Five Major Pivotal Events in the Erosion of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
This time last year, women’s rights organisations were preparing for a Trump presidency sequel. Scarcely anyone expected. The torrent and swiftness of White House mandates emanating from the White House were interpreted as a calculated strategy to paralyze through overload. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as agencies hastened to address the shortfall left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But the situation was about to worsen.
The US administration has been the main instigator, supported by vigorous campaigning by deeply conservative factions capitalizing on the climate to build worldwide connections with sympathetic regimes.
The movement against gender equality denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that work to dismantle advances on numerous fronts. These include reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They do this by influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We look at five episodes that influenced the protection, honor, and existence of the female population.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In the month of March, shortly after a key American development organization is its funds are blocked, causing widespread distress, a senior US official states that the lion's share of the institution's work will be scrapped. US diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, predicting that mortality will increase. Rights defenders say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Numerous groups say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by shrinking assistance, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, evidence indicates how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Two other major donor nations initiate similar reductions. A leader of an international advocacy group says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a biannual gathering held in parallel with the international conference on women's rights. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they applaud changes in American foreign policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is returning, after a report shows that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining established norms on key women’s rights issues around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among human rights defenders. In May, a president and first lady open a major forum to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A soon after, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In June, a global faith group hosts a family strengthening conference in West Africa, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the extent of foreign involvement 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 post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their incineration will prevent millions of women and girls 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 international emergency medical charity calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, 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 January. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. 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. More details on the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A director of a major health partnership says widening the scope will have “catastrophic impacts”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.
