The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has heavily condemned what they’ve described as Pete Hegseth’s “unmistakable” suggestion to ban women from US military service.

The 45-year-old defence secretary prompted a national outcry after claiming the Trump administration aims to hold military servicemembers to the “highest male standard.”

During a speech to senior military leaders at a meeting in Quantico, Virginia, Hegseth made a series of concerning claims, including plans to weaken servicemembers’ ability to lodge complaints and directives forcing all military personnel to shave their beards, regardless of policies allowing many to forgo shaving due to skin conditions or religious reasons.

His speech also emphasised the need for “gender-neutral” testing for combat positions, with men and women required to meet the same minimum physical performance benchmarks, ABC reports, despite the fact that the current training is not different for male and female servicemembers.

“Each service will ensure that every requirement for every combat [military occupational specialty], for every designed combat arms position, returns to the highest male standard only,” he said. “Because this job is life or death, standards must be met, and not just met – at every level, we should seek to exceed the standard, to push the envelope, to compete.

“If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is,” Hegseth continued.

Pete Hegseth has shown ‘hostility to all servicewomen,’ ACLU argues

US military services imposed gender-neutral physical requirements for combat occupational specialties in the 1990s. 12 per cent of combat-certified special operations roles are currently occupied by women.

In an article titled “Pete Hegseth Wants Women Out of the Military—and He’s Not Hiding It”, the ACLU condemned Hegseth’s view that women are physically inferior to men, saying that, regardless of whether his misrepresentation was intentional or the “product of ignorance,” his purpose was “unmistakable: smear women as unqualified while imposing physical fitness standards that he believes they cannot meet.”

“[Pete Hegseth’s] actions as defence secretary betray hostility to all servicewomen,” a spokesperson said. “He spent his first months in office firing numerous senior women leaders – purges that have been matched by his dismissals of Black senior officers and other leaders of colour – and axing the Women, Peace and Security Program.”

In January, Hegseth claimed the US military had lowered its standards by allowing women to serve in combat roles.

Later that month, during a three-hour hearing on Hegseth’s conduct as defence secretary, he walked back on his comments, saying that women in the US military have made “amazing contributions across all aspects of our battlefield.”

He added: “I would like to clarify that when I’m talking about that issue, it’s not about the capabilities of men and women. It’s about standards. And this committee has talked a lot about standards, standards that we unfortunately over time have seen eroded in certain duty positions, certain schools, certain places, which affects readiness.”

His directive comes after the Trump administration banned trans people from serving in the US military, forcibly dismissing thousands of veterans from service.

Trans military servicemembers were dismissed from all US army services in August under an executive order signed by US president Donald Trump in January, claiming their identity was “incompatible with active duty.”

While the US military does not track servicemembers based on gender identity, court filings shared in March estimated that the ban, which was heavily criticised by human rights groups and activists, affected at least 6,630 military personnel.

Attorneys acting on behalf of the administration struggled to justify the order, claiming that public spending on gender-affirming care for trans servicemembers had put a financial strain on the Pentagon. Lawyers later admitted that the government had spent just $52 million on trans healthcare in the last 10 years. The Pentagon’s budget in 2024 was $918.1 billion.

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