Five Critical Pivotal Events in the Erosion of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.
In the previous year, groups dedicated to gender equality were anticipating a second Trump term. Scarcely anyone expected. The torrent and swiftness of White House mandates coming out of the White House were seen as a calculated strategy to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as networks struggled to plug the hole left by a major funding freeze. But this merely marked the opening act.
The American government has been the main instigator, aided by relentless activism by deeply conservative factions using the moment to forge international alliances with ideological partners.
This opposition to progressive rights describes a worldwide alliance of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that strive to weaken progress across a wide spectrum of issues. Areas targeted involve abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They accomplish their goals by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We examine five episodes that impacted the safety, dignity and lives of women and girls.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In early spring, six weeks after a prominent humanitarian funder is frozen, causing widespread distress, a senior US official states that nearly all of the institution's work will be scrapped. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and relief and public health authorities denounce the action, predicting that people will die as a result. Rights defenders say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. Many organisations say females will bear the brunt by reduced funding, especially in war zones. As the year ends, statistics reveal how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with many more millions at risk. Another pair of leading funders initiate similar reductions. A leader of an international advocacy group says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a two-day conference held alongside the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they applaud new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is back, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among rights advocates. In May, a national leader and spouse open a significant conference to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A shortly thereafter, another regional summit on conservative ethics is held. Both events are participated in by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker urges African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In June, a major religious institution hosts a family strengthening conference in the region, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the level of external participation has expanded considerably.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive countless females from family planning options, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as host nation officials are blocking perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which halts US aid to groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the rule was reinstated in January. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in October, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions 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 expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.