A Quintet of Pivotal Events in the Assault on the Rights of Females in This Past Year.
A year ago, organisations advocating for women's rights were preparing for a second Trump term. Scarcely anyone expected. The sheer number and rapid pace of White House mandates coming out of the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. The tactic proved effective – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as networks struggled to fill the gap left by a major funding freeze. But this was only the precursor.
The US administration has been the key driver, aided by fervent lobbying efforts by far-right organisations capitalizing on the climate to forge international alliances with sympathetic regimes.
This opposition to progressive rights describes a worldwide alliance of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that aim to roll back advances on numerous fronts. This encompasses reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They do this by influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We review five moments that shaped the security, respect, and well-being of women and girls.
USAID Dismantled
In the month of March, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is frozen, causing international chaos, a senior US official states that nearly all of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. Career diplomats, former presidents and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, predicting that mortality will increase. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and birth control and maternal healthcare. A multitude of agencies say females will bear the brunt by reduced funding, especially in war zones. As the year ends, statistics reveal how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries proceed with parallel slashes. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a biannual gathering held concurrently with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they welcome changes in American foreign policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are actively undermining established norms on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In May, a head of state and partner open a significant conference to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. 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 leaders of well-known groups. One speaker calls on African NGOs to resist “radical global social engineering” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has increased markedly.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As health facilities across Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation 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 ideological decision “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “heartless and dangerous”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities will not allow the destruction of viable medicines.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which halts US aid to groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the policy was restored in January. 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 governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A director of a major health partnership says broadening the policy will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being negotiated with countries in Africa will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
