Five Key Moments in the Assault on the Rights of Females in the Past Year.

Twelve months prior, groups dedicated to gender equality were preparing for a new Trump administration. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The volume and speed of administrative decrees originating in the White House were regarded as a calculated strategy to paralyze through overload. In many ways it worked – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as networks struggled to plug the hole left by a major funding freeze. But this merely marked the opening act.

The American government has been the central catalyst, complemented by intense advocacy work by religious fundamentalist networks capitalizing on the climate to build worldwide connections with sympathetic regimes.

The movement against gender equality denotes an international coalition of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as affluent financiers and clans that work to dismantle progress across a wide spectrum of issues. 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 push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.

We review five junctures that affected the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women.

The Demise of a Major Aid Agency

In March, six weeks after a major US aid agency is suspended, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat announces that a vast majority of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. Career diplomats, former presidents and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, warning that fatalities will ensue. Human rights advocates say that the closure of the organization is more than a funding crisis, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Many organisations say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by reduced funding, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, statistics reveal 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. Additional key contributing countries announce their own austerity measures. A leader of an international advocacy group says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a move to appease a political ally.

Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting

In the same month, several Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a two-day conference held in parallel with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they welcome new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is returning, after a analysis demonstrates that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding historic agreements on key women’s rights issues around the world.

Summits Promoting Conservative Norms

Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among human rights defenders. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a significant conference to combat what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another Pan-African conference on conservative ethics is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to resist “radical global social engineering” of global institutions. In June, a prominent church hosts a family strengthening conference in the region, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the extent of foreign involvement has grown significantly.

US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives

As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to destroy millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their destruction will deny countless females from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “heartless and dangerous”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government are blocking perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.

Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy

Reviving the global gag rule, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on 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 the autumn, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. More details on the expansion of the rule are expected in early 2026. A director of a major health partnership says widening the scope will have “catastrophic impacts”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.