Is There a ‘War on Women’ Department?

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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

You likely know that our government’s Department of Defense was renamed the Department of War on September 5, 2025. I wonder if they forgot to add a couple of words. As far as I can tell, it seems to be: the US War on Women Department.

The current US Secretary of Defense, who appeared with President Donald J. Trump, seemed to clarify that on September 30, 2025, when he held a live meeting with senior military leaders brought in from around the world. He emphasized that combat positions would be “the highest male standard only,” apparently referring to a 1990 standard. If women didn’t meet it, “so be it.” The trouble is, they have already been meeting it! Generally speaking, women are also succeeding in sports and physical training.

Perhaps, then, he is planning to further raise the standards until there is a gender difference with more “macho men.” Some “soft” men are also being called onto the carpet, including “fat generals and admirals.” More physical touching is to be allowed in training of male recruits. The Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services has already been closed, being described as having a “divisive feminist agenda that hurts combat readiness.”

These points seemed to reinforce that his department has informally become a department of War on Women. Come to think it, it seems like his party was already making war on women, particularly with the ending of the Roe v Wade abortion rights, as well as denying any gender identity change or fluidity. Some had already noticed the war on women over recent decades.¹

What seems to be ignored in this war on women is not only what makes women biologically and sometimes culturally different, but what is so valuable about such differences and how they might complement the common tendencies of men.

Historically, it seems like my psychiatric career paralleled much of this gender controversy. In 1972, I began my psychiatric residency training and was confronted with whether to recommend abortions for psychiatric reasons, most commonly severe depression and suicide risk. I recall doing so without exception until Roe v Wade was passed in 1973 and exemptions were no longer needed.

When I was inducted into the army on July 1, 1977, as a psychiatrist, I was stationed at Ft. McClellan, Alabama, which was then the military base for WACs (Women’s Army Corps). However, the WAC was dismantled in the armed services about a year later, on October 20, 1978; as a result, women units were integrated with men, which seemed to be recognition of sharing relevant military traits.

I can’t vouch for the physical capabilities of women on the base at that time, but they seemed invaluable in the ways that Carol Gilligan, PhD, researched and documented, starting in 1977.² Although there are certainly overlaps and exceptions, compared to a male emphasis on moral judgment, women tended to emphasize relationships, along with empathy and caring, obviously of potential value in child rearing. That relative difference seemed to translate well to working in health care and to defuse conflicts. No wonder, then, that there seemed to be more women in psychiatry than other medical specialties before the Civil Rights era. Perhaps it fits, too, that the most famous primatologist of our time was a woman, Jane Goodall, who just passed away.

What seems to be ignored in this war on women is not only what makes women biologically and sometimes culturally different, but what is so valuable about such differences and how they might complement the common tendencies of men. Such complementary tendencies can be particularly valuable not only in the military, but also in relationships and business, let alone in the potential complementary tendencies of couples within and across each gender.

H. Steven Moffic, MD

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

References

1. Dworkin A. Life and Death: Unapologetic Writings on the Continuing War Against Women. 1989; Free Press.

2. Gilligan C. In a different voice: women’s conceptions of self and of morality. Harvard Educational Review. 1977;47(4): 481-517.