A Quintet of Key Moments in the Rollback of the Rights of Females in the Past Year.
In the previous year, feminist advocacy groups were steeling themselves against a second Trump term. Few were prepared for. The sheer number and rapid pace of administrative decrees originating in the White House were seen as a premeditated approach to overwhelm and create panic. This strategy had its intended impact – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as organisations scrambled to fill the gap left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But that was just the beginning.
The American government has been the key driver, aided by fervent lobbying efforts by religious fundamentalist networks capitalizing on the climate to strengthen global ties with ideological partners.
Often termed the anti-gender movement signifies a transnational grouping of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as affluent financiers and clans that work to dismantle forward movement on multiple topics. This covers reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They do this by influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We analyze five junctures that impacted the protection, honor, and existence of girls and women.
The Dismantling of USAID
In the month of March, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is halted, causing global disruption, a leading figure in the administration announces that a vast majority of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, former presidents and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, stating that lives will be lost. Rights defenders say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, 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 regions of instability. As the year ends, reports confirm 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. Additional key contributing countries initiate similar reductions. A director of a global justice organization says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference
In the same month, several Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held alongside 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 celebrate shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the venom of male dominance” is back, after a study indicates that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining established norms on key women’s rights issues around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among human rights defenders. In early May, a head of state and partner open a significant conference to resist 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 resist “radical global social engineering” of multilateral bodies. In June, a major religious institution hosts a family strengthening conference in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has expanded considerably.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July 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 access to birth control, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reviving the global gag rule, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the ban was reimposed in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. 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 cover diversity programmes. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A leader in global maternal health says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become conditional on accepting the broadened restrictions.
