Five Crucial Incidents in the Rollback of the Rights of Females in the Past Year.
This time last year, feminist advocacy groups were bracing themselves for a second Trump term. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The torrent and swiftness of executive orders emanating from the White House were seen as a calculated strategy to cause confusion and fear. In many ways it worked – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as groups rushed to compensate for the loss left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But the situation was about to worsen.
The American government has been the key driver, aided by fervent lobbying efforts by deeply conservative factions seizing the opportunity to strengthen global ties with ideological partners.
This opposition to progressive rights signifies a transnational grouping of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that strive to weaken gains in a variety of areas. This encompasses pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.
They achieve this through pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We examine five junctures that impacted the safety, dignity and lives of females globally.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In the month of March, six weeks after a prominent humanitarian funder is halted, causing international chaos, a senior US official states that a vast majority of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, former presidents and relief and public health authorities criticize the move, stating that mortality will increase. Rights defenders say that the demise of the agency is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say the impact on girls and women will be severe by waning support, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, evidence indicates how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with millions more to come. Two other major donor nations initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a two-day conference held in parallel with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in high spirits as they celebrate changes in American foreign policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the poison of patriarchy” is returning, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are actively undermining established norms on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among human rights defenders. In early May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker calls on African NGOs to stand up to “radical global social engineering” of global institutions. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a family strengthening conference in an African nation, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a warehouse in Europe. A global sexual health network states that their destruction will deny millions of women and girls from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as host nation officials refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.
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 commonplace under certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are likely forthcoming. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being negotiated with countries in Africa will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
