Five Critical Pivotal Events in the Attack on the Rights of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
Twelve months prior, groups dedicated to gender equality were anticipating a second Trump term. Few were prepared for. The torrent and swiftness of White House mandates coming out of the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to paralyze through overload. In many ways it worked – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as groups rushed to plug the hole left by a freeze on international development funds. But this merely marked the opening act.
The Trump administration has been the primary force, supported by intense advocacy work by far-right organisations exploiting the situation to forge international alliances with political allies.
The anti-rights movement refers to a global network of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as affluent financiers and clans that strive to weaken advances on numerous fronts. This encompasses reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They accomplish their goals by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We review five junctures that impacted the welfare, autonomy, and survival of the female population.
USAID Dismantled
In the month of March, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is halted, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat announces that a vast majority of the body's projects will be terminated. Career diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, predicting that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. Numerous groups say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by reduced funding, especially in war zones. 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. Another pair of leading funders proceed with parallel slashes. A head of a worldwide campaign network 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 March, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue 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 buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the gender equality forum with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa focused on the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among human rights defenders. In May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to combat what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another regional summit on conservative ethics 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 push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in the region, an event that health activists say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Activists observe that the extent of foreign involvement has grown significantly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As medical centers in numerous African countries 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 storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent countless females from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains at a standstill as host nation officials will not allow usable products to be destroyed.
‘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 commonplace under certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. 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 national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. More details on the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.
