Five Major Significant Developments in the Assault on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.
A year ago, organisations advocating for women's rights were bracing themselves for a Trump presidency sequel. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The torrent and swiftness of executive orders emanating from the White House were seen as a calculated strategy to induce a state of shock. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as agencies hastened to plug the hole left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But this was only the precursor.
The American government has been the central catalyst, supported by fervent lobbying efforts by deeply conservative factions seizing the opportunity to strengthen global ties with like-minded governments.
This opposition to progressive rights signifies a transnational grouping of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as affluent financiers and clans that seek to undermine advances on numerous fronts. This encompasses pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.
They pursue this agenda via lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We analyze five episodes that affected the welfare, autonomy, and survival of the female population.
USAID Dismantled
In early spring, six weeks after a key American development organization is suspended, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration confirms that a vast majority of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts condemn the news, warning that lives will be lost. Rights defenders say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and birth control and maternal healthcare. Numerous groups say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by reduced funding, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, data shows how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Additional key contributing countries initiate similar reductions. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a two-day conference held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they celebrate new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the gender equality forum with a grave caution that “the poison of patriarchy” is returning, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining established norms on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another regional summit on conservative ethics is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in the region, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has grown significantly.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent millions of women and girls 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 “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “heartless and dangerous”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government are blocking usable products to be destroyed.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reviving the global gag rule, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It came as no surprise 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 governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “catastrophic impacts”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become contingent upon adopting the broadened restrictions.
