurance might not cover vaccines, eye exams, and well-child visits. This would disproportionately affect women, who often take on the primary responsibility for ensuring their family gets the heath care it needs.31
Attacking reproductive rights
“My administration wants to work with members of both parties to make childcare accessible and affordable, to help ensure new parents that they have paid family leave, to invest in women’s health, and to promote clean air and clean water, and to rebuild our military and our infrastructure.” —President Trump32
Denies women reproductive, educational, and counseling services by limiting Title X availability: Trump signed a bill to overturn Obama-era protections for Title X grantees, allowing states to block Title X funding for providers that also offer abortion with nonfederal funds, including Planned Parenthood. Title X funding provides critical reproductive, educational, and counseling services related to family planning and contraception to 4 million clients each year.33
Attacks Planned Parenthood: The American Health Care Act would deny Planned Parenthood clinics Medicaid reimbursements for serving low-income patients. Planned Parenthood is a front-line provider for underserved communities, serving approximately 2.5 million patients in 2014.34
Endangers funds for Zika research: While the Trump budget would set aside funds for a new Federal Emergency Response Fund that would support rapid response needs to emerging public health threats such as the Zika virus, it would cut funding to the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, by $5.8 billion. Cuts to the NIH could undermine long-term efforts to adequately address public health concerns by affecting research in key areas of women’s health, including vaccine and treatment discovery efforts related to Zika virus transmission.35
Brought back the Global Gag Rule: One of Trump’s first actions as president reinstated and expanded the Global Gag Rule, which prevents recipients of U.S. foreign aid from offering any information, referrals, services, or advocacy regarding abortion care—even if they do so with separate funding sources. The Global Gag Rule will lead to more maternal deaths, more unintended pregnancies, and higher rates of unsafe abortion.36
Halted family planning funds abroad: Trump administration cut U.S. funding to the U.N. Population Fund, which works on women’s rights worldwide, maternal health, family planning, and gender equity programs.37
Interferes with abortion care: Trump’s health care bill, the American Health Care Act, would interfere with the patient-provider relationship and restrict women’s choices by denying abortion coverage through the private insurance market.38
Threatened maternity coverage by nominating Seema Verma: Trump’s pick to run Medicare and Medicaid, Seema Verma, has argued that maternity coverage should be optional for insurers. And the American Health Care Act would make that happen.39
Cuts funding for teen pregnancy prevention: The Trump budget proposes a $50 million reduction in funding for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, which works with organizations across the United States to implement evidence-based, proven programming.40
Limits coverage of abortion by calling for the Hyde Amendment to become permanent: Both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have promised the make the Hyde Amendment permanent. The Hyde Amendment is a restriction on Medicaid coverage of abortion, renewed annually by the federal appropriations process. Exceptions are permitted in the limited cases of rape, incest, and life of the woman. Codifying the amendment would set a dangerous precedent and permanently subject women who receive Medicaid to the restrictions without a regular review of their impact.41
Expands religious exemptions: A leaked draft executive order of the Trump administration included sweeping religious exemptions to allow federal contractors to deny services based on religion, permitting religiously affiliated federal contractors to fire LGBTQ employees, sanction workplace discrimination, and restrict access to preventive health services, including contraception, for women. Furthermore, this executive order would impose restrictions on adoption for LGBTQ families, deny access to abortion, interfere with doctor-patient relationships, and promote misinformation about reproductive health care.42
Slashes health and human services: The Trump budget proposes a $15 billion reduction in funding for the office responsible for implementing the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, and ensuring that women and families have access to vital health services. Such cuts would limit access to reproductive health care under Medicaid and Medicare, as well as strip funding for the NIH, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.43
Undermining women’s legal rights
“We will have made America greater than ever before—for all Americans. This is our vision. This is our mission.” — President Trump44
Politicizes the judiciary: When courts disagree with Trump’s policies, he lashes out and attempts to intimidate judges. This troubling trend, along with Trump’s statements about only appointing judges with certain views on policy, threatens to undermine the independent nature of the judiciary, which could impair women’s ability to access and defend their constitutional rights.45
Seeks to stack the courts with anti-choice judges: Trump released a short list of anti-choice judges during the Supreme Court nomination process—including one who called Roe v. Wade an “abomination”—which signals that he intends to follow through on his campaign promise to stack the courts with anti-choice judges. Such actions raise serious questions about whether Trump-appointed judges would consider each case without bias and interpret and apply the law in a fair manner.46
Threatens civil rights enforcement: Trump’s budget seeks cuts to the U.S. Justice Department, which would likely affect the Civil Rights Division’s mission to fight discrimination and protect Americans.47
Refused to fight voter suppression: The Trump Justice Department dropped its opposition to a Texas voter ID bill that has been found to discriminate against black and Latino voters. Legislation like this is especially burdensome for older women, who may not have the proper ID or face difficulty tracking down identity documents with their birth names.48
Attacks abortion rights: Trump ran on the promise to nominate a Supreme Court justice who would “automatically” overturn Roe v. Wade. Neil Gorsuch—his eventual nominee and now Supreme Court justice—has a history of arguing against Roe’s legal foundation, refused to state a clear position on Roe in his confirmation hearing, and admitted that he and Trump discussed abortion in his prenomination interview.49
Puts religious views of employers before workers: Justice Gorsuch’s confirmation risks weakening the rights of working women. As an appellate judge, he ruled that a corporation was a person who has the First Amendment right to freedom of religion. Therefore, an employer’s religious beliefs can trump employees’ religious beliefs, and an employer can prevent an employee from using health insurance to cover contraception because of the employer’s religious beliefs.50
Threatens the legal rights of LGBTQ people: Gorsuch’s confirmation to the Supreme Court is a blow to the rights of LGBTQ workers and families. He criticized the court’s ruling in favor of marriage equality and refuses to say whether he believes that LGBTQ people should be a protected class. In addition, Gorsuch has argued that the religious beliefs of employers should come before employees, and overly broad religious exemptions mean his appointment could significantly erode the rights of LGBTQ people in employment, housing, health care, and other key areas of life. 51
Defended lies about Planned Parenthood: While Gorsuch was on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he defended the governor of Utah’s attempt to defund Planned Parenthood because of false accusations that the organization was selling fetal tissue.52
Undermined pregnancy discrimination protections: Gorsuch’s former law students said he told the class that employers should ask female job applicants if they plan to have children and went on to argue that women manipulate employer-provided maternity leave policies. Gorsuch denied this in his hearing but failed to affirm legal protections against pregnancy discrimination—which are critical for working women.53
Weakening protections against gender-based violence
“And we must support the victims of crime.” — President Trump54
Cuts the National Domestic Violence Hotline: Trump’s budget proposes cutting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services budget by 18 percent. If that cut is applied to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, it would mean that more than 200,000 calls for help would go unanswered.55
Failed to oppose sexual assault: Jeff Sessions was confirmed as attorney general despite refusing to say that nonconsensual groping constitutes sexual assault, contrary to the U.S. Justice Department’s definition.56
Refused to fight sexual assault in schools: In her nomination hearing, now-Secretary of Education DeVos said it would be “premature” to commit to maintaining the department’s guidance aimed at combating sexual assault in schools.57
Defended accused sexual harassers: In an Oval Office interview, Trump defended conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly from sexual harassment allegations despite evidence that Fox has already paid more than $13 million to settle five claims against O’Reilly. Trump’s assumption that the complaints were false reveals his instinct to doubt women who experience harassment and assault and mirrors the attitudes that make it hard for victims to come forward. Sadly, this is only the latest example of Trump defending harassers and echoes
“Everything that is broken in our country can be fixed. Every problem can be solved. And every hurting family can find healing and hope.”