A Quintet of Significant Developments in the Erosion of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.
In the previous year, women’s rights organisations were preparing for a return of Donald Trump to office. Hardly anyone anticipated. The volume and speed of presidential directives originating in the White House were seen as a intentional maneuver to overwhelm and create panic. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as organisations scrambled to address the shortfall left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But that was just the beginning.
The US administration has been the main instigator, complemented by relentless activism by ultra-conservative groups seizing the opportunity to strengthen global ties with like-minded governments.
The anti-rights movement denotes an international coalition of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as affluent financiers and clans that strive to weaken advances on numerous fronts. These include reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They accomplish their goals by influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We analyze five moments that impacted the protection, honor, and existence of girls and women.
The Dismantling of USAID
In the month of March, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is frozen, causing international chaos, a senior US official reveals that the lion's share of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts condemn the news, stating that lives will be lost. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, 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 reduced funding, especially in conflict areas. 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 many more millions at risk. Two other major donor nations initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held alongside the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an chance to exchange strategies 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 UN secretary general opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among equality campaigners. In the start of 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 few days later, another Pan-African conference on conservative ethics is held. Both events are graced by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker urges African NGOs to resist “radical global social engineering” of international organizations. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a family strengthening conference in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the extent of foreign involvement has increased markedly.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in midsummer plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control 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 surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “callous and reckless”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government are blocking perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
Broader Restrictions on Aid
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which cuts American funding for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the rule was reinstated in January. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. 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. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are expected in early 2026. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become dependent on agreeing to the new, wider policy.
