Five Defining Pivotal Events in the Challenge to the Rights of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.
Twelve months prior, organisations advocating for women's rights were preparing for a return of Donald Trump to office. Few were prepared for. The flood and velocity of executive orders issued from the White House were viewed as a premeditated approach to cause confusion and fear. This strategy had its intended impact – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as agencies hastened to fill the gap left by a freeze on international development funds. But this was only the precursor.
The American government has been the main instigator, aided by intense advocacy work by far-right organisations exploiting the situation to strengthen global ties with sympathetic regimes.
The movement against gender equality refers to a global network of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as billionaire families and individuals that seek to undermine advances on numerous fronts. These include access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They accomplish their goals by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We review five instances that influenced the welfare, autonomy, and survival of girls and women.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In March, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is suspended, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration states that over eighty percent of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities criticize the move, stating that people will die as a result. Rights defenders say that the demise of the agency is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and birth control and maternal healthcare. Many organisations say the impact on girls and women will be severe by diminishing aid, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, reports confirm how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Additional key contributing countries proceed with parallel slashes. A leader of an international advocacy group says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a move to appease a political ally.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a biannual gathering held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they applaud new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the women’s summit with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the conservative family structures and national independence triggers anxiety among human rights defenders. In May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A soon after, another Pan-African conference on traditional morals is held. Both events are graced by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker urges African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of multilateral bodies. In June, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has grown significantly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a European depot. A leading family planning organization states that their destruction will deny a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government will not allow the destruction of viable medicines.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the ban was reimposed in January. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. 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. Further specifics about the broader enforcement are expected in early 2026. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
