A Quintet of Key Moments in the Erosion of the Rights of Women and Girls in 2025.
Twelve months prior, women’s rights organisations were steeling themselves against a new Trump administration. Hardly anyone anticipated. The volume and speed of White House mandates emanating from the White House were seen as a intentional maneuver to induce a state of shock. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as organisations scrambled to fill the gap left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But that was just the beginning.
The Trump administration has been the central catalyst, bolstered by fervent lobbying efforts by ultra-conservative groups exploiting the situation to strengthen global ties with ideological partners.
Often termed the anti-gender movement denotes an international coalition of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that seek to undermine advances on numerous fronts. This covers abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They pursue this agenda via pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We analyze five moments that impacted the safety, dignity and lives of women and girls.
USAID Dismantled
In March, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is halted, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration announces that over eighty percent of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. US diplomats, former presidents and aid and medical specialists criticize the move, cautioning that lives will be lost. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a savage attack on human rights and access to contraception and reproductive health services. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by waning support, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Additional key contributing countries initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a two-day conference held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in high spirits as they applaud new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the global conference with a grave caution that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is returning, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among human rights defenders. In May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another continental gathering on conservative ethics is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to resist “radical global social engineering” of global institutions. In June, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that health activists say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Activists observe that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a warehouse in Europe. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from access to birth control, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains in deadlock as the regional government will not allow the destruction of viable medicines.
Broader Restrictions on Aid
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the policy was restored 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 governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says broadening the policy will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being negotiated with countries in Africa will become conditional on accepting the broadened restrictions.
