Five Defining Pivotal Events in the Assault on the Rights of Females in the Year 2025.
A year ago, feminist advocacy groups were preparing for a new Trump administration. Few were prepared for. The torrent and swiftness of executive orders issued from the White House were interpreted as a premeditated approach to paralyze through overload. In many ways it worked – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as organisations scrambled to plug the hole left by a major funding freeze. But this was only the precursor.
The US administration has been the key driver, bolstered by vigorous campaigning by ultra-conservative groups using the moment to solidify transnational relationships with political allies.
Often termed the anti-gender movement describes a worldwide alliance of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as affluent financiers and clans that aim to roll back forward movement on multiple topics. This encompasses pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.
They pursue this agenda via influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We analyze five junctures that shaped the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women.
USAID Dismantled
In March, a month and a half following a prominent humanitarian funder is suspended, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat states that a vast majority of the body's projects will be terminated. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, cautioning that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates say that the closure of the organization is more than a funding crisis, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. Many organisations say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by reduced funding, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Two other major donor nations proceed with parallel slashes. A director of a global justice organization says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a move to appease a political ally.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held in parallel with the international conference on women's rights. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they applaud shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the warmer months, a series of conferences in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among rights advocates. In early May, a president and first lady open a significant conference to push back on what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including heads of influential networks. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In June, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in West Africa, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
As health facilities across Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including prophylaxis for assault victims, 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 incineration will prevent millions of women and girls from access to birth control, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government will not allow the destruction of viable medicines.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Further specifics about the expansion of the rule are anticipated next year. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
