Five Defining Landmark Occurrences in the Assault on the Rights of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.
Twelve months prior, women’s rights organisations were anticipating a Trump presidency sequel. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The flood and velocity of administrative decrees coming out of the White House were interpreted as a intentional maneuver to paralyze through overload. In many ways it worked – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as networks struggled to fill the gap left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen.
The American government has been the main instigator, complemented by fervent lobbying efforts by far-right organisations using the moment to strengthen global ties with like-minded governments.
Often termed the anti-gender movement refers to a global network of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that aim to roll back advances on numerous fronts. This encompasses reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They achieve this through lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We analyze five junctures that affected the security, respect, and well-being of females globally.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In the month of March, a month and a half following a key American development organization is frozen, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat confirms that a vast majority of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. Career diplomats, former presidents and aid and medical specialists denounce the action, warning that mortality will increase. Human rights advocates say that the closure of the organization is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a savage attack on human rights and birth control and maternal healthcare. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by reduced funding, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, data shows how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Two other major donor nations announce their own austerity measures. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is a move to appease a political ally.
Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference
In March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a strategic summit held alongside the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the women’s summit with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding historic agreements on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among human rights defenders. In May, a national leader and spouse open a major forum to resist what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another Pan-African conference on conservative ethics is held. Both events are graced by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker calls on African NGOs to stand up to “radical global social engineering” of multilateral bodies. In June, a major religious institution hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in the region, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Campaigners note that the extent of foreign involvement has increased markedly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
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 dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a warehouse in Europe. A leading family planning organization states that their destruction will deny a huge female population 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 deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “callous and reckless”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as the regional government will not allow usable products to be destroyed.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reviving the global gag rule, 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 rule was reinstated in the first month of the year. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become dependent on agreeing to the new, wider policy.
