Five Key Moments in the Erosion of the Rights of Females in This Past Year.
This time last year, organisations advocating for women's rights were bracing themselves for a second Trump term. Hardly anyone anticipated. The sheer number and rapid pace of administrative decrees coming out of the White House were interpreted as a intentional maneuver to induce a state of shock. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as groups rushed to address the shortfall left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But this merely marked the opening act.
The US administration has been the central catalyst, supported by intense advocacy work by ultra-conservative groups capitalizing on the climate to forge international alliances with ideological partners.
Often termed the anti-gender movement denotes an international coalition of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that strive to weaken advances on numerous fronts. Areas targeted involve access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They do this by influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We look at five episodes that impacted the security, respect, and well-being of women and girls.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In the month of March, six weeks after a prominent humanitarian funder is its funds are blocked, causing widespread distress, a top American diplomat confirms that over eighty percent of the institution's work will be scrapped. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists condemn the news, cautioning that fatalities will ensue. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by diminishing aid, especially in war zones. As the year ends, reports confirm how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders initiate similar reductions. A director of a global justice organization 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 the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a biannual gathering held concurrently with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in high spirits as they welcome changes in American foreign policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the women’s summit with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is returning, after a analysis demonstrates 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 warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among equality campaigners. In May, a head of state and partner open a significant conference to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker calls on African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In June, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Activists observe that the level of external participation has grown significantly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny countless females from access to birth control, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains unresolved as host nation officials refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.
‘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 commonplace under certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the ban was reimposed 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 expansion of the rule are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.
