A Quintet of Significant Developments in the Assault on the Rights of Females in This Past Year.

Twelve months prior, organisations advocating for women's rights were preparing for a new Trump administration. Hardly anyone anticipated. The torrent and swiftness of presidential directives emanating from the White House were interpreted as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. In many ways it worked – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as agencies hastened to plug the hole left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But that was just the beginning.

The US administration has been the central catalyst, complemented by vigorous campaigning by far-right organisations capitalizing on the climate to forge international alliances with ideological partners.

This opposition to progressive rights refers to a global network of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as affluent financiers and clans that strive to weaken advances on numerous fronts. This encompasses reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.

They achieve this through influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.

We examine five junctures that affected the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women.

The Dismantling of USAID

In early spring, six weeks after a prominent humanitarian funder is frozen, causing international chaos, a senior US official confirms that the lion's share of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, former presidents and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, warning that fatalities will ensue. Rights defenders say that the demise of the agency is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say females will bear the brunt by waning support, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, data shows how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Two other major donor nations proceed with parallel slashes. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.

Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit

In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a biannual gathering held concurrently with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they welcome shifts in US policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are actively undermining longstanding consensus 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 themed around the conventional household and state autonomy sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In the start of May, a national leader and spouse open a major forum to resist what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A shortly thereafter, another regional summit on traditional morals is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to resist “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In June, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the scale of their presence has increased markedly.

Contraceptive Destruction Order

As health facilities across Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in midsummer plans to dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a European depot. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from access to birth control, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains in deadlock as the regional government are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.

‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded

Reviving the global gag rule, which cuts American funding 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 October, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. More details on the policy's widened application are anticipated next year. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.