In 2011, I moved to Washington, D.C. to work in the Office of Global Women’s Issues. I only half joke when I tell people now that I knocked on the door until they let me in. And for over a decade, on and off, I was proud to be a part of an office driving one of most strategic opportunities in foreign policy: advancing women’s leadership. This investment has long been one of smart economics, raising GDP, reducing poverty, and boosting countries’ abilities to weather shocks, like natural disasters and humanitarian crises. Women’s leadership and participation in peace negotiations also leads to higher quality and more durable peace negotiations.

In other words, I knew that working to advance women’s and girls’ rights worldwide was an evidence-backed, strategic investment in the kind of world I wanted: wealthier, more secure, more stable, more equal. The best predictor of a country’s long-term stability is not its wealth, but how the country supports its women citizens. And in the 10+ years I spent working there, most recently as chief of staff, that evidence was proven correct, time and again.

With a total annual budget that the Pentagon spends in the time it takes to watch a YouTube video, the office OF Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced he will completely eliminate the office that has punched far above its (tiny) weight, whether that was supporting women leaders, preventing violence against children, or helping women start businesses.  We successfully fought a regressive effort to reverse a ban on female genital mutilation in the Gambia. We used the weight of the Oval Office to treat mass rape and sexual enslavement like the human rights violation it is. We trained young girls across the world in leadership skills; one of the graduates of the program used her newfound voice to stop a so-called “brideknapping” as it was happening. After hearing from countless women politicians, journalists, and civil society leaders about how toxic and dangerous the online world has become, and how that was impacting their decision to remain in public roles, we launched the first-ever global rapid response fund to help women who had recently been doxed move houses or increase security for their children. Using even more chutzpah than I did in my 20s, we banged on even thicker doors until they opened, namely for women peacebuilders negotiating a better future for their wartorn countries. We brought together, for the first time, a global caucus for women politicians who saw the benefit of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda – crossing language, ethnic, and physical borders to coalesce around the powerful solution of women’s leadership.

The dismantling of my former office is not just an abandonment of a smart, strategic investment, or even of American diplomacy and its longstanding commitment to human rights. It’s a warning sign for all countries, including the U.S., about what happens when we are no longer investing in proven solutions for economic prosperity and stability.

One of the most memorable meetings I had during my tenure at State was with two heroic women’s rights activists, both Nobel Peace Prize winners, from two separate, intensely repressive governments. Despite the intense DC summer heat, each wore hijabs, long sleeves, and long dresses. As they left, one of them gently touched my bare arm and told me, “I hope you are not dressed as I am the next time we meet. Trust me, it can all change overnight.”

Congress still retains the ability to say no to this planned reorganization, to ask more questions, and to refuse the firing of my former staff and the dismantling of our programs. We must each, as individual citizens, call on them not to slam the doors shut on women’s and girls’ rights.

Overnight, everything has changed.

Varina Winder is the former Chief of Staff and senior advisor in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues. Prior to serving at the State Department, she worked at the United Nations Foundation in support of improving women’s access to global family planning.