A Quintet of Pivotal Events in the Assault on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
Twelve months prior, women’s rights organisations were preparing for a new Trump administration. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The volume and speed of presidential directives coming out of the White House were regarded as a calculated strategy to paralyze through overload. The tactic proved effective – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as agencies hastened to fill the gap left by a freeze on international development funds. But this was only the precursor.
The Trump administration has been the main instigator, aided by relentless activism by ultra-conservative groups exploiting the situation to solidify transnational relationships with sympathetic regimes.
The movement against gender equality denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that work to dismantle progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This covers access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They pursue this agenda via advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We examine five junctures that affected the protection, honor, and existence of the female population.
USAID Dismantled
In the month of March, six weeks after a key American development organization is frozen, causing global disruption, a top American diplomat confirms that over eighty percent of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts condemn the news, predicting that mortality will increase. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a savage attack on human rights and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Numerous groups say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in war zones. As the year ends, reports confirm how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Two other major donor nations 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 March, several conservative religious groups meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a two-day conference held concurrently with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate changes in American foreign policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are systematically eroding established norms on key women’s rights issues around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa focused on the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among equality campaigners. In May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A few days later, another regional summit on conservative ethics is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In June, a major religious institution hosts a family strengthening conference in West Africa, 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.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a warehouse in Europe. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from access to birth control, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government are blocking usable products to be destroyed.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reviving the global gag rule, 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 expand the global gag rule to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Further specifics about the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A director of a major health partnership says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.
