Five Defining Crucial Incidents in the Rollback of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
In the previous year, organisations advocating for women's rights were bracing themselves for a return of Donald Trump to office. 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. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as organisations scrambled to fill the gap left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But that was just the beginning.
The American government has been the central catalyst, complemented by intense advocacy work by far-right organisations capitalizing on the climate to forge international alliances with ideological partners.
The movement against gender equality denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that work to dismantle gains in a variety of areas. This covers abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They do this by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We examine five instances that shaped the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women.
The Dismantling of USAID
In the month of March, shortly after a major US aid agency is frozen, causing international chaos, a senior US official reveals that over eighty percent of the body's projects will be terminated. Career diplomats, former presidents and aid and medical specialists condemn the news, warning that lives will be lost. Activists say that the demise of the agency is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and birth control and maternal healthcare. Many organisations say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by shrinking assistance, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, data shows how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries proceed with parallel slashes. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In the same month, several Christian-right organisations 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 opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the women’s summit with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is returning, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening historic agreements on key women’s rights issues around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among equality campaigners. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to resist what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another continental gathering on conservative ethics is held. Both events are graced by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker urges African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in an African nation, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the level of external participation has expanded considerably.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are running out of contraceptives, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a warehouse in Europe. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny millions of women and girls 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 “a calculated move to control fertility”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “heartless and dangerous”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains in deadlock as host nation officials are blocking usable products to be destroyed.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reviving the global gag rule, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the ban was reimposed in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in October, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Further specifics about the broader enforcement are likely forthcoming. A director of a major health partnership says broadening the policy will have “catastrophic impacts”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.
