Five Critical Key Moments in the Challenge to the Rights of Women and Girls in 2025.
A year ago, groups dedicated to gender equality were anticipating a return of Donald Trump to office. Few were prepared for. The torrent and swiftness of White House mandates issued from the White House were seen as a calculated strategy to induce a state of shock. This strategy had its intended impact – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as agencies hastened to address the shortfall left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But this merely marked the opening act.
The Washington leadership has been the key driver, complemented by intense advocacy work by religious fundamentalist networks capitalizing on the climate to strengthen global ties with like-minded governments.
Often termed the anti-gender movement denotes an international coalition of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as billionaire families and individuals that work to dismantle progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This encompasses pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.
They achieve this through lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We look at five instances that affected the safety, dignity and lives of the female population.
USAID Dismantled
In the month of March, six weeks after a major US aid agency is frozen, causing widespread distress, a top American diplomat reveals that the lion's share of the body's projects will be terminated. American foreign service officers, past leaders and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, warning that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates say that the demise of the agency is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a savage attack on human rights and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Many organisations say females will bear the brunt by waning support, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, statistics reveal how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Two other major donor nations proceed with parallel slashes. A director of a global justice organization 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 the same month, several conservative religious groups 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 high spirits as they welcome new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the global conference with a grave caution that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is back, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa focused on the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among rights advocates. In early May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to push back on what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. 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 exhorts African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, 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 running out of contraceptives, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A global sexual health network states that their destruction will deny 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 exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as host nation officials are blocking perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reviving the global gag rule, which cuts American funding for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the rule was reinstated in January. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in October, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Further specifics about the expansion of the rule are expected in early 2026. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that fresh American assistance deals being negotiated with countries in Africa will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.
