Five Landmark Occurrences in the Attack on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.
This time last year, groups dedicated to gender equality were preparing for a Trump presidency sequel. Hardly anyone anticipated. The sheer number and rapid pace of executive orders coming out of the White House were interpreted as a premeditated approach to induce a state of shock. This strategy had its intended impact – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as agencies hastened to address the shortfall left by a freeze on international development funds. But this was only the precursor.
The Washington leadership has been the central catalyst, bolstered by intense advocacy work by far-right organisations seizing the opportunity to forge international alliances with like-minded governments.
The anti-rights movement refers to a global network of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that work to dismantle gains in a variety of areas. This encompasses reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They pursue this agenda via pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We review five instances that impacted the security, respect, and well-being of the female population.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In early spring, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is frozen, causing global disruption, a top American diplomat announces that a vast majority of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, former presidents and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, warning that mortality will increase. Rights defenders say that the closure of the organization is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. Numerous groups say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by reduced funding, especially in conflict areas. 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 a far greater catastrophe looming. Additional key contributing countries initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network 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 March, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a biannual gathering held concurrently with the international conference on women's rights. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is back, after a analysis demonstrates 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 sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In early May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A soon after, another regional summit on traditional morals is held. Both events are graced by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a family strengthening conference in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. 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 facing shortages of birth control, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a storage facility in Belgium. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as host nation officials are blocking perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of 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 October, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are anticipated next year. A leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being negotiated with countries in Africa will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.
