Five Defining Crucial Incidents in the Rollback of the Rights of Women and Girls in This Past Year.

In the previous year, groups dedicated to gender equality were anticipating a second Trump term. Few were prepared for. The volume and speed of administrative decrees issued from the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to induce a state of shock. This strategy had its intended impact – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as organisations scrambled to plug the hole left by a sudden aid suspension. But this merely marked the opening act.

The US administration has been the primary force, complemented by vigorous campaigning by deeply conservative factions using the moment to build worldwide connections with like-minded governments.

The movement against gender equality refers to a global network of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as billionaire families and individuals that seek to undermine progress across a wide spectrum of issues. Areas targeted involve 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 junctures that influenced the safety, dignity and lives of the female population.

USAID Effectively Dismantled

In March, six weeks after a key American development organization is halted, causing widespread distress, a senior US official announces that over eighty percent of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. Career diplomats, former presidents and relief and public health authorities denounce the action, cautioning that people will die as a result. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and access to contraception and reproductive health services. A multitude of agencies say females will bear the brunt by diminishing aid, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, data shows 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 follow with their own cuts. A leader of an international advocacy group 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 faith-based advocacy networks meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a biannual gathering held in parallel with the international conference on women's rights. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the women’s summit with a stark warning that “the poison of patriarchy” is back, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are actively undermining longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.

Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa

Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy raises concerns among equality campaigners. In May, a president and first lady open a large assembly to resist what they label external influences undermining local norms. A soon after, another regional summit on traditional morals is held. Both events are graced by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a family strengthening conference in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the extent of foreign involvement has grown significantly.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a storage facility in Belgium. A global sexual health network states that their destruction will deny 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 forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “callous and reckless”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.

‘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 commonplace under certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the policy was restored 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 extend the restrictions to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. More details on the policy's widened application 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.