Five Critical Key Moments in the Attack on the Rights of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.
Twelve months prior, feminist advocacy groups were steeling themselves against a return of Donald Trump to office. Scarcely anyone expected. The torrent and swiftness of presidential directives issued from the White House were interpreted as a calculated strategy to overwhelm and create panic. The tactic proved effective – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as groups rushed to plug the hole left by a freeze on international development funds. But this merely marked the opening act.
The US administration has been the main instigator, supported by relentless activism by ultra-conservative groups seizing the opportunity to solidify transnational relationships with sympathetic regimes.
The anti-rights movement refers to a global network of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as billionaire families and individuals that strive to weaken progress across a wide spectrum of issues. Areas targeted involve pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.
They achieve this through lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We review five moments that shaped the security, respect, and well-being of the female population.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In March, six weeks after a key American development organization is suspended, causing global disruption, a leading figure in the administration confirms that nearly all of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. US diplomats, past leaders and humanitarian and health experts criticize the move, stating that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and birth control and maternal healthcare. Numerous groups say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, reports confirm how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Additional key contributing countries announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference
In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a two-day conference held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is back, after a report shows that anti-rights actors 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 centered on the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among equality campaigners. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to combat what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another regional summit on conservative ethics is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that health activists say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has expanded considerably.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are running out of contraceptives, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a warehouse in Europe. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny 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 politically-motivated move “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains in deadlock as the regional government will not allow perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which prohibits Washington's support 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 policy was restored in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Further specifics about the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.
