A Quintet of Landmark Occurrences in the Attack on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.
Twelve months prior, women’s rights organisations were steeling themselves against a second Trump term. Few were prepared for. The flood and velocity of executive orders coming out of the White House were seen as a intentional maneuver to cause confusion and fear. This strategy had its intended impact – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as organisations scrambled to compensate for the loss left by a major funding freeze. But that was just the beginning.
The American government has been the key driver, bolstered by vigorous campaigning by deeply conservative factions seizing the opportunity to solidify transnational relationships with ideological partners.
Often termed the anti-gender movement signifies a transnational grouping of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that aim to roll back progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This covers abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They accomplish their goals by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We examine five moments that shaped the protection, honor, and existence of the female population.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In the month of March, six weeks after a key American development organization is frozen, causing widespread distress, a leading figure in the administration confirms that the lion's share of the institution's work will be scrapped. US diplomats, former presidents and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, warning that people will die as a result. Rights defenders say that the closure of the organization is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and birth control and maternal healthcare. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by waning support, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, data shows how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Another pair of leading funders initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a two-day conference held in parallel with the international conference on women's rights. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they welcome shifts in US policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a grave caution that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa themed around the conventional household and state autonomy sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another regional summit on conservative ethics is held. Both events are participated in by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker urges African NGOs to resist “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of global institutions. In June, a prominent church hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the extent of foreign involvement has increased markedly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
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 incinerate a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent countless females from access to birth control, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity 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 unresolved as host nation officials are blocking usable products to be destroyed.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which halts US aid to groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is standard practice for 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 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 policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that fresh American assistance deals being negotiated with countries in Africa will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.
