Five Defining Pivotal Events in the Erosion of the Rights of Women and Girls in the Past Year.

A year ago, feminist advocacy groups were anticipating a second Trump term. Hardly anyone anticipated. The sheer number and rapid pace of administrative decrees coming out of the White House were regarded as a premeditated approach to cause confusion and fear. The tactic proved effective – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as agencies hastened to address the shortfall left by a sudden aid suspension. But this was only the precursor.

The Washington leadership has been the central catalyst, aided by fervent lobbying efforts by deeply conservative factions exploiting the situation to solidify transnational relationships with like-minded governments.

Often termed the anti-gender movement signifies a transnational grouping of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that work to dismantle advances on numerous fronts. This encompasses access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.

They pursue this agenda via lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.

We examine five instances that influenced the security, respect, and well-being of females globally.

The Dismantling of USAID

In March, six weeks after a key American development organization is frozen, causing global disruption, a leading figure in the administration reveals that the lion's share of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, past leaders and humanitarian and health experts condemn the news, warning that fatalities will ensue. Activists say that the demise of the agency is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. Numerous groups say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, evidence indicates how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries follow with their own cuts. 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 conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a biannual gathering held alongside the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate changes in American foreign policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the venom of male dominance” is returning, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening historic agreements on key women’s rights issues around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa focused on the conservative family structures and national independence triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In May, a president and first lady open a major forum to resist what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another Pan-African conference on traditional morals is held. Both events are graced by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of global institutions. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in the region, an event that health activists say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has grown significantly.

Contraceptive Destruction Order

As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are running out of contraceptives, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to incinerate a vast stockpile of birth control held in a warehouse in Europe. A leading family planning organization states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities will not allow usable products to be destroyed.

Broader Restrictions on Aid

Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which cuts American funding for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the rule was reinstated in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in October, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Further specifics about the expansion of the rule are anticipated next year. A director of a major health partnership says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.