Five Significant Developments in the Challenge to the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
A year ago, organisations advocating for women's rights were bracing themselves for a new Trump administration. Scarcely anyone expected. The flood and velocity of administrative decrees originating in the White House were regarded as a calculated strategy to overwhelm and create panic. This strategy had its intended impact – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as agencies hastened to fill the gap left by a freeze on international development funds. But this merely marked the opening act.
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 anti-rights movement denotes an international coalition of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as affluent financiers and clans that aim to roll back progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This covers abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They accomplish their goals by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We review five junctures that impacted the welfare, autonomy, and survival of women and girls.
USAID Dismantled
In the month of March, six weeks after a prominent humanitarian funder is its funds are blocked, causing global disruption, a senior US official confirms that over eighty percent of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts condemn the news, warning that lives will be lost. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and birth control and maternal healthcare. A multitude of agencies say the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in war zones. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries proceed with parallel slashes. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference
In March, 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 opportunity to share tactics on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the poison of patriarchy” is returning, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a series of conferences in Africa focused on the conventional household and state autonomy sparks alarm among human rights defenders. In May, a president and first lady open a major forum to resist what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another regional summit on traditional morals is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker urges African NGOs to resist “radical global social engineering” of international organizations. In June, a prominent church 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. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has grown significantly.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
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 significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their incineration will prevent countless females from family planning options, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” 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 reach their intended destinations, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains at a standstill as the regional government refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits Washington's support 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 the first month of the year. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in October, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Further specifics about the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A director of a major health partnership says widening the scope will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.
