Five Defining Pivotal Events in the Erosion of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
This time last year, organisations advocating for women's rights were steeling themselves against a new Trump administration. Scarcely anyone expected. The torrent and swiftness of presidential directives issued from the White House were seen as a calculated strategy to induce a state of shock. This strategy had its intended impact – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as groups rushed to compensate for the loss left by a major funding freeze. But that was just the beginning.
The Washington leadership has been the central catalyst, supported by fervent lobbying efforts by religious fundamentalist networks seizing the opportunity to build worldwide connections with sympathetic regimes.
Often termed the anti-gender movement denotes an international coalition of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that seek to undermine forward movement on multiple topics. Areas targeted involve access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They pursue this agenda via pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We look at five junctures that impacted the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In early spring, six weeks after a major US aid agency is halted, causing global disruption, a leading figure in the administration states that nearly all of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, ex-presidents and relief and public health authorities criticize the move, predicting that fatalities will ensue. Activists 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. Numerous groups say females will bear the brunt by reduced funding, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, data shows how a significant mortality toll has been exacted 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 leader of an international advocacy group says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance 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 strategic summit held concurrently with 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 welcome new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the poison of patriarchy” is resurgent, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening established norms on key women’s rights issues around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among rights advocates. In early May, a national leader and spouse open a major forum to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are graced 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 multilateral bodies. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
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 incinerate a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a warehouse in Europe. A major reproductive health federation states that their incineration will prevent countless females from access to birth control, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains at a standstill as the regional government are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is commonplace under 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 national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. More details on the broader enforcement are anticipated next year. A director of a major health partnership says broadening the policy will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.
