Five Defining Pivotal Events in the Rollback of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in 2025.
This time last year, groups dedicated to gender equality were steeling themselves against a return of Donald Trump to office. Scarcely anyone expected. The volume and speed of executive orders issued from the White House were interpreted as a premeditated approach to overwhelm and create panic. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as agencies hastened to plug the hole left by a major funding freeze. But that was just the beginning.
The Washington leadership has been the central catalyst, supported by vigorous campaigning by far-right organisations seizing the opportunity to strengthen global ties with political allies.
Often termed the anti-gender movement refers to a global network of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that aim to roll back gains in a variety of areas. This covers abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They accomplish their goals by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We review five junctures that affected the safety, dignity and lives of females globally.
USAID Dismantled
In the month of March, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is suspended, causing widespread distress, a top American diplomat states that over eighty percent of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, past leaders and aid and medical specialists criticize the move, warning that lives will be lost. Human rights advocates say that the demise of the agency is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and birth control and maternal healthcare. Numerous groups say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by shrinking assistance, especially in war zones. As the year ends, statistics reveal how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with millions more to come. Another pair of leading funders proceed with parallel slashes. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference
In the same month, several Christian-right organisations meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a strategic summit held in parallel with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they welcome new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the gender equality forum with a grave caution that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among rights advocates. In May, a president and first lady open a large assembly to resist what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another Pan-African conference on conservative ethics is held. Both events are graced by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to resist “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has grown significantly.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a European depot. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent a huge female population from access to birth control, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains in deadlock as host nation officials refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. 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 encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are anticipated next year. A leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.
