🔗 Share this article Five Crucial Incidents in the Assault on the Rights of Women and Girls in 2025. Twelve months prior, groups dedicated to gender equality were bracing themselves for a second Trump term. Few were prepared for. The torrent and swiftness of executive orders emanating from the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as networks struggled to address the shortfall left by a freeze on international development funds. But the situation was about to worsen. The Washington leadership has been the main instigator, supported by vigorous campaigning by deeply conservative factions using the moment to strengthen global ties with ideological partners. This opposition to progressive rights describes a worldwide alliance of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as affluent financiers and clans that strive to weaken advances on numerous fronts. Areas targeted involve access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction. They achieve this through influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs. We look at five junctures that shaped the safety, dignity and lives of females globally. The Dismantling of USAID In March, shortly after a major US aid agency is its funds are blocked, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration reveals that a vast majority of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists denounce the action, cautioning that people will die as a result. Activists say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, it is a savage attack on human rights and birth control and maternal healthcare. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by diminishing aid, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, evidence indicates how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries follow with their own cuts. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding is an attempt to placate a powerful partner. Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a two-day conference held concurrently with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they welcome new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the women’s summit with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are deliberately weakening historic agreements on fundamental freedoms for women around the world. Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In early May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a family strengthening conference in the region, an event that health activists say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence has grown significantly. Contraceptive Destruction Order As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as the regional government refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines. Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy Reviving the global gag rule, 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 ban was reimposed in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. 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 encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. More details on the policy's widened application are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.
Twelve months prior, groups dedicated to gender equality were bracing themselves for a second Trump term. Few were prepared for. The torrent and swiftness of executive orders emanating from the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as networks struggled to address the shortfall left by a freeze on international development funds. But the situation was about to worsen. The Washington leadership has been the main instigator, supported by vigorous campaigning by deeply conservative factions using the moment to strengthen global ties with ideological partners. This opposition to progressive rights describes a worldwide alliance of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as affluent financiers and clans that strive to weaken advances on numerous fronts. Areas targeted involve access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction. They achieve this through influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs. We look at five junctures that shaped the safety, dignity and lives of females globally. The Dismantling of USAID In March, shortly after a major US aid agency is its funds are blocked, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration reveals that a vast majority of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists denounce the action, cautioning that people will die as a result. Activists say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, it is a savage attack on human rights and birth control and maternal healthcare. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by diminishing aid, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, evidence indicates how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries follow with their own cuts. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding is an attempt to placate a powerful partner. Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a two-day conference held concurrently with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they welcome new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the women’s summit with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are deliberately weakening historic agreements on fundamental freedoms for women around the world. Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In early May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a family strengthening conference in the region, an event that health activists say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence has grown significantly. Contraceptive Destruction Order As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as the regional government refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines. Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy Reviving the global gag rule, 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 ban was reimposed in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. 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 encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. More details on the policy's widened application are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.