A Quintet of Key Moments in the Assault on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.
Twelve months prior, women’s rights organisations were bracing themselves for a return of Donald Trump to office. Scarcely anyone expected. The torrent and swiftness of executive orders issued from the White House were interpreted as a deliberate tactic to paralyze through overload. The tactic proved effective – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as networks struggled to fill the gap left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen.
The American government has been the primary force, bolstered by relentless activism by far-right organisations seizing the opportunity to forge international alliances with sympathetic regimes.
This opposition to progressive rights denotes an international coalition of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as billionaire families and individuals that strive to weaken progress across a wide spectrum of issues. Areas targeted involve 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 review five junctures that affected the welfare, autonomy, and survival of women and girls.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In March, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is suspended, causing widespread distress, a leading figure in the administration reveals that over eighty percent of the body's projects will be terminated. American foreign service officers, former presidents and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, stating that lives will be lost. Activists say that the demise of the agency is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a savage attack on human rights and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Numerous groups say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by diminishing aid, especially in war zones. As the year ends, statistics reveal how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries follow with their own cuts. A director of a global justice organization says a choice to reduce international development funding is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference
In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a strategic summit held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they applaud new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the global conference with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is returning, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are actively undermining established norms on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among rights advocates. In May, a president and first lady open a significant conference to combat what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another regional summit on traditional morals is held. Both events are graced by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to resist “international liberal agenda” of global institutions. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the extent of foreign involvement has grown significantly.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
As health facilities across Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, 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 warehouse in Europe. A global sexual health network states that their destruction will deny a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains in deadlock as the regional government are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.
Broader Restrictions on Aid
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in October, 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 encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. More details on the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being discussed with African nations will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.
