Five Significant Developments in the Erosion of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
A year ago, groups dedicated to gender equality were bracing themselves for a new Trump administration. Hardly anyone anticipated. The volume and speed of administrative decrees originating in the White House were viewed as a intentional maneuver to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as groups rushed to address the shortfall left by a freeze on international development funds. But that was just the beginning.
The Washington leadership has been the central catalyst, bolstered by relentless activism by deeply conservative factions using the moment to solidify transnational relationships with political allies.
Often termed the anti-gender movement describes a worldwide alliance of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as billionaire families and individuals that aim to roll back gains in a variety of areas. These include access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They do this by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We analyze five moments that affected the security, respect, and well-being of females globally.
USAID Dismantled
In March, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is its funds are blocked, causing widespread distress, a senior US official confirms that a vast majority of the institution's work will be scrapped. US diplomats, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts condemn the news, predicting that lives will be lost. Human rights advocates say that the demise of the agency is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by waning support, especially in war zones. As the year ends, data shows how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Two other major donor nations announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a two-day conference held concurrently with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in high spirits as they celebrate new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the warmer months, a series of conferences in Africa centered on the conservative family structures and national independence triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In the start of May, a president and first lady open a large assembly to push back on what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another regional summit on conservative ethics is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Campaigners note that the level of external participation 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 July plans to incinerate a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a warehouse in Europe. A global sexual health network states that their destruction will deny millions of women and girls from access to birth control, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities are blocking perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which halts US aid to groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the ban was reimposed in January. 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 national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Additional information regarding the policy's widened application are likely forthcoming. A director of a major health partnership says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that fresh American assistance deals being negotiated with countries in Africa will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.
