Five Major Key Moments in the Rollback of the Rights of Females in the Past Year.
In the previous year, organisations advocating for women's rights were anticipating a second Trump term. Few were prepared for. The torrent and swiftness of White House mandates originating in the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. The tactic proved effective – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as agencies hastened to compensate for the loss left by a freeze on international development funds. But this merely marked the opening act.
The Trump administration has been the key driver, complemented by intense advocacy work by far-right organisations seizing the opportunity to forge international alliances with political allies.
This opposition to progressive rights refers to a global network of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that strive to weaken forward movement on multiple topics. This encompasses reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They do this by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We examine five junctures that shaped the security, respect, and well-being of the female population.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In March, a month and a half following a key American development organization is frozen, causing global disruption, a senior US official announces that the lion's share of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, stating that mortality will increase. Rights defenders say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. Many organisations say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by shrinking assistance, especially in war zones. As the year ends, statistics reveal how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with many more millions at risk. Additional key contributing countries announce their own austerity measures. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a biannual gathering held in parallel with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they applaud shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding established norms on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In the start of May, a president and first lady open a large assembly to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker calls on African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the level of external participation has increased markedly.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
As health facilities across Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a European depot. A global sexual health network states that their incineration will prevent millions of women and girls from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as host nation officials refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which cuts American funding for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the policy was restored in January. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. 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 cover diversity programmes. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are anticipated next year. A leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.
