🔗 Share this article Five Defining Crucial Incidents in the Rollback of the Rights of Females in This Past Year. In the previous year, feminist advocacy groups were preparing for a Trump presidency sequel. Hardly anyone anticipated. The torrent and swiftness of White House mandates emanating from the White House were interpreted as a calculated strategy to overwhelm and create panic. This strategy had its intended impact – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as groups rushed to address the shortfall left by a major funding freeze. But the situation was about to worsen. The Trump administration has been the central catalyst, aided by intense advocacy work by ultra-conservative groups exploiting the situation to strengthen global ties with sympathetic regimes. The anti-rights movement denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as billionaire families and individuals that seek to undermine advances on numerous fronts. Areas targeted involve access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction. They do this by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups. We analyze five moments that influenced the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women. USAID Effectively Dismantled In early spring, a month and a half following a prominent humanitarian funder is suspended, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat reveals that the lion's share of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, warning that lives will be lost. Rights defenders say that the demise of the agency is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a savage attack on human rights and birth control and maternal healthcare. Many organisations say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in war zones. As the year ends, reports confirm how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Another pair of leading funders announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a move to appease a political ally. Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a biannual gathering held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is back, after a study indicates that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining established norms on fundamental freedoms for women around the world. Summits Promoting Conservative Norms Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In early May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A soon after, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker urges African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the level of external participation has expanded considerably. US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives 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 July plans to incinerate a vast stockpile of birth control held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their incineration will prevent 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 forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines. Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which halts US aid to 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 October, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.
In the previous year, feminist advocacy groups were preparing for a Trump presidency sequel. Hardly anyone anticipated. The torrent and swiftness of White House mandates emanating from the White House were interpreted as a calculated strategy to overwhelm and create panic. This strategy had its intended impact – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as groups rushed to address the shortfall left by a major funding freeze. But the situation was about to worsen. The Trump administration has been the central catalyst, aided by intense advocacy work by ultra-conservative groups exploiting the situation to strengthen global ties with sympathetic regimes. The anti-rights movement denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as billionaire families and individuals that seek to undermine advances on numerous fronts. Areas targeted involve access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction. They do this by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups. We analyze five moments that influenced the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women. USAID Effectively Dismantled In early spring, a month and a half following a prominent humanitarian funder is suspended, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat reveals that the lion's share of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, warning that lives will be lost. Rights defenders say that the demise of the agency is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a savage attack on human rights and birth control and maternal healthcare. Many organisations say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in war zones. As the year ends, reports confirm how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Another pair of leading funders announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a move to appease a political ally. Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a biannual gathering held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is back, after a study indicates that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining established norms on fundamental freedoms for women around the world. Summits Promoting Conservative Norms Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In early May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A soon after, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker urges African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the level of external participation has expanded considerably. US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives 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 July plans to incinerate a vast stockpile of birth control held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their incineration will prevent 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 forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines. Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which halts US aid to 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 October, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.