Five Critical Crucial Incidents in the Attack on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
Twelve months prior, feminist advocacy groups were bracing themselves for a second Trump term. Few were prepared for. The volume and speed of White House mandates emanating from the White House were viewed as a calculated strategy to overwhelm and create panic. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as groups rushed to plug the hole left by a major funding freeze. But this was only the precursor.
The Trump administration has been the key driver, aided by relentless activism by ultra-conservative groups capitalizing on the climate to solidify transnational relationships with political allies.
Often termed the anti-gender movement refers to a global network of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as affluent financiers and clans that seek to undermine gains in a variety of areas. This encompasses reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They do this by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We look at five instances that impacted the welfare, autonomy, and survival of girls and women.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In March, six weeks after a key American development organization is frozen, causing global disruption, a top American diplomat states that the lion's share of the institution's work will be scrapped. US diplomats, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, stating that fatalities will ensue. Rights defenders say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, 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 diminishing aid, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, statistics reveal how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders announce their own austerity measures. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a move to appease a political ally.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a two-day conference held concurrently 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 high spirits as they celebrate shifts in US policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the women’s summit with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is back, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa focused on the traditional family and national sovereignty triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In May, a national leader and spouse open a significant conference to resist what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A few days later, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are graced by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In June, a major religious institution hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in an African nation, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Campaigners note that the extent of foreign involvement has increased markedly.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a European depot. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as host nation officials refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.
‘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 standard practice for certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the policy was restored in January. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in October, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are expected in early 2026. A director of a major health partnership says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the broadened restrictions.
