WARRIOR Act Proposes Gender-Neutral Military Standards
WARRIOR Act Proposes Gender-Neutral Military Standards
In 2025, the Associated Press reports that the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, went on the record prior to his Senate confirmation hearings, saying that he believed women were unfit for frontline jobs in the United States Military.
The AP quotes Hegseth saying, “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective. Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated…”
The Defense Secretary’s comments ignore 10 years of women’s accomplishments in combat roles, including Senator Tammy Duckworth’s legacy as the first disabled combat veteran to be elected to Congress.
Hegseth also chooses to gloss over the legacy of Representative Martha McSally, the first woman fighter pilot to fly in combat and the first woman to command a fighter squadron in combat. McSally, a retired colonel, was first elected to Congress in 2014.
How the WARRIOR Act Works
The WARRIOR ACT calls for gender-neutral standards. It also demands oversight to ensure assignments reflect performance, not identity. All of this is happening while the Pentagon is “reviewing” the effectiveness of women in combat positions since the rules prohibiting women in combat changed over a decade ago (see below).
Representative Chrissy Houlahan, a former Air Force officer, introduced the legislation on April 14, 2026, along with 36 cosponsors, all with military backgrounds, including Representatives Gil Cisneros, Pat Ryan, Mike Thompson, and Derek Tran.
Requirements of the Act
The WARRIOR Act would, if passed, update federal laws from 1996 and 2006 that its sponsors believe are outdated. The new legislation would ban military branches from excluding a servicemember from any job, career field, or assignment because of sex.
The WARRIOR Act would require the Department of Defense to submit an annual report to Congress describing any changes to military standards and explaining how those changes relate to the duties required in each military career field or specialty.
The bill would also, if passed, also require the Pentagon to track and report how many service members are moved to new jobs or separated from the military for reasons other than discipline or court-martial.
All of these features of the bill build on a 2015 policy change that opened all military roles to women. Since then, women have joined units across the Army and Marine Corps. According to one NPR report, about 4,500 women now serve in ground combat roles.
About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
