A Quintet of Significant Developments in the Erosion of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
Twelve months prior, feminist advocacy groups were preparing for a new Trump administration. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The sheer number and rapid pace of White House mandates emanating from the White House were seen as a intentional maneuver to cause confusion and fear. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as groups rushed to fill the gap left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen.
The Washington leadership has been the key driver, complemented by vigorous campaigning by religious fundamentalist networks capitalizing on the climate to forge international alliances with political allies.
The movement against gender equality refers to a global network of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as affluent financiers and clans that aim to roll back advances on numerous fronts. These include abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They achieve this through influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We analyze five moments that affected the security, respect, and well-being of the female population.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In early spring, shortly after a key American development organization is suspended, causing global disruption, a leading figure in the administration confirms that over eighty percent of the institution's work will be scrapped. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts criticize the move, stating that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by waning support, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, statistics reveal 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. Two other major donor nations announce their own austerity measures. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding is a move to appease a political ally.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a strategic summit held in parallel with the international conference on women's rights. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in high spirits as they welcome changes in American foreign policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are deliberately weakening established norms on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among human rights defenders. In May, a president and first lady open a large assembly to combat what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another Pan-African conference on traditional morals is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that health activists say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Activists observe that the level of external participation has increased markedly.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are facing shortages of birth control, 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 European depot. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent countless females 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 exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “heartless and dangerous”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities are blocking perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
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 came as no surprise 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 broaden the scope of the policy to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become conditional on accepting the broadened restrictions.
