Five Major Significant Developments in the Erosion of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.

In the previous year, women’s rights organisations were bracing themselves for a new Trump administration. Hardly anyone anticipated. The torrent and swiftness of administrative decrees issued from the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to induce a state of shock. This strategy had its intended impact – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as agencies hastened to address the shortfall left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But the situation was about to worsen.

The American government has been the key driver, complemented by vigorous campaigning by deeply conservative factions capitalizing on the climate to build worldwide connections with political allies.

The movement against gender equality denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as affluent financiers and clans that aim to roll back gains in a variety of areas. This covers pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.

They do this by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.

We examine five moments that influenced the welfare, autonomy, and survival of females globally.

The Dismantling of USAID

In March, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is suspended, causing international chaos, a leading figure in the administration confirms that nearly all of the organization's initiatives will be axed. American foreign service officers, former presidents and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, warning that lives will be lost. Rights defenders say that the closure of the organization is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a savage attack on human rights and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Many organisations say the impact on girls and women will be severe by waning support, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, data shows how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Additional key contributing countries proceed with parallel slashes. A head of a worldwide campaign network 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 conservative religious groups meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a two-day conference held concurrently with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in buoyant mood as they applaud shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the global conference with a grave caution that “the poison of patriarchy” is resurgent, after a report shows that groups opposing progressive rights are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the warmer months, a series of conferences in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among equality campaigners. In May, a president and first lady open a significant conference 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 calls on African NGOs to stand up to “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 reproductive rights advocates say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Campaigners note that the level of external participation has increased markedly.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to incinerate a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. A leading family planning organization states that their destruction will deny countless females from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “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 reach their intended destinations, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.

Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy

Reviving the global gag rule, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the rule was reinstated in the first month of the year. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in October, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. More details on the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.