The United States emerged as the sole defender of biological women at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, voting against a document that failed to define “woman,” promoted radical gender ideology and DEI principles, and included ambiguous language on reproductive rights while ignoring motherhood and unique female experiences.
The commission, made up of 36 nations, produces an annual report on women’s issues. This year’s version was criticized by Bethany Kozma, Director of Global Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services under President Donald Trump, for being “co-opted to include men pretending to be women.” Kozma highlighted the omissions: “No mention of motherhood or unique female experiences,” and “it failed to define what a woman is.”
The document clashed with the Trump administration’s pro-woman policies, which include defining womanhood based on biology, banning boys from girls’ spaces and sports, rejecting transgenderism in medicine, and eliminating DEI in corporations and academia. The U.S. delegation, including Kozma and Natalie Dodson, senior advisor to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., negotiated in good faith. They proposed amendments calling for clear definitions of men and women to eliminate ambiguity. These were bundled and rejected by the council.
The final draft was sent late, without addressing U.S. concerns, in what Kozma described as a deliberate tactic to isolate America. During the Monday vote, the U.S. opposed the document alone, while six nations abstained: Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Mali, Mauritania, and Saudi Arabia. Kozma expressed pride in America’s stance: “We were the only country that was voting to protect women and girls.” She credited President Trump’s moral leadership for turning the tide and defending women and girls against globalist agendas.