🔗 Share this article Five Defining Significant Developments in the Assault on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year. Twelve months prior, women’s rights organisations were steeling themselves against a Trump presidency sequel. Few were prepared for. The torrent and swiftness of administrative decrees issued from the White House were seen as a premeditated approach to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as organisations scrambled to address the shortfall left by a sudden aid suspension. But this merely marked the opening act. The American government has been the central catalyst, supported by vigorous campaigning by religious fundamentalist networks seizing the opportunity to strengthen global ties with sympathetic regimes. The anti-rights movement signifies a transnational grouping of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as billionaire families and individuals 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 pursue this agenda via lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups. We examine five instances that influenced the welfare, autonomy, and survival of girls and women. The Dismantling of USAID In the month of March, a month and a half following a key American development organization is its funds are blocked, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat announces that a vast majority of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. US diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, stating that mortality will increase. Activists say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by waning support, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, reports confirm how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda. 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 two-day conference held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate shifts in US policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a grave caution that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining established norms on fundamental freedoms for women around the world. Summits Promoting Conservative Norms Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa focused on the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In early May, a president and first lady open a major forum to resist what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to resist “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In June, 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. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has grown significantly. Contraceptive Destruction Order As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are running out of contraceptives, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to destroy a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a storage facility in Belgium. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from contraceptive supplies, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “heartless and dangerous”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities refuse to permit perfectly good supplies to be incinerated. ‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded Reviving the global gag rule, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the rule was reinstated in January. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in October, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule 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 anticipated next year. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.
Twelve months prior, women’s rights organisations were steeling themselves against a Trump presidency sequel. Few were prepared for. The torrent and swiftness of administrative decrees issued from the White House were seen as a premeditated approach to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as organisations scrambled to address the shortfall left by a sudden aid suspension. But this merely marked the opening act. The American government has been the central catalyst, supported by vigorous campaigning by religious fundamentalist networks seizing the opportunity to strengthen global ties with sympathetic regimes. The anti-rights movement signifies a transnational grouping of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as billionaire families and individuals 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 pursue this agenda via lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups. We examine five instances that influenced the welfare, autonomy, and survival of girls and women. The Dismantling of USAID In the month of March, a month and a half following a key American development organization is its funds are blocked, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat announces that a vast majority of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. US diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, stating that mortality will increase. Activists say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by waning support, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, reports confirm how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda. 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 two-day conference held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate shifts in US policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a grave caution that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining established norms on fundamental freedoms for women around the world. Summits Promoting Conservative Norms Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa focused on the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In early May, a president and first lady open a major forum to resist what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to resist “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In June, 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. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has grown significantly. Contraceptive Destruction Order As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are running out of contraceptives, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to destroy a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a storage facility in Belgium. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from contraceptive supplies, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “heartless and dangerous”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities refuse to permit perfectly good supplies to be incinerated. ‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded Reviving the global gag rule, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the rule was reinstated in January. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in October, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule 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 anticipated next year. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.