Five Critical Pivotal Events in the Rollback of the Rights of Females in the Past Year.

A year ago, organisations advocating for women's rights were preparing for a second Trump term. Hardly anyone anticipated. The flood and velocity of executive orders originating in the White House were viewed as a deliberate tactic to induce a state of shock. This strategy had its intended impact – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as groups rushed to fill the gap left by a freeze on international development funds. But the situation was about to worsen.

The American government has been the primary force, complemented by intense advocacy work by religious fundamentalist networks using the moment to forge international alliances with ideological partners.

The movement against gender equality 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 advances on numerous fronts. This covers access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.

They achieve this through lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.

We analyze five episodes that affected the safety, dignity and lives of women and girls.

USAID Effectively Dismantled

In March, six weeks after a prominent humanitarian funder is suspended, causing international chaos, a senior US official confirms that over eighty percent of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, past leaders and humanitarian and health experts decry the decision, stating that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates say that the closure of the organization is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and family planning and reproductive care. Many organisations say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by shrinking assistance, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, statistics reveal how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Two other major donor nations follow with their own cuts. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.

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 in parallel with 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 buoyant mood as they celebrate changes in American foreign policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening historic agreements on key women’s rights issues around the world.

Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa

Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among rights advocates. In May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another continental gathering on conservative ethics is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker calls on African NGOs to resist “international liberal agenda” of multilateral bodies. In June, a prominent church hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the level of external participation has expanded considerably.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a warehouse in Europe. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. 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 prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.

Broader Restrictions on Aid

Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are likely forthcoming. A director of a major health partnership says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.