A Quintet of Landmark Occurrences in the Attack on the Rights of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
This time last year, organisations advocating for women's rights were anticipating a new Trump administration. Few were prepared for. The volume and speed of White House mandates issued from the White House were viewed as a deliberate tactic to induce a state of shock. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as groups rushed to compensate for the loss left by a sudden aid suspension. But this was only the precursor.
The Washington leadership has been the primary force, aided by fervent lobbying efforts by far-right organisations using the moment to forge international alliances with ideological partners.
The movement against gender equality denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that aim to roll back gains in a variety of areas. This encompasses pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.
They achieve this through influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We examine five episodes that shaped the safety, dignity and lives of females globally.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In early spring, six weeks after a key American development organization is halted, causing global disruption, a senior US official confirms that a vast majority of the body's projects will be terminated. American foreign service officers, past leaders and aid and medical specialists criticize the move, warning that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates say that the demise of the agency is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and family planning and reproductive care. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by waning support, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Additional key contributing countries follow with their own cuts. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding is a move to appease a political ally.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a analysis demonstrates that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining historic agreements on key women’s rights issues around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among human rights defenders. In early May, a president and first lady open a major forum to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another continental gathering on family values is held. Both events are graced by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker urges African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In June, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in an African nation, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence 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 midsummer plans to dispose of a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a warehouse in Europe. A major reproductive health federation states that their incineration will prevent a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. 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 “cruel and irresponsible”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as host nation officials are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reviving the global gag rule, which halts US aid to 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 the first month of the year. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in October, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. More details on the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “unimaginable effects”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the broadened restrictions.
