Five Pivotal Events in the Rollback of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
This time last year, feminist advocacy groups were anticipating a Trump presidency sequel. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The torrent and swiftness of presidential directives coming out of the White House were regarded as a calculated strategy to cause confusion and fear. The tactic proved effective – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as networks struggled to plug the hole left by a sudden aid suspension. But that was just the beginning.
The Washington leadership has been the main instigator, aided by fervent lobbying efforts by far-right organisations exploiting the situation to forge international alliances with sympathetic regimes.
This opposition to progressive rights denotes an international coalition of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as billionaire families and individuals that work to dismantle advances on numerous fronts. This encompasses abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They achieve this through influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We review five episodes that affected the welfare, autonomy, and survival of females globally.
The Dismantling of USAID
In early spring, six weeks after a major US aid agency is halted, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat announces that over eighty percent of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists condemn the news, warning 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 birth control and maternal healthcare. Numerous groups say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in war zones. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Two other major donor nations proceed with parallel slashes. A leader of an international advocacy group says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference
In March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a two-day conference held concurrently with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an opportunity to share tactics 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 world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is returning, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty triggers anxiety among human rights defenders. In May, a national leader and spouse open a major forum to resist what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another Pan-African conference on traditional morals is held. Both events are participated in by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker urges African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of global institutions. In June, a global faith group hosts a family strengthening conference in an African nation, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Campaigners note that the level of external participation has expanded considerably.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a European depot. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent millions of women and girls from family planning options, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. 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 “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities will not allow perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reviving the global gag rule, which prohibits Washington's support for 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 sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. More details on the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A director of a major health partnership says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
