Five Crucial Incidents in the Rollback of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
A year ago, women’s rights organisations were anticipating a new Trump administration. Scarcely anyone expected. The torrent and swiftness of White House mandates issued from the White House were seen as a intentional maneuver to paralyze through overload. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as organisations scrambled to address the shortfall left by a freeze on international development funds. But this was only the precursor.
The American government has been the primary force, aided by vigorous campaigning by ultra-conservative groups exploiting the situation to build worldwide connections with sympathetic regimes.
The movement against gender equality refers to a global network of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that seek to undermine forward movement on multiple topics. These include abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They pursue this agenda via influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We examine five instances that shaped the safety, dignity and lives of the female population.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In the month of March, six weeks after a key American development organization is its funds are blocked, causing international chaos, a leading figure in the administration announces that over eighty percent of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities criticize the move, warning that fatalities will ensue. Rights defenders say that the dismantling of this institution is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Many organisations say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by waning support, especially in war zones. As the year ends, reports confirm how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. Two other major donor nations follow with their own cuts. A director of a global justice organization says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a move to appease a political ally.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a biannual gathering held in parallel with the international conference on women's rights. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they applaud changes in American foreign policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the gender equality forum with a grave caution that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is returning, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa focused on the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among human rights defenders. In May, a president and first lady open a major forum to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A soon after, another continental gathering on family values is held. Both events are graced by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a family strengthening conference in the region, 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.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are facing shortages of birth control, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. 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 declines every proposal. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities refuse to permit perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which cuts American funding for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the rule was reinstated in the first month of the year. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. 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. More details on the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become dependent on agreeing to the new, wider policy.
