Five Defining Key Moments in the Rollback of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
A year ago, women’s rights organisations were anticipating a new Trump administration. Hardly anyone anticipated. The flood and velocity of executive orders originating in the White House were interpreted as a calculated strategy to cause confusion and fear. The tactic proved effective – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as organisations scrambled to address the shortfall left by a sudden aid suspension. But this was only the precursor.
The US administration has been the key driver, bolstered by vigorous campaigning by ultra-conservative groups exploiting the situation to build worldwide connections with political allies.
The anti-rights movement describes a worldwide alliance of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that seek to undermine progress across a wide spectrum of issues. These include pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.
They achieve this through lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We look at five junctures that shaped the protection, honor, and existence of the female population.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In early spring, six weeks after a major US aid agency is its funds are blocked, causing widespread distress, a senior US official confirms that over eighty percent of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, former presidents and relief and public health authorities criticize the move, stating that fatalities will ensue. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. Numerous groups say females will bear the brunt by reduced funding, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, reports confirm how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with many more millions at risk. Another pair of leading funders initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a move to appease a political ally.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a biannual gathering held alongside 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 shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the poison of patriarchy” is back, after a report shows that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among equality campaigners. In May, a national leader and spouse open a significant conference to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A soon after, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are graced by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to resist “radical global social engineering” of global institutions. In June, a global faith group hosts a family strengthening conference in West Africa, an event that health activists say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the level of external participation has increased markedly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
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 July plans to destroy millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny 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 politically-motivated move “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government will not allow usable products to be destroyed.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits Washington's support for 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 January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in October, 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. More details on the broader enforcement are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.
