Elon Musk and President Trump say they’re making the government leaner. But according to sociologist Dr. Jessica Calarco, the U.S. isn’t trimming fat—it’s offloading responsibility, and women are being left to pick up the slack.

Since its creation on Inauguration Day 2025, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has laid off thousands of federal workers and canceled billions in contracts. Musk, whom Trump appointed as a “special government employee” to run DOGE, claims the project is saving up to $1 billion a day. But as Dr. Calarco wrote in an MSNBC op-ed, those savings come at a human cost—one disproportionately shouldered by women.

DOGE is cutting services, but women are expected to cover the gap

DOGE’s job cuts target workers who help Americans access everything from Social Security to student aid, taxes, health care, and special education services. That may sound like “bureaucratic streamlining.” However, Calarco argues that when government support disappears, women—particularly mothers, daughters, and sisters—are expected to step in.

“In my research as a sociologist,” Calarco wrote, “I found that the United States has long relied on women’s unpaid labor as a social safety net, especially during times of crisis.”

She points to World War II as an example, when women held down factory jobs, cared for children and elders, ran victory gardens and community drives, and policymakers still discarded them once the war ended.

“When the war was over,” she wrote, “American policymakers abandoned women.”

What DOGE is doing now mirrors past government failures

Calarco draws a direct line from the post-war era to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, women again became the country’s de facto safety net. They were the ones who navigated school closures, supported sick or isolated relatives, kept families connected, and absorbed the emotional labor of a national emergency.

“When it was over, policymakers abandoned women,” Calarco added. She points to the collapse of President Biden’s Build Back Better plan as a missed opportunity. The bill would have funded child care, elder care, universal preschool, and caregiver support by raising taxes on billionaires. Instead, the burden remained with women.

This time, Calarco warns, the crisis isn’t a war or a pandemic. It’s self-inflicted.

Musk and his team are shifting federal responsibilities onto households

Trump’s DOGE has already claimed over $100 billion in “savings,” according to Fox Business. But these cuts don’t eliminate need—they just push that need onto families.

As Calarco explained, women will now have to:

  • Support kids who lose access to childcare or special education
  • Care for aging relatives with less Social Security support
  • Manage tighter household budgets amid rising costs
  • Search for new doctors as providers leave the system
  • Offer emotional support to jobless partners
  • Pause their own careers to stay home when children get sick
  • Navigate broken bureaucracies to access what’s left of public aid

“The powers that be are again banking on women,” she wrote, “betting that they will stretch themselves thin to keep their families and communities from falling into the holes they are slashing in the safety net.”

What DOGE has actually cut—according to the numbers

So far, DOGE has focused on canceling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, terminating federal leases, and cutting contracts across multiple agencies. According to Fox Business and DOGE’s own website, the department claims to have:

  • Canceled 2,334 contracts ($8 billion in savings)
  • Terminated 3,489 grants ($10 billion)
  • Ended 748 leases ($660 million)

However, outlets like The Wall Street Journal have questioned those numbers. In February, the Journal found DOGE’s claimed savings dropped from $16.5 billion to $7.2 billion in just three days as contracts were removed or edited. Some of the cuts listed as recent had actually occurred under the Biden administration.

DOGE’s most aggressive early move was eliminating 85 DEI-related contracts, worth an estimated $1 billion, across more than a dozen agencies. According to Fox Business, the department also shut down USAID’s operations temporarily and signaled that the State Department might absorb the agency.

Dr. Calarco warns women might strike back

She suggests that this time, women may not quietly absorb the extra labor. Referencing Iceland’s historic 1975 women’s strike, Calarco writes, “Rather than stretch themselves past their breaking points, I wouldn’t be surprised if this time, women in the U.S. take another page from history’s playbook and declare … they’re going on strike.”

Trump and Musk may be trying to reshape the federal government. But as history and Calarco’s research show, ignoring the cost to women has never ended well.

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