A Quintet of Significant Developments in the Attack on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Past Year.

A year ago, groups dedicated to gender equality were steeling themselves against a return of Donald Trump to office. Few were prepared for. The torrent and swiftness of White House mandates originating in the White House were viewed as a premeditated approach to induce a state of shock. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as organisations scrambled to compensate for the loss left by a major funding freeze. But that was just the beginning.

The Washington leadership has been the primary force, bolstered by vigorous campaigning by religious fundamentalist networks capitalizing on the climate to forge international alliances with ideological partners.

The movement against gender equality describes a worldwide alliance of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as affluent financiers and clans that aim to roll back advances on numerous fronts. These include pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.

They accomplish their goals by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.

We review five episodes that influenced the welfare, autonomy, and survival of women and girls.

USAID Dismantled

In the month of March, six weeks after a key American development organization is suspended, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration announces that the lion's share of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts condemn the news, predicting that people will die as a result. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. Many organisations say women and girls will be disproportionately affected 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 a far greater catastrophe looming. Additional key contributing countries initiate similar reductions. A director of a global justice organization says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.

Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting

In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a strategic summit held alongside the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they applaud new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the venom of male dominance” is back, after a report shows that groups opposing progressive rights are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy raises concerns among human rights defenders. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to combat what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A shortly thereafter, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker urges African NGOs to resist “international liberal agenda” of global institutions. In June, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the extent of foreign involvement has increased markedly.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. A global sexual health network states that their destruction will deny countless females 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 “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as host nation officials refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines.

‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded

Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the ban was reimposed in January. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. 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 encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. More details on the expansion of the rule are anticipated next year. A leader in global maternal health says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.