Five Defining Pivotal Events in the Rollback of the Rights of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.
In the previous year, organisations advocating for women's rights were preparing for a new Trump administration. Few were prepared for. The sheer number and rapid pace of presidential directives emanating from the White House were regarded as a intentional maneuver to overwhelm and create panic. The tactic proved effective – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as groups rushed to plug the hole left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But this was only the precursor.
The American government has been the central catalyst, complemented by intense advocacy work by religious fundamentalist networks exploiting the situation to strengthen global ties with sympathetic regimes.
The movement against gender equality signifies a transnational grouping of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that aim to roll back gains in a variety of areas. This covers reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They accomplish their goals by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We examine five moments that impacted the welfare, autonomy, and survival of women and girls.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In the month of March, six weeks after a prominent humanitarian funder is frozen, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat reveals that a vast majority of the body's projects will be terminated. Career diplomats, former presidents and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, cautioning that mortality will increase. Rights defenders say that the dismantling of this institution 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 the impact on girls and women will be severe by waning support, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, data shows how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. Two other major donor nations follow with their own cuts. A director of a global justice organization says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a two-day conference held in parallel 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 high spirits as they welcome changes in American foreign policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa focused on the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among rights advocates. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to combat what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another Pan-African conference on conservative ethics is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In June, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the level of external participation has grown significantly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are facing shortages of birth control, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a European depot. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls 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 international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains at a standstill as the regional government will not allow perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reviving the global gag rule, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the policy was restored in the first month of the year. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy 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 expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.
