Five Major Significant Developments in the Assault on the Rights of Women and Girls in This Past Year.

A year ago, women’s rights organisations were bracing themselves for a Trump presidency sequel. Scarcely anyone expected. The sheer number and rapid pace of executive orders emanating from the White House were viewed as a calculated strategy to overwhelm and create panic. In many ways it worked – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as networks struggled to compensate for the loss left by a sudden aid suspension. But this was only the precursor.

The Trump administration has been the central catalyst, complemented by intense advocacy work by ultra-conservative groups exploiting the situation to strengthen global ties with political allies.

The anti-rights movement describes a worldwide alliance of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that work to dismantle gains in a variety of areas. Areas targeted involve access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.

They do this by influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.

We review five junctures that influenced the protection, honor, and existence of the female population.

USAID Dismantled

In the month of March, six weeks after a key American development organization is suspended, causing widespread distress, a top American diplomat announces that over eighty percent of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. US diplomats, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts decry the decision, stating that lives will be lost. Rights defenders say that the closure of the organization is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in war zones. As the year ends, reports confirm how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. Another pair of leading funders follow with their own cuts. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.

Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference

In the same month, several Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a two-day conference held in parallel 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 optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate changes in American foreign policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the poison of patriarchy” is back, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are actively undermining 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 focused on the conventional household and state autonomy raises concerns among human rights defenders. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A soon after, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to resist “radical global social engineering” of global institutions. In June, a major religious institution hosts a family strengthening conference in the region, an event that pro-choice campaigners 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 health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities will not allow perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.

Broader Restrictions on Aid

Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which cuts American funding for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the policy was restored in the first month of the year. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. 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. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being discussed with African nations will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.