A Quintet of Landmark Occurrences in the Assault on the Rights of Females in the Past Year.

This time last year, women’s rights organisations were preparing for a return of Donald Trump to office. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The sheer number and rapid pace of executive orders originating in the White House were regarded as a calculated strategy to cause confusion and fear. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as networks struggled to compensate for the loss left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen.

The Trump administration has been the central catalyst, bolstered by relentless activism by religious fundamentalist networks seizing the opportunity to strengthen global ties with like-minded governments.

Often termed the anti-gender movement denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as billionaire families and individuals that aim to roll back progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This encompasses reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.

They achieve this through pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.

We look at five moments that shaped the welfare, autonomy, and survival of females globally.

The Dismantling of USAID

In the month of March, shortly after a major US aid agency is suspended, causing widespread distress, a top American diplomat states that the lion's share of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists denounce the action, warning that lives will be lost. Activists say that the demise of the agency is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Many organisations say the impact on girls and women will be severe by shrinking assistance, especially in conflict areas. 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 a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders announce their own austerity measures. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.

Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit

In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a biannual gathering held alongside the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is back, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are actively undermining historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In early May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to push back on what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are graced by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to resist “radical global social engineering” of global institutions. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the extent of foreign involvement has expanded considerably.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As health facilities across Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as host nation officials will not allow usable products to be destroyed.

Broader Restrictions on Aid

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 was anticipated when the policy was restored 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. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are anticipated next year. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.