Five Major Landmark Occurrences in the Assault on the Rights of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.
In the previous year, feminist advocacy groups were bracing themselves for a second Trump term. Few were prepared for. The volume and speed of executive orders issued from the White House were viewed as a calculated strategy to overwhelm and create panic. This strategy had its intended impact – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as networks struggled to fill the gap left by a freeze on international development funds. But the situation was about to worsen.
The Trump administration has been the key driver, aided by vigorous campaigning by far-right organisations seizing the opportunity to strengthen global ties with ideological partners.
The movement against gender equality refers to a global network of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as billionaire families and individuals that strive to weaken progress across a wide spectrum of issues. These include pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.
They achieve this through pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We examine five instances that influenced the protection, honor, and existence of females globally.
The Dismantling of USAID
In March, shortly after a key American development organization is halted, causing international chaos, a senior US official announces that over eighty percent of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists denounce the action, stating that people will die as a result. Activists say that the demise of the agency is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by shrinking assistance, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, reports confirm 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 proceed with parallel slashes. A director of a global justice organization says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a move to appease a political ally.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a two-day conference held concurrently with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they welcome new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are systematically eroding established norms on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty triggers anxiety among human rights defenders. In the start of May, a national leader and spouse open a significant conference to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A soon after, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker urges African NGOs to stand up to “radical global social engineering” of international organizations. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in West Africa, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the level of external participation has expanded considerably.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are facing shortages of birth control, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their destruction will deny millions of women and girls from family planning options, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.
Broader Restrictions on Aid
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, 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 ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Further specifics about the broader enforcement are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the broadened restrictions.
