A Quintet of Significant Developments in the Assault on the Rights of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
Twelve months prior, women’s rights organisations were preparing for a Trump presidency sequel. Scarcely anyone expected. The torrent and swiftness of White House mandates coming out of the White House were viewed as a calculated strategy to induce a state of shock. The tactic proved effective – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as organisations scrambled to fill the gap left by a major funding freeze. But the situation was about to worsen.
The Trump administration has been the primary force, supported by intense advocacy work by ultra-conservative groups using the moment to solidify transnational relationships with ideological partners.
Often termed the anti-gender movement denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that aim to roll back forward movement on multiple topics. This covers pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.
They achieve this through pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We examine five junctures that shaped the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In March, a month and a half following a key American development organization is suspended, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat states that over eighty percent of the organization's initiatives will be axed. American foreign service officers, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts decry the decision, stating that people will die as a result. Rights defenders 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. Many organisations say the impact on girls and women will be severe by diminishing aid, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, statistics reveal how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Two other major donor nations initiate similar reductions. A director of a global justice organization says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a biannual gathering 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 high spirits as they celebrate shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the women’s summit with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are actively undermining longstanding consensus on key women’s rights issues around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa centered on the conservative family structures and national independence triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In early May, a national leader and spouse open a significant conference to resist what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of global institutions. In June, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Activists observe that the extent of foreign involvement has grown significantly.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As health facilities across Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a warehouse in Europe. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. 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 reach their intended destinations, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
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 was widely expected when the rule was reinstated in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. 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 include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.
