Five Defining Landmark Occurrences in the Attack on the Rights of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
A year ago, women’s rights organisations were preparing for a Trump presidency sequel. Scarcely anyone expected. The torrent and swiftness of administrative decrees coming out of the White House were viewed as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. The tactic proved effective – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as groups rushed to fill the gap left by a major funding freeze. But this was only the precursor.
The US administration has been the central catalyst, bolstered by fervent lobbying efforts by far-right organisations seizing the opportunity to build worldwide connections with like-minded governments.
The movement against gender equality signifies a transnational grouping of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that work to dismantle gains in a variety of areas. This covers access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They pursue this agenda via influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We examine five junctures that impacted the safety, dignity and lives of women and girls.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In the month of March, six weeks after a key American development organization is frozen, causing widespread distress, a top American diplomat announces that nearly all of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts condemn the news, warning that fatalities will ensue. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and family planning and reproductive care. Many organisations say the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Two other major donor nations initiate similar reductions. A leader of an international advocacy group says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In the same month, several Christian-right organisations meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a biannual gathering held concurrently with the international conference on women's rights. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the women’s summit with a somber alert that “the venom of male dominance” is back, after a analysis demonstrates that opponents of gender equality are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on key women’s rights issues around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the warmer months, a series of conferences in Africa focused on the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among rights advocates. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to resist what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A soon after, another regional summit on conservative ethics is held. Both events are attended by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including heads of influential networks. One speaker urges African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a family strengthening conference in West Africa, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has increased markedly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their incineration will prevent countless females from family planning options, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “callous and reckless”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as host nation officials refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reviving the global gag rule, which cuts American funding for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the ban was reimposed in January. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.
