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Hegseth criticised the military’s changing standards, arguing that they are tailored to accommodate women in traditionally male-dominated roles.
US President-elect Donald Trump with Defence Secretary Pick Pete Hegseth | Image: Facebook / Pete Hegseth
US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, said that women should remain out of combat roles in the military and advocated for the dismissal of senior Pentagon officers involved in “woke” policies.
Remarking that women are not as “capable” as men, Hegseth, a former Fox News commentator, argued that physical differences between men and women, such as bone density and muscle strength, create challenges in meeting the demands of combat.
“Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated. And complication in combat means casualties are worse,” Hegseth said while appearing on the Shawn Ryan Show podcast, released on November 7.
“Everybody knows between bone density and lung capacity and muscle strength. Men and women are just different. And if there’s some, you know, hard-charging female that meets that standard, great, cool. Join the infantry battalion. But that is not what’s happened,” he added.
Hegseth criticised the military’s changing standards, arguing that they are being increasingly tailored to accommodate women in traditionally male-dominated roles.
Hegseth Against ‘Woke’ Pentagon Leaders
Beyond his argument on combat roles, Hegseth called for the dismissal of the Pentagon leaders involved in designing and promoting “woke” policies such as “DEI” (diversity, equity and inclusion) at the military level.
“We have to fire the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and obviously, to bring in a new Secretary of Defense, but any General that was involved, General, Admiral, whatever that was involved in any of the DEI woke policies has got to go,” he said during the podcast that has sparked controversy.
Time and again, Hegseth has criticised the DEI initiatives and called for a rollback of these programs within the Pentagon, alleging they weaken the military by diverting focus from merit and operational capability.
Under the US President Joe Biden administration, military spending increasingly focused on DEI efforts, which was often criticised as a “waste of money and dividing troops,” especially by the Republicans.