Five Defining Crucial Incidents in the Attack on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.

Twelve months prior, women’s rights organisations were anticipating a second Trump term. Hardly anyone anticipated. The volume and speed of White House mandates coming out of the White House were viewed as a deliberate tactic to induce a state of shock. The tactic proved effective – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as groups rushed to fill the gap left by a freeze on international development funds. But this was only the precursor.

The Washington leadership has been the central catalyst, complemented by relentless activism by deeply conservative factions capitalizing on the climate to forge international alliances with ideological partners.

The anti-rights movement denotes an international coalition of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that aim to roll back progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This encompasses access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.

They accomplish their goals by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.

We examine five moments that affected the safety, dignity and lives of girls and women.

USAID Effectively Dismantled

In March, shortly after a major US aid agency is frozen, causing turmoil around the world, a senior US official announces that nearly all of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. US diplomats, past leaders and aid and medical specialists criticize the move, cautioning that mortality will increase. Rights defenders say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, 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 conflict areas. As the year ends, data shows how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Two other major donor nations announce their own austerity measures. A leader of an international advocacy group 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 strategic summit held in parallel with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they applaud new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the venom of male dominance” is back, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on key women’s rights issues around the world.

Summits Promoting Conservative Norms

Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In the start of May, a president and first lady open a significant conference to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A soon after, another continental gathering on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker urges African NGOs to push back against “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. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably.

US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives

As medical centers in numerous African countries 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 a vast stockpile of birth control held in a warehouse in Europe. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent countless females from access to birth control, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. 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 prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government will not allow usable products to be destroyed.

Broader Restrictions on Aid

Reviving the global gag rule, which cuts American funding for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. More details on the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Pro-choice activists fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being negotiated with countries in Africa will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.