🔗 Share this article A Quintet of Pivotal Events in the Attack on the Rights of Women and Girls in This Past Year. This time last year, groups dedicated to gender equality were anticipating a new Trump administration. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The flood and velocity of White House mandates issued from the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as agencies hastened to plug the hole left by a major funding freeze. But that was just the beginning. The Washington leadership has been the central catalyst, aided by relentless activism by far-right organisations capitalizing on the climate to strengthen global ties with political allies. Often termed the anti-gender movement refers to a global network of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as affluent financiers and clans that seek to undermine advances on numerous fronts. These include access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction. They achieve this through influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities. We analyze five junctures that influenced the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women. The Dismantling of USAID In early spring, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is suspended, causing global disruption, a leading figure in the administration states that over eighty percent of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, former presidents and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, cautioning that fatalities will ensue. Rights defenders say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and birth control and maternal healthcare. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by diminishing aid, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, data shows how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Another pair of leading funders proceed with parallel slashes. A leader of an international advocacy group says a move to cut foreign aid drastically 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 upmarket New York hotel for a biannual gathering held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. 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 gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding established norms on core aspects of gender equality around the world. Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a significant conference to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A shortly thereafter, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including heads of influential networks. One speaker urges African NGOs to stand up to “radical global social engineering” of international organizations. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably. Contraceptive Destruction Order As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from contraceptive supplies, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. 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 local authorities will not allow the destruction of viable medicines. Broader Restrictions on Aid Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in October, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Further specifics about the expansion of the rule are anticipated next year. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach 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.
This time last year, groups dedicated to gender equality were anticipating a new Trump administration. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The flood and velocity of White House mandates issued from the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as agencies hastened to plug the hole left by a major funding freeze. But that was just the beginning. The Washington leadership has been the central catalyst, aided by relentless activism by far-right organisations capitalizing on the climate to strengthen global ties with political allies. Often termed the anti-gender movement refers to a global network of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as affluent financiers and clans that seek to undermine advances on numerous fronts. These include access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction. They achieve this through influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities. We analyze five junctures that influenced the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women. The Dismantling of USAID In early spring, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is suspended, causing global disruption, a leading figure in the administration states that over eighty percent of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, former presidents and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, cautioning that fatalities will ensue. Rights defenders say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and birth control and maternal healthcare. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by diminishing aid, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, data shows how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Another pair of leading funders proceed with parallel slashes. A leader of an international advocacy group says a move to cut foreign aid drastically 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 upmarket New York hotel for a biannual gathering held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. 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 gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding established norms on core aspects of gender equality around the world. Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a significant conference to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A shortly thereafter, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including heads of influential networks. One speaker urges African NGOs to stand up to “radical global social engineering” of international organizations. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably. Contraceptive Destruction Order As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from contraceptive supplies, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. 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 local authorities will not allow the destruction of viable medicines. Broader Restrictions on Aid Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in October, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Further specifics about the expansion of the rule are anticipated next year. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach 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.