Five Pivotal Events in the Attack on the Rights of Females in the Year 2025.

In the previous year, organisations advocating for women's rights were steeling themselves against a Trump presidency sequel. Few were prepared for. The sheer number and rapid pace of White House mandates emanating from the White House were viewed as a deliberate tactic to induce a state of shock. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as agencies hastened to plug the hole left by a freeze on international development funds. But this merely marked the opening act.

The Trump administration has been the key driver, supported by fervent lobbying efforts by deeply conservative factions capitalizing on the climate to solidify transnational relationships with sympathetic regimes.

The anti-rights movement refers to a global network of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that strive to weaken advances on numerous fronts. This covers access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.

They pursue this agenda via lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.

We review five episodes that impacted the protection, honor, and existence of girls and women.

USAID Effectively Dismantled

In March, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is halted, causing global disruption, a top American diplomat announces that the lion's share of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, ex-presidents and relief and public health authorities criticize the move, predicting that mortality will increase. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, 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 reduced funding, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, statistics reveal how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Another pair of leading funders announce their own austerity measures. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.

Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting

In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a strategic summit 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 buoyant mood as they welcome shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is returning, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are actively undermining historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.

Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa

Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa focused on the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among human rights defenders. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to push back on what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A shortly thereafter, another continental gathering on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to resist “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in the region, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the level of external participation has increased markedly.

Contraceptive Destruction Order

As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to incinerate a vast stockpile of birth control held in a warehouse in Europe. A global sexual health network states that their incineration will prevent countless females from contraceptive supplies, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities are blocking usable products to be destroyed.

Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy

Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the ban was reimposed 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 national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being negotiated with countries in Africa will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.