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

A year ago, women’s rights organisations were bracing themselves for a Trump presidency sequel. Hardly anyone anticipated. The sheer number and rapid pace of presidential directives originating in the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. In many ways it worked – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as organisations scrambled to fill the gap left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But the situation was about to worsen.

The American government has been the central catalyst, bolstered by intense advocacy work by far-right organisations exploiting the situation to forge international alliances with ideological partners.

The anti-rights movement denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that strive to weaken advances on numerous fronts. This covers pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.

They accomplish their goals by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.

We look at five instances that influenced the safety, dignity and lives of girls and women.

The Dismantling of USAID

In March, six weeks after a key American development organization is suspended, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat confirms that over eighty percent of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, former presidents and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, warning that people will die as a result. Activists say that the closure of the organization is more than a funding crisis, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and family planning and reproductive care. Numerous groups say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by diminishing aid, especially in war zones. As the year ends, evidence indicates how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.

Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference

In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a strategic summit held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in buoyant mood as they welcome shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the venom of male dominance” is back, after a report shows that groups opposing progressive rights are deliberately weakening historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.

Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa

Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among rights advocates. In the start of May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A shortly thereafter, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker urges African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Advocates remark that the extent of foreign involvement has grown significantly.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As health facilities across Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to destroy millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a warehouse in Europe. A global sexual health network states that their incineration will prevent a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.

Broader Restrictions on Aid

Reviving the global gag rule, which cuts American funding 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 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 expansion of the rule are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being discussed with African nations will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.