Five Defining Key Moments in the Challenge to the Rights of Females in the Past Year.

This time last year, feminist advocacy groups were anticipating a second Trump term. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The flood and velocity of executive orders coming out of the White House were interpreted as a premeditated approach to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as groups rushed to plug the hole left by a freeze on international development funds. But the situation was about to worsen.

The US administration has been the central catalyst, bolstered by relentless activism by far-right organisations capitalizing on the climate to forge international alliances with like-minded governments.

Often termed the anti-gender movement signifies a transnational grouping of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that seek to undermine advances on numerous fronts. Areas targeted involve abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.

They do this by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.

We review five instances that shaped the protection, honor, and existence of girls and women.

The Dismantling of USAID

In early spring, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is suspended, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat announces that over eighty percent of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. American foreign service officers, past leaders and humanitarian and health experts decry the decision, cautioning that lives will be lost. Rights defenders say that the dismantling of this institution is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and access to contraception and reproductive health services. A multitude of agencies say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in war zones. As the year ends, statistics reveal how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. 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.

Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting

In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a strategic summit held in parallel with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they welcome shifts in US policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is back, after a analysis demonstrates that opponents of gender equality are deliberately weakening historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In early May, a national leader and spouse open a major forum to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. 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 leaders of well-known groups. One speaker urges African NGOs to resist “international liberal agenda” of global institutions. In June, a prominent church hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Activists observe that the level of external participation has grown significantly.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As health facilities across Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a European depot. A leading family planning organization states that their destruction will deny 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 imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines.

‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded

Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the policy was restored in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in October, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Further specifics about the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A leader in global maternal health says broadening the policy will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.