2 Trump Administration Decisions May Impact Older Women

By Dorian Martin, I Start Wondering Founder

The Trump Administration made two critical policy announcements targeting key women’s issues (health and financial independence) on Thursday, April 24. Those announcements underscore why women—especially older women—need to further step into our own independence and sovereignty while also embracing advocacy and leadership roles.

Earlier in the day, it was announced that the administration planned to cut funding for the landmark Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). Later that evening, President Trump signed an executive order to evaluate all pending proceedings under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)

Changing Course on Women’s Health Initiative

However, the Administration reversed itself (for the moment) on the WHI decision late Thursday, stating that it changed course because, according to a spokesman, the department has “initially exceeded its internal targets for contract reductions.”

Earlier that day, the Department of Health and Human Services notified the four regional centers in California, New York, Ohio, and North Carolina that have managed the study that their contracts would be terminated in September. This was part of the administration’s decision to cut at least 35% of its contracts, in addition to massive layoffs, grant terminations, and other billions in funding cuts at federal health agencies. 

The WHI immediately expressed concern about these cuts. “The full implications of these funding cuts are still being determined, but these contract terminations will significantly impact ongoing research and data collection—especially the detailed participant health event data collected by [regional center] staff,” the WHI stated. “The loss of this critical data stream would severely limit [the] WHI’s ability to generate new insights into the health of older women, one of the fastest-growing segments of our population.”

Fate of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act

The fate of the ECOA—which was created in 1974 to prevent lenders from discriminating against women based on marital status—remains up in the air. Prior to the ECOA, women could be asked to have a male relative or spouse co-sign for their credit cards or loans.

Newsweek reported that the president cannot single-handedly remove the ECOA. However, Trump’s executive order can make it challenging for women to get federal help advocating against gender discrimination and also can allow federally funded projects to discriminate based on gender. 

We won’t go in more detail yet since this executive order was just signed but would invite our readers to track the ripple effects from this executive order.

Impact on Older Women

In reality, do these types of decisions by the Trump Administration truly matter? We at I Start Wondering believe they do—and the ramifications are huge. 

Just take the WHI decision, which has been reversed for the moment. As ISW Columnist Kaye Olsson noted in her aptly titled column, “The Health Costs of Being a Woman in a Man’s World”:

“Women pay tremendous costs for living in a world built around male data, which can sometimes be deadly — especially regarding healthcare. From chronic pain to emergency room visits, women’s medical concerns are often dismissed at higher rates than those of men. One study showed that middle-aged women with chest pain were twice as likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness (and prescribed antidepressants) when compared to their male counterparts. Another study found that women and people of color who visited emergency rooms waited longer to be seen by a doctor. “

In reviewing the WHI website, we found many recently published studies that are focused on key issues of interest to I Start Wondering’s community. These include weight loss in postmenopausal women, hypertension, association of lung cancer and depression among postmenopausal women, and the association of long COVID-19 symptoms, physical function, and activities of daily living among older women. 

Short-Sighted Policy Decision

What is becoming increasingly evident is that many of this administration’s policy decisions are random and incoherent, often not aligning with their espoused policy goals, such as fighting chronic diseases. 

While I Start Wondering’s team does respect the need to make responsible policy and spending choices, many of the current administration’s decisions do not appear to be well thought-out. Instead, this administration’s efforts seem to be based on a “slash and burn” mindset instead of making economically wise decisions that are both ethically sound and take the long-term well-being of all of the nation’s citizens into account.

Therefore, we encourage our readers to:

• Embrace your own sovereignty: Actively research policy decisions that will impact you instead of only focusing on policies that will impact your children, grandchildren, and community.

• Take an advocacy role: Contact your elected representatives to voice your concerns about any of the administration’s decisions on these policy areas.

• Become a leader: Remain up to date on potential policies that can have negative implications on you as an older woman and share them with your girlfriends to build a community of support and action.