'Opportunities Are Now Closed': Trump’s DEI Crackdown Deals a Heavy Blow to ‘New Girls Clubs’

President Donald Trump's crackdown on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives has had a staggering impact on women's initiatives in business, especially on the 'New Girls Clubs,' suggests a new report.

When campaigning for his second presidential run, Trump vowed to eliminate DEI programs in federal workplaces and the military.

Soon after taking office in early 2025, he signed executive orders that would focus on "merit-based" hiring, abolish DEI practices, offices and training, and target "illegal" DEI initiatives in education and the private sector.

What followed was a ripple effect.

In an attempt to avoid lawsuits, many of the country's biggest companies rolled back their DEI initiatives, which Trump described as a "radical ideology" and a reversal of the Civil Rights era policies to instead promote an "anti-white" sentiment.

Many women-led business ventures have suffered in the wake of Trump's executive orders eliminating DEI practices.

Reshma Saujani, the founder of Moms First, spoke about the impact in a conversation with USA Today.

According to the media outlet, Saujani used to receive dozens of invitations to speak at networking events, where she would discuss at length about her experience as a woman building two nonprofits, her struggles with fertility and her run for Congress.

However, this year, she hardly received any invitations.

"I was sharing my journey, my story, my past, my wisdom, my tools, my tips, my tricks, probably reaching hundreds of thousands of people a year," Saujani said.

"Those opportunities are now closed. Those conferences aren't happening. Those talks are not being organized," she added.

According to Saujani, Trump's suppression of DEI initiatives is the reason behind this growing trend. More and more companies have reportedly felt the pressure to align with Trump's agenda in recent months.

For instance, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a lawsuit against a Coca-Cola distributor for hosting a women's retreat.

The federal lawsuit charged the beverage company with excluding male employees from an employer-sponsored event based on s*x.

According to Saujani, such a lawsuit could harm many 'New Girl Clubs' founded to help women find networking opportunities, mentorship and support groups.

"The reality is that women didn't build these networks because they wanted to. They built them because they had to," she told the media outlet.

"What we were doing is allowing women and people of color to gather, to share information, to share stories, to be inspired and to see there is a path forward for them," Saujani told USA Today.

"Shutting those opportunities down is not about restoring a meritocracy. Shutting those down is about ensuring there isn't a meritocracy," she added.

Amy Diehl, gender equity researcher and author of Glass Walls, echoed a similar sentiment.

She said that Sheryl Sandberg's 2013 book Lean In led to an increase in dedicated networking groups for women.

This trend, she opined, did not represent exclusion, but was only a response to it.

Women's networks "don't exclude men, they help women catch up," Diehl said.

However, the news outlet notes that the Trump administration's characterization of such initiatives as exclusionary has prompted many organizations to scale back or dissolve gender-focused mentorship programs, coaching efforts and employee resource groups.

"Regardless of how these cases are ultimately resolved, the effect is already being felt," Diehl said.