Five Defining Significant Developments in the Rollback of the Rights of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
A year ago, feminist advocacy groups were preparing for a Trump presidency sequel. Hardly anyone anticipated. The torrent and swiftness of executive orders originating in the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. The tactic proved effective – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as organisations scrambled to compensate for the loss left by a sudden aid suspension. But that was just the beginning.
The Washington leadership has been the key driver, supported by intense advocacy work by ultra-conservative groups exploiting the situation to forge international alliances with ideological partners.
This opposition to progressive rights signifies a transnational grouping of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that strive to weaken gains in a variety of areas. This covers reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They pursue this agenda via advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We analyze five episodes that affected the safety, dignity and lives of girls and women.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In the month of March, six weeks after a key American development organization is its funds are blocked, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration states that over eighty percent of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists condemn the news, cautioning that fatalities will ensue. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and birth control and maternal healthcare. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by reduced funding, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, reports confirm how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a move to appease a political ally.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held concurrently with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the global conference with a grave caution that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is returning, after a report shows that groups opposing progressive rights are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa focused on the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among rights advocates. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to push back on what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another continental gathering on family values is held. Both events are graced by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a family strengthening conference in an African nation, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Activists observe that the scale of their presence has grown significantly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a storage facility in Belgium. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from contraceptive supplies, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for 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 expand the global gag rule to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Further specifics about the broader enforcement are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says broadening the policy will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
