A Quintet of Pivotal Events in the Attack on the Rights of Females in the Year 2025.
This time last year, feminist advocacy groups were bracing themselves for a Trump presidency sequel. Few were prepared for. The flood and velocity of White House mandates originating in the White House were interpreted as a deliberate tactic to induce a state of shock. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as groups rushed to plug the hole left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen.
The Washington leadership has been the central catalyst, bolstered by intense advocacy work by far-right organisations capitalizing on the climate to forge international alliances with political allies.
The movement against gender equality refers to a global network of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that aim to roll back gains in a variety of areas. This encompasses 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 foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We analyze five moments that influenced the welfare, autonomy, and survival of the female population.
The Dismantling of USAID
In March, six weeks after a key American development organization is its funds are blocked, causing widespread distress, a senior US official confirms that nearly all of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, warning that fatalities will ensue. Human rights advocates say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, it is a savage attack on human rights 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, statistics reveal how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with millions more to come. Two other major donor nations proceed with parallel slashes. A leader of an international advocacy group says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a two-day conference held concurrently with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate 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 poison of patriarchy” is resurgent, after a analysis demonstrates that opponents of gender equality are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa focused on the conventional household and state autonomy raises concerns among equality campaigners. In the start of May, a president and first lady open a major forum to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A shortly thereafter, another Pan-African conference on traditional morals is held. Both events are participated in by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in the region, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has increased markedly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a warehouse in Europe. A major reproductive health federation states that their incineration will prevent countless females from family planning options, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains in deadlock as host nation officials are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which cuts American funding for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the ban was reimposed 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 extend the restrictions to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Further specifics about the expansion of the rule are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.
