Five Significant Developments in the Assault on the Rights of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
A year ago, feminist advocacy groups were steeling themselves against a second Trump term. Few were prepared for. The torrent and swiftness of presidential directives issued from the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to cause confusion and fear. This strategy had its intended impact – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as agencies hastened to compensate for the loss left by a sudden aid suspension. But this was only the precursor.
The Trump administration has been the primary force, bolstered by vigorous campaigning by ultra-conservative groups seizing the opportunity to build worldwide connections with sympathetic regimes.
The movement against gender equality describes a worldwide alliance of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that aim to roll back forward movement on multiple topics. These include reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They pursue this agenda via influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We look at five episodes that affected the welfare, autonomy, and survival of girls and women.
USAID Dismantled
In March, shortly after a major US aid agency is halted, causing widespread distress, a leading figure in the administration states that the lion's share of the body's projects will be terminated. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and relief and public health authorities denounce the action, stating that fatalities will ensue. Activists say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and access to contraception and reproductive health services. A multitude of agencies say females will bear the brunt by waning support, especially in war zones. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with many more millions at risk. 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.
Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference
In the same month, several Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held concurrently with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they welcome new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding established norms on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa focused on the conventional household and state autonomy sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In the start of May, a national leader and spouse open a major forum to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker urges African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Activists observe that the level of external participation has increased markedly.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are facing shortages of birth control, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their incineration will prevent countless females from access to birth control, 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 international emergency medical charity calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains in deadlock as host nation officials will not allow perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which halts US aid to groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the ban was reimposed in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. More details on the policy's widened application are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says broadening the policy will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being negotiated with countries in Africa will become contingent upon adopting the broadened restrictions.
