A Quintet of Key Moments in the Rollback of the Rights of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.

In the previous year, organisations advocating for women's rights were anticipating a new Trump administration. Few were prepared for. The volume and speed of White House mandates emanating from the White House were viewed as a premeditated approach to induce a state of shock. The tactic proved effective – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as agencies hastened to plug the hole left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But the situation was about to worsen.

The American government has been the key driver, complemented by fervent lobbying efforts by far-right organisations capitalizing on the climate to strengthen global ties with political allies.

This opposition to progressive rights describes a worldwide alliance of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that seek to undermine gains in a variety of areas. These include reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.

They do this by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.

We look at five episodes that shaped the security, respect, and well-being of the female population.

USAID Dismantled

In March, shortly after a key American development organization is halted, causing international chaos, a leading figure in the administration confirms that nearly all of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, past leaders and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, warning that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a savage attack on human rights and birth control and maternal healthcare. Numerous groups say females will bear the brunt by diminishing aid, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, data shows how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Additional key contributing countries initiate similar reductions. A leader of an international advocacy group says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a move to appease a political ally.

Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting

In March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a biannual gathering held concurrently with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate changes in American foreign policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a grave caution that “the poison of patriarchy” is returning, after a report shows that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining historic agreements on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.

Summits Promoting Conservative Norms

Over the warmer months, a series of conferences in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among equality campaigners. In early May, a president and first lady open a large assembly to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to resist “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the extent of foreign involvement has grown significantly.

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 midsummer plans to incinerate a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from access to birth control, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing 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

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 widely expected when the ban was reimposed in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in October, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says broadening the policy will have “devastating consequences”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that fresh American assistance deals being negotiated with countries in Africa will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.