Five Major Pivotal Events in the Erosion of the Rights of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.
In the previous year, groups dedicated to gender equality were bracing themselves for a new Trump administration. Few were prepared for. The volume and speed of White House mandates issued from the White House were viewed as a deliberate tactic to induce a state of shock. This strategy had its intended impact – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as agencies hastened to address the shortfall left by a major funding freeze. But this merely marked the opening act.
The US administration has been the key driver, complemented by fervent lobbying efforts by ultra-conservative groups using the moment to solidify transnational relationships with like-minded governments.
This opposition to progressive rights signifies a transnational grouping of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as affluent financiers and clans that work to dismantle forward movement on multiple topics. This covers abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They achieve this through lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We examine five instances that influenced the protection, honor, and existence of females globally.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In the month of March, shortly after a major US aid agency is frozen, causing widespread distress, a senior US official confirms that a vast majority of the institution's work will be scrapped. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, warning that lives will be lost. Rights defenders say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and birth control and maternal healthcare. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by shrinking assistance, especially in war zones. As the year ends, data shows how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. Two other major donor nations follow with their own cuts. A director of a global justice organization says a choice to reduce international development funding is a move to appease a political ally.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a biannual gathering held in parallel with the international conference on women's rights. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they welcome changes in American foreign policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the warmer months, a series of conferences in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among human rights defenders. In early May, a president and first lady open a major forum to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are graced by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the level of external participation has grown significantly.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
As health facilities across Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to destroy millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their elimination will deprive 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 exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “callous and reckless”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains unresolved as host nation officials refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, 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 was widely expected when the ban was reimposed in January. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are anticipated next year. A leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.