Five Key Moments in the Attack on the Rights of Females in the Past Year.

This time last year, women’s rights organisations were bracing themselves for a second Trump term. Scarcely anyone expected. The sheer number and rapid pace of executive orders emanating from the White House were viewed as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. The tactic proved effective – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as groups rushed to address the shortfall left by a freeze on international development funds. But this was only the precursor.

The American government has been the key driver, complemented by intense advocacy work by religious fundamentalist networks capitalizing on the climate to forge international alliances with political allies.

This opposition to progressive rights refers to a global network of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that seek to undermine forward movement on multiple topics. This encompasses reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.

They accomplish their goals by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.

We examine five episodes that influenced the welfare, autonomy, and survival of women and girls.

USAID Effectively Dismantled

In early spring, a month and a half following a key American development organization is halted, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration states that a vast majority of the organization's initiatives will be axed. American foreign service officers, former presidents and aid and medical specialists condemn the news, predicting that fatalities will ensue. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say females will bear the brunt by reduced funding, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, reports confirm how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network 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 high-end hotel in NYC for a two-day conference held in parallel with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in high spirits as they applaud shifts in US policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is resurgent, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening established norms on key women’s rights issues around the world.

Summits Promoting Conservative Norms

Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among human rights defenders. In early May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to resist what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A shortly thereafter, another continental gathering on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to stand up to “radical global social engineering” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a family strengthening conference in the region, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence has grown significantly.

Contraceptive Destruction Order

As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in midsummer 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 contraceptive supplies, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “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 refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government will not allow usable products to be destroyed.

Broader Restrictions on Aid

Reviving the global gag rule, which cuts American funding for 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 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 expand the global gag rule to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are likely forthcoming. A director of a major health partnership says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the broadened restrictions.