A Quintet of Crucial Incidents in the Assault on the Rights of Females in the Past Year.
Twelve months prior, groups dedicated to gender equality were preparing for a second Trump term. Scarcely anyone expected. The torrent and swiftness of administrative decrees issued from the White House were seen as a premeditated approach to overwhelm and create panic. This strategy had its intended impact – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as agencies hastened to compensate for the loss left by a sudden aid suspension. But this merely marked the opening act.
The American government has been the key driver, complemented by intense advocacy work by far-right organisations capitalizing on the climate to solidify transnational relationships with like-minded governments.
Often termed the anti-gender movement signifies a transnational grouping of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that work to dismantle progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This encompasses access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They do this by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We analyze five instances that influenced the welfare, autonomy, and survival of women and girls.
USAID Dismantled
In the month of March, shortly after a key American development organization is its funds are blocked, causing international chaos, a leading figure in the administration confirms that a vast majority of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, predicting that fatalities will ensue. Human rights advocates say that the closure of the organization is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in war zones. As the year ends, reports confirm 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 announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization says a choice to reduce international development funding is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a two-day conference held concurrently with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they welcome shifts in US policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the women’s summit with a stark warning that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is returning, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa focused on the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In early May, a president and first lady open a large assembly to resist what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A few days later, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In June, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families 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 expanded considerably.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their destruction will deny a huge female population from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. 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 international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains at a standstill as host nation officials are blocking perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
Broader Restrictions on Aid
Reviving the global gag rule, which cuts American funding for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the rule was reinstated 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 encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. More details on the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being negotiated with countries in Africa will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
