Five Critical Crucial Incidents in the Assault on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in 2025.
This time last year, feminist advocacy groups were steeling themselves against a return of Donald Trump to office. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The volume and speed of White House mandates originating in the White House were viewed as a deliberate tactic to cause confusion and fear. This strategy had its intended impact – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as networks struggled to fill the gap left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen.
The Washington leadership has been the key driver, bolstered by intense advocacy work by religious fundamentalist networks seizing the opportunity to build worldwide connections with ideological partners.
The movement against gender equality describes a worldwide alliance of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as billionaire families and individuals that seek to undermine gains in a variety of areas. This covers abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They pursue this agenda via lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We examine five episodes that shaped the safety, dignity and lives of women and girls.
USAID Dismantled
In early spring, shortly after a major US aid agency is halted, causing global disruption, a leading figure in the administration reveals that a vast majority of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. US diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, predicting that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, it is a savage attack on human rights and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Many organisations say females will bear the brunt by waning support, especially in war zones. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. Two other major donor nations initiate similar reductions. 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 the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a biannual gathering held in parallel with the international conference on women's rights. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they applaud new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is returning, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among human rights defenders. In May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A shortly thereafter, another regional summit 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 “radical global social engineering” of global institutions. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the level of external participation has expanded considerably.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to incinerate a vast stockpile of birth control held in a European depot. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as host nation officials refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, 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 rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.
