🔗 Share this article Five Major Crucial Incidents in the Rollback of the Rights of Women and Girls in This Past Year. In the previous year, women’s rights organisations were steeling themselves against a return of Donald Trump to office. Scarcely anyone expected. The sheer number and rapid pace of executive orders emanating from the White House were interpreted as a intentional maneuver to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as networks struggled to fill the gap left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen. The US 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 movement against gender equality describes a worldwide alliance of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that strive to weaken forward movement on multiple topics. These include reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed. They do this by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations. We analyze five instances that affected the safety, dignity and lives of the female population. The Dismantling of USAID In early spring, shortly after a major US aid agency is frozen, causing turmoil around the world, a senior US official reveals that nearly all of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, former presidents and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, cautioning that lives will be lost. Human rights advocates say that the demise of the agency 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 females will bear the brunt by diminishing aid, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, evidence indicates 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 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. Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a two-day conference held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in high spirits as they applaud new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening established norms on core aspects of gender equality around the world. Summits Promoting Conservative Norms Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among human rights defenders. In May, a president and first lady open a major forum to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A soon after, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker urges African NGOs to resist “international liberal agenda” of global institutions. In June, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence has grown significantly. Contraceptive Destruction Order As health facilities across Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a European depot. A leading family planning organization states that their destruction will deny countless females from access to birth control, 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 “heartless and dangerous”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as the regional government are blocking usable products to be destroyed. Broader Restrictions on Aid Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which cuts American funding for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. 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 encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.
In the previous year, women’s rights organisations were steeling themselves against a return of Donald Trump to office. Scarcely anyone expected. The sheer number and rapid pace of executive orders emanating from the White House were interpreted as a intentional maneuver to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as networks struggled to fill the gap left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen. The US 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 movement against gender equality describes a worldwide alliance of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that strive to weaken forward movement on multiple topics. These include reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed. They do this by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations. We analyze five instances that affected the safety, dignity and lives of the female population. The Dismantling of USAID In early spring, shortly after a major US aid agency is frozen, causing turmoil around the world, a senior US official reveals that nearly all of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, former presidents and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, cautioning that lives will be lost. Human rights advocates say that the demise of the agency 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 females will bear the brunt by diminishing aid, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, evidence indicates 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 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. Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a two-day conference held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in high spirits as they applaud new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening established norms on core aspects of gender equality around the world. Summits Promoting Conservative Norms Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among human rights defenders. In May, a president and first lady open a major forum to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A soon after, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker urges African NGOs to resist “international liberal agenda” of global institutions. In June, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence has grown significantly. Contraceptive Destruction Order As health facilities across Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a European depot. A leading family planning organization states that their destruction will deny countless females from access to birth control, 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 “heartless and dangerous”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as the regional government are blocking usable products to be destroyed. Broader Restrictions on Aid Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which cuts American funding for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. 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 encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.