Five Major Crucial Incidents in the Erosion of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.

In the previous year, organisations advocating for women's rights were steeling themselves against a return of Donald Trump to office. Few were prepared for. The flood and velocity of administrative decrees emanating from the White House were viewed as a intentional maneuver to induce a state of shock. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as networks struggled to plug the hole left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But this was only the precursor.

The US administration has been the primary force, complemented by fervent lobbying efforts by religious fundamentalist networks using the moment to solidify transnational relationships with ideological partners.

The movement against gender equality describes a worldwide alliance of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as ultra-rich backers and donors 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 achieve this through pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.

We review five moments that shaped the welfare, autonomy, and survival of females globally.

USAID Dismantled

In early spring, six weeks after a major US aid agency is suspended, causing global disruption, a senior US official reveals that a vast majority of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts criticize the move, cautioning that mortality will increase. Human rights advocates say that the closure of the organization is more than a funding crisis, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and family planning and reproductive care. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, reports confirm how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with millions more to come. Two other major donor nations initiate similar reductions. 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.

Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting

In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is returning, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining historic agreements on key women’s rights issues around the world.

Summits Promoting Conservative Norms

Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa centered on the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among human rights defenders. In May, a national leader and spouse open a major forum to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another regional summit on conservative ethics is held. Both events are graced by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in the region, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the scale of their presence has increased markedly.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are facing shortages of birth control, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. 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 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 “callous and reckless”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities refuse to permit perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.

‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded

Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the policy was restored in the first month of the year. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. 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 cover diversity programmes. Further specifics about the broader enforcement are likely forthcoming. A leader in global maternal health says broadening the policy will have “catastrophic impacts”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.