Five Significant Developments in the Erosion of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
Twelve months prior, organisations advocating for women's rights were anticipating a second Trump term. Few were prepared for. The sheer number and rapid pace of administrative decrees emanating from the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to cause confusion and fear. The tactic proved effective – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as agencies hastened to compensate for the loss left by a freeze on international development funds. But the situation was about to worsen.
The American government has been the main instigator, aided by fervent lobbying efforts by deeply conservative factions seizing the opportunity to solidify transnational relationships with political allies.
The anti-rights movement refers to a global network of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that seek to undermine forward movement on multiple topics. This covers reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They achieve this through pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We review five junctures that affected the welfare, autonomy, and survival of females globally.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In the month of March, a month and a half following a prominent humanitarian funder is its funds are blocked, causing global disruption, a leading figure in the administration announces that the lion's share of the body's projects will be terminated. American foreign service officers, past leaders and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, predicting that fatalities will ensue. Human rights advocates say that the closure of the organization is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, statistics reveal how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization 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 Christian-right organisations meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a strategic summit held alongside 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 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 stark warning that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is returning, after a study indicates that opponents of gender equality are deliberately weakening historic agreements on key women’s rights issues around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty triggers anxiety among human rights defenders. In early May, a president and first lady open a significant conference to combat what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another regional summit on traditional morals is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of multilateral bodies. 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 forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Advocates remark that the extent of foreign involvement has increased markedly.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
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 a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny a huge female population from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “callous and reckless”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as host nation officials refuse to permit perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the policy was restored in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. More details on the expansion of the rule are anticipated next year. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become contingent upon adopting the broadened restrictions.