A Quintet of Pivotal Events in the Assault on the Rights of Females in the Year 2025.

Twelve months prior, organisations advocating for women's rights were bracing themselves for a new Trump administration. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The sheer number and rapid pace of presidential directives issued from the White House were interpreted as a intentional maneuver to cause confusion and fear. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as networks struggled to fill the gap left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But this was only the precursor.

The Washington leadership has been the central catalyst, complemented by vigorous campaigning by ultra-conservative groups seizing the opportunity to build worldwide connections with ideological partners.

This opposition to progressive rights signifies a transnational grouping of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that aim to roll back forward movement on multiple topics. Areas targeted involve abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.

They accomplish their goals by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.

We analyze five moments that affected the safety, dignity and lives of girls and women.

USAID Effectively Dismantled

In the month of March, six weeks after a key American development organization is its funds are blocked, causing widespread distress, a leading figure in the administration states that nearly all of the body's projects will be terminated. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts decry the decision, cautioning that lives will be lost. Rights defenders say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. Many organisations say females will bear the brunt by waning support, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, reports confirm how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Two other major donor nations follow with their own cuts. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is a move to appease a political ally.

Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit

In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a strategic summit held concurrently with the international conference on women's rights. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they applaud shifts in US policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a grave caution that “the poison of patriarchy” is returning, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on key women’s rights issues around the world.

Summits Promoting Conservative Norms

Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In the start of May, a president and first lady open a major forum to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A few days later, another regional summit on conservative ethics is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “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 a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the extent of foreign involvement has expanded considerably.

Contraceptive Destruction Order

As health facilities across Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. 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 exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities are blocking perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.

Broader Restrictions on Aid

Reviving the global gag rule, which halts US aid to groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the rule was reinstated in the first month of the year. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in October, 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 cover diversity programmes. More details on the policy's widened application are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.