Five Major Crucial Incidents in the Rollback of the Rights of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
Twelve months prior, groups dedicated to gender equality were steeling themselves against a new Trump administration. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The flood and velocity of executive orders issued from the White House were viewed as a calculated strategy to cause confusion and fear. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as networks struggled to address the shortfall left by a major funding freeze. But this was only the precursor.
The US administration has been the primary force, complemented by fervent lobbying efforts by ultra-conservative groups exploiting the situation to solidify transnational relationships with sympathetic regimes.
This opposition to progressive rights denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as billionaire families and individuals that work to dismantle forward movement on multiple topics. These include abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They achieve this through pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We look at five moments that shaped the welfare, autonomy, and survival of females globally.
The Dismantling of USAID
In the month of March, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is its funds are blocked, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat announces that the lion's share of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, predicting that lives will be lost. Rights defenders say that the dismantling of this institution is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and family planning and reproductive care. Many organisations say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by shrinking assistance, especially in war zones. As the year ends, reports confirm how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. Another pair of leading funders proceed with parallel slashes. A leader of an international advocacy group says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In the same month, several Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a two-day conference held alongside the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. 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 celebrate shifts in US policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is returning, after a analysis demonstrates that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the warmer months, a series of conferences in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence triggers anxiety among human rights defenders. In early May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to resist what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are attended by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker urges African NGOs to resist “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In June, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the extent of foreign involvement has increased markedly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a warehouse in Europe. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “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 reach their intended destinations, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities are blocking usable products to be destroyed.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reviving the global gag rule, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the rule was reinstated in January. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in October, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are likely forthcoming. A leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “catastrophic impacts”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.
