🔗 Share this article Five Crucial Incidents in the Challenge to the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Past Year. This time last year, feminist advocacy groups were anticipating a second Trump term. Hardly anyone anticipated. The volume and speed of presidential directives emanating from the White House were interpreted as a calculated strategy to cause confusion and fear. This strategy had its intended impact – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as groups rushed to plug the hole left by a sudden aid suspension. But this merely marked the opening act. The Trump administration has been the primary force, complemented by vigorous campaigning by religious fundamentalist networks seizing the opportunity to forge international alliances with like-minded governments. The anti-rights movement signifies a transnational grouping of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that strive to weaken progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This covers pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching. They pursue this agenda via advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities. We review five junctures that influenced the safety, dignity and lives of women and girls. The Demise of a Major Aid Agency In early spring, shortly after a major US aid agency is halted, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat confirms that a vast majority of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. Career diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, cautioning that lives will be lost. Human rights advocates say that the closure of the organization is more than a funding crisis, it is a savage attack on human rights and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by waning support, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Another pair of leading funders proceed with parallel slashes. 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. Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held in parallel with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate 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 venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world. Summits Promoting Conservative Norms Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among rights advocates. 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 few days later, another Pan-African conference on traditional morals is held. Both events are attended by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has expanded considerably. Contraceptive Destruction Order As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a warehouse in Europe. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive countless females from contraceptive supplies, 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 “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines. Broader Restrictions on Aid 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 anticipated when the policy was restored in January. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Additional information regarding the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
This time last year, feminist advocacy groups were anticipating a second Trump term. Hardly anyone anticipated. The volume and speed of presidential directives emanating from the White House were interpreted as a calculated strategy to cause confusion and fear. This strategy had its intended impact – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as groups rushed to plug the hole left by a sudden aid suspension. But this merely marked the opening act. The Trump administration has been the primary force, complemented by vigorous campaigning by religious fundamentalist networks seizing the opportunity to forge international alliances with like-minded governments. The anti-rights movement signifies a transnational grouping of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that strive to weaken progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This covers pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching. They pursue this agenda via advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities. We review five junctures that influenced the safety, dignity and lives of women and girls. The Demise of a Major Aid Agency In early spring, shortly after a major US aid agency is halted, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat confirms that a vast majority of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. Career diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, cautioning that lives will be lost. Human rights advocates say that the closure of the organization is more than a funding crisis, it is a savage attack on human rights and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by waning support, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Another pair of leading funders proceed with parallel slashes. 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. Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held in parallel with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate 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 venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world. Summits Promoting Conservative Norms Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among rights advocates. 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 few days later, another Pan-African conference on traditional morals is held. Both events are attended by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has expanded considerably. Contraceptive Destruction Order As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a warehouse in Europe. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive countless females from contraceptive supplies, 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 “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines. Broader Restrictions on Aid 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 anticipated when the policy was restored in January. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Additional information regarding the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.