The new U.S. administration has made it clear that it recognizes only two genders: male and female. U.S. President Donald Trump has framed this as “defending women” in an executive order signed on his first day in office, which requires federal agencies to end anything related to “gender ideology” across the government, including at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
On Friday, the USAID office of the administrator outlined to the agency's staffers the latest set of guidance in what has been a dizzying series of presidential orders over the past two weeks.
The office wrote the agency has “long championed” women, who are globally the “backbones of families, communities, and economies,” and noted that they continue to face threats such as trafficking, exploitation, and discrimination.
About the author
Sara Jervingsarajerving
Sara Jerving is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global health. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, VICE News, and Bloomberg News among others. Sara holds a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she was a Lorana Sullivan fellow. She was a finalist for One World Media's Digital Media Award in 2021; a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in 2018; and she was part of a VICE News Tonight on HBO team that received an Emmy nomination in 2018. She received the Philip Greer Memorial Award from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2014.
