Five Defining Crucial Incidents in the Rollback of the Rights of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
A year ago, feminist advocacy groups were anticipating a Trump presidency sequel. Few were prepared for. The torrent and swiftness of presidential directives emanating from the White House were seen as a calculated strategy to overwhelm and create panic. In many ways it worked – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as agencies hastened to fill the gap left by a major funding freeze. But that was just the beginning.
The American government has been the main instigator, supported by vigorous campaigning by religious fundamentalist networks capitalizing on the climate to build worldwide connections with ideological partners.
Often termed the anti-gender movement denotes an international coalition of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that aim to roll back gains in a variety of areas. Areas targeted involve abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They accomplish their goals by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We look at five episodes that impacted the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In the month of March, a month and a half following a prominent humanitarian funder is halted, causing turmoil around the world, a senior US official announces that over eighty percent of the institution's work will be scrapped. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, cautioning that fatalities will ensue. Rights defenders say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Numerous groups say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by shrinking assistance, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a move to appease a political ally.
Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference
In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a biannual gathering held concurrently with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they welcome shifts in US policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is returning, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding established norms 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 sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another continental gathering on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker urges African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of multilateral bodies. In June, a major religious institution hosts a family strengthening conference in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has increased markedly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are running out of contraceptives, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization 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 politically-motivated move “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains at a standstill as the regional government will not allow perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
‘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 standard practice for certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the rule was reinstated in the first month of the year. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in the autumn, 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 broader enforcement are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.
