Trump to give women bigger seat at the table in second term

President-elect Donald Trump‘s second administration is set to have more women serving at senior levels than his first, although he still trails the diversity of President Joe Biden’s starting roster when he entered the White House.

As of Tuesday, at least 10 women have been announced for top positions in the new administration, mostly in Trump’s Cabinet. He is still making appointments with two months to go until Inauguration Day, but the figure already outpaces the female representation when Trump first took office in 2017.

The trend is notable given that gender became a bitter dividing line on the campaign trail, with businessman Mark Cuban, a surrogate for Vice President Kamala Harris, at one point accusing Trump of not associating himself with “strong, intelligent women.”

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Trump’s rival in the GOP primary, also warned that he was at risk of alienating female voters due to his heavy outreach to men. The gender gap was sizable in exit polling on Election Day, at 7 points, but not out of the norm compared to prior cycles.

The first sign of Trump’s elevation of women came when he announced Susie Wiles, the co-chair of his campaign, as White House chief of staff days after the election.

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The selection of Wiles is historic, as the Florida operative will become the first female chief of staff in the nation’s history.

“It’s very, very, very clear that she is a force and a very reasoned and rational force,” a former Trump official told the Washington Examiner in the days after Wiles’s promotion was announced.

Karoline Leavitt, the campaign’s national press secretary, will join Trump’s White House as press secretary, making her the youngest person to hold that title and the first member of Gen Z to stand behind the podium.

Trump also tapped Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) as Homeland Security secretary, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of National Intelligence, outgoing Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer as labor secretary, and Pam Bondi as attorney general after Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration.

If Gabbard is confirmed, she would be the first person of Pacific Islander heritage to lead the intelligence agencies. But her confirmation is far from secure due to claims that she parrots the talking points of American adversaries such as Russia and Syria.

In a sign of ideological diversity, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the second ex-Democrat, apart from Gabbard, to be nominated by Trump for a Cabinet post. Though he, too, faces skepticism over his vaccine hesitancy. Kennedy has been chosen to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

“The diversity isn’t just the number of women,” said Republican strategist Dennis Lennox. “It’s also diverse in that it’s the first parliamentary coalition-style Cabinet that we’ve seen in the United States. This Cabinet is a broad church — it’s representative of the coalition that propelled the Trump restoration.”

Other women named to senior posts include Brooke Rollins, the nominee for agriculture secretary, former WWE CEO Linda McMahon for education secretary, and Dr. Janette Nesheiwat for surgeon general.

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House Republican Conference chairwoman Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) accepted Trump’s offer to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the days after the election.

Republicans have cited the appointments to rebut the Democratic argument that Trump does not respect women.

“Trump’s nominees shatter the narrative that legacy media and Democrats pushed before the election,” said Lennox. “This diverse, historic Cabinet, a Cabinet that is set to be at least one-third women, shouldn’t really be a surprise. Trump has long surrounded himself by smart, powerful women. Trump’s second-term Cabinet is a Cabinet of all the talents.”

Meanwhile, Democrats note that several of Trump’s nominees have been accused of sexual misconduct in response.

“He has clearly appointed some women, and that’s to his credit, but he has also appointed at least two people I know of who have serious allegations of being sexual predators,” said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon.

The Justice Department investigated Gaetz as part of a sex trafficking investigation but declined to bring charges. Separately, a House Ethics Committee into whether Gaetz had sex with a minor led to calls for its report to be released.

Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, was accused of sexual assault stemming from a 2017 case, but he and Gaetz both deny any wrongdoing.

“That certainly is not a testament to Trump’s affinity for female Cabinet appointees,” Bannon said of the allegations. “And of course, the president himself is an adjudicated sexual abuser in the E. Jean Carroll case, so I would say the Republican claim that Trump is female-friendly is absurd.”

Trump’s elevation of women appears to narrowly trail Biden, who has 11 women in Cabinet or Cabinet-level positions, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. The CAWP also notes that Trump appointed seven women to these roles during his first administration.

Trump’s Cabinet is still largely made up of white men, such as Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, Hegseth, Howard Lutnick for commerce secretary, and Sean Duff for transportation secretary.

But, the president-elect has also elevated people of color in his Cabinet, with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) set to become the nation’s first Hispanic secretary of state if he is confirmed, as appears likely.

Trump also selected former NFL player Scott Turner, a black man, to be secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former reality TV doctor, was chosen by Trump to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and, if confirmed, would be the first Muslim person to hold the position.

treasury secretary nominee Scott Bessent would replace Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as the highest-ranking openly gay person, if he is confirmed.