Scoop: USAID tells staff 'gender ideology' dilutes female advocacy

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. “In recent years, gender ideology has overshadowed and diluted our ability to advocate clearly and effectively for women and girls, obscuring biological realities and undermining the protections women and girls need,” the office wrote in an email, seen by Devex. The office wrote that USAID is committed to ensuring that its programs, policies, and messaging “reflect biological truth.” That means, starting immediately, there will be a review to eliminate USAID-funded initiatives, offices, and staff positions that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management would consider promoting or reflecting “gender ideology.” This includes reviewing and discontinuing awards, ensuring all forms and data-collection processes recognize only male and female pronouns, de-validating agency notices that “inculcate or promote gender ideology,” and removing language, training materials, and external materials that “obscure this reality.” USAID has already started its work to erase any mention of nonbinary pronouns. This has included disabling the ability for staffers to add personal pronouns in their agency emails, removing noncompliant forms from its website, marking restrooms “by biological sex” and removing reference to gender identity from lactation rooms in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center and the USAID Annex — agency office buildings in Washington, D.C. Other federal agencies are also implementing this directive. For example, the data section of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website is “temporarily offline” in order to comply with Trump's order — it will only return when the website is deemed in compliance. Outright International, an LGBTIQ human rights nongovernmental organization, condemned Trump’s order as a “blatant attack” on transgender, nonbinary, and intersex individuals that increases the risk of violence and discrimination against them. “People outside of the binary genders have existed in cultures around the world for thousands of years, including among many Indigenous American communities. No Presidential order can erase them – it will just make their lives more precarious,” wrote Maria Sjödin, executive director of the organization. These directives come as USAID is also reeling from Trump’s orders to pause disbursements of foreign aid for 90 days. This was followed by the U.S. State Department issuing a stop-work order on Jan. 24 for existing grants and contracts. The State Department will review programming to ensure foreign assistance is aligned with Trump’s “America First” foreign policy agenda, which will then lead to decisions on whether to continue, modify, or terminate USAID programs. USAID’s website went offline over the weekend, as the Trump administration is reportedly moving to bring USAID under the U.S. State Department’s control. On Sunday, Billionaire Elon Musk — who leads Trump's efforts to shrink the government, a process overseen by the Department of Government Efficiency — said it’s time for USAID “to die” and they are working to shut it down.