Five Critical Pivotal Events in the Erosion of the Rights of Females in the Past Year.

A year ago, groups dedicated to gender equality were anticipating a new Trump administration. Hardly anyone anticipated. The torrent and swiftness of executive orders emanating from the White House were seen as a calculated strategy to paralyze through overload. In many ways it worked – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as agencies hastened to fill the gap left by a freeze on international development funds. But this was only the precursor.

The Washington leadership has been the main instigator, bolstered by relentless activism by far-right organisations capitalizing on the climate to build worldwide connections with like-minded governments.

This opposition to progressive rights denotes an international coalition of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as billionaire families and individuals that aim to roll back progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This covers pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.

They pursue this agenda via advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.

We examine five episodes that influenced the protection, honor, and existence of females globally.

The Demise of a Major Aid Agency

In early spring, a month and a half following a prominent humanitarian funder is its funds are blocked, causing widespread distress, a leading figure in the administration announces that nearly all of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, ex-presidents and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, cautioning that fatalities will ensue. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and family planning and reproductive care. Numerous groups say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by reduced funding, 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 many more millions at risk. Additional key contributing countries initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a move to appease a political ally.

Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting

In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a two-day conference held concurrently with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they celebrate changes in American foreign policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on key women’s rights issues around the world.

Summits Promoting Conservative Norms

Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy sparks alarm among human rights defenders. In early May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A shortly thereafter, another continental gathering on family values is held. Both events are graced by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of multilateral bodies. In June, a global faith group hosts a family strengthening conference 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 increased markedly.

Contraceptive Destruction Order

As health facilities across Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a warehouse in Europe. A leading family planning organization states that their elimination will deprive countless females from contraceptive supplies, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. 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 prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “callous and reckless”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities will not allow the destruction of viable medicines.

Broader Restrictions on Aid

Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which halts US aid to groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the policy was restored in the first month of the year. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.