Five Critical Crucial Incidents in the Assault on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in 2025.
Twelve months prior, groups dedicated to gender equality were bracing themselves for a new Trump administration. Hardly anyone anticipated. The flood and velocity of presidential directives originating in the White House were viewed as a intentional maneuver to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as organisations scrambled to plug the hole left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But that was just the beginning.
The US administration has been the central catalyst, complemented by intense advocacy work by ultra-conservative groups seizing the opportunity to forge international alliances with ideological partners.
This opposition to progressive rights refers to a global network of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that aim to roll back gains in a variety of areas. This covers pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.
They do this by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We examine five junctures that influenced the welfare, autonomy, and survival of girls and women.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In March, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is suspended, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat states that nearly all of the body's projects will be terminated. American foreign service officers, past leaders and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, stating that people will die as a result. Rights defenders say that the closure of the organization 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 diminishing aid, especially in regions of instability. 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 a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders announce their own austerity measures. A leader of an international advocacy group says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In the same month, several Christian-right organisations meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a two-day conference held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they applaud new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is back, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding historic agreements on key women’s rights issues around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa focused on the traditional family and national sovereignty triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In early May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another Pan-African conference on conservative ethics is held. Both events are graced by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of global institutions. 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 a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As medical centers in numerous African countries 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 dispose of a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from family planning options, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Charities attempt to acquire 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 the destruction of viable medicines.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which cuts American funding 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 the autumn, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are expected in early 2026. A leader in global maternal health says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become conditional on accepting the broadened restrictions.
