A Quintet of Landmark Occurrences in the Rollback of the Rights of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
Twelve months prior, organisations advocating for women's rights were preparing for a second Trump term. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The torrent and swiftness of executive orders coming out of the White House were seen as a deliberate tactic to induce a state of shock. This strategy had its intended impact – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as agencies hastened to fill the gap left by a major funding freeze. But the situation was about to worsen.
The US administration has been the central catalyst, aided by vigorous campaigning by religious fundamentalist networks capitalizing on the climate to solidify transnational relationships with ideological partners.
This opposition to progressive rights signifies a transnational grouping of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that strive to weaken forward movement on multiple topics. This covers abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They accomplish their goals by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We analyze five instances that affected the welfare, autonomy, and survival of girls and women.
USAID Dismantled
In early spring, six weeks after a prominent humanitarian funder is its funds are blocked, causing international chaos, a leading figure in the administration announces that over eighty percent of the institution's work will be scrapped. US diplomats, former presidents and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, warning that mortality will increase. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and access to contraception and reproductive health services. A multitude of agencies say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, evidence indicates how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with many more millions at risk. Two other major donor nations proceed with parallel slashes. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding is a move to appease a political ally.
Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference
In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a strategic summit held in parallel with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in buoyant mood as they welcome new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining established norms on key women’s rights issues around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In May, a head of state and partner open a significant conference to resist what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another continental gathering on conservative ethics 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 stand up to “international liberal agenda” of global institutions. In June, a prominent church hosts a family strengthening conference in an African nation, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the extent of foreign involvement has expanded considerably.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
As health facilities across Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation 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 dogmatic choice “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which cuts American funding for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the rule was reinstated in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Further specifics about the expansion of the rule are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.
