Five Critical Landmark Occurrences in the Attack on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
In the previous year, organisations advocating for women's rights were anticipating a second Trump term. Scarcely anyone expected. The flood and velocity of administrative decrees issued from the White House were regarded as a premeditated approach to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as agencies hastened to address the shortfall left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But that was just the beginning.
The Trump administration has been the primary force, complemented by vigorous campaigning by deeply conservative factions capitalizing on the climate to build worldwide connections with ideological partners.
This opposition to progressive rights signifies a transnational grouping of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as billionaire families and individuals that aim to roll back advances on numerous fronts. These include access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They achieve this through lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We review five moments that influenced the welfare, autonomy, and survival of the female population.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In early spring, a month and a half following a prominent humanitarian funder is its funds are blocked, causing widespread distress, a top American diplomat announces that the lion's share of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. US diplomats, former presidents and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, cautioning that lives will be lost. Activists say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and birth control and maternal healthcare. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in war zones. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with millions more to come. Two other major donor nations initiate similar reductions. A leader of an international advocacy group says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a move to appease a political ally.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held in parallel with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in high spirits as they applaud shifts in US policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on key women’s rights issues around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa focused on the conventional household and state autonomy raises concerns among rights advocates. In May, a president and first lady open a significant conference to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the scale of their presence has grown significantly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to destroy a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. A global sexual health network states that their destruction will deny millions of women and girls 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 “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as host nation officials refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reviving the global gag rule, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the policy was restored 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 sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.
