Five Pivotal Events in the Assault on the Rights of Women and Girls in 2025.
A year ago, feminist advocacy groups were preparing for a Trump presidency sequel. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The sheer number and rapid pace of White House mandates originating in the White House were interpreted as a intentional maneuver to paralyze through overload. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as organisations scrambled to plug the hole left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen.
The Washington leadership has been the main instigator, complemented by fervent lobbying efforts by deeply conservative factions seizing the opportunity to strengthen global ties with sympathetic regimes.
This opposition to progressive rights refers to a global network of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as affluent financiers and clans that strive to weaken advances on numerous fronts. Areas targeted involve 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 promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We analyze five moments that shaped the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In the month of March, six weeks after a prominent humanitarian funder is halted, causing international chaos, a leading figure in the administration announces that a vast majority of the body's projects will be terminated. American foreign service officers, former presidents and relief and public health authorities criticize the move, cautioning that mortality will increase. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and birth control and maternal healthcare. Many organisations say the impact on girls and women will be severe by diminishing aid, especially in war zones. As the year ends, statistics reveal how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. Another pair of leading funders initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a biannual gathering held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they applaud new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is back, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on key women’s rights issues around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In May, a head of state and partner open a significant conference to resist what they label external influences undermining local norms. A soon after, another regional summit on conservative ethics is held. Both events are graced by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the extent of foreign involvement has expanded considerably.
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 midsummer plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a warehouse in Europe. A global sexual health network states that their incineration will prevent millions of women and girls from access to birth control, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities will not allow perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which cuts American funding for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the rule was reinstated in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in October, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Further specifics about the broader enforcement are likely forthcoming. A leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the broadened restrictions.
