Five Defining Significant Developments in the Assault on the Rights of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
Twelve months prior, feminist advocacy groups were bracing themselves for a new Trump administration. Few were prepared for. The volume and speed of presidential directives issued from the White House were interpreted as a premeditated approach to overwhelm and create panic. In many ways it worked – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as organisations scrambled to compensate for the loss left by a sudden aid suspension. But this was only the precursor.
The American government has been the central catalyst, supported by vigorous campaigning by religious fundamentalist networks seizing the opportunity to solidify transnational relationships with ideological partners.
Often termed the anti-gender movement refers to a global network of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that work to dismantle advances on numerous fronts. These include access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They pursue this agenda via lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We review five moments that shaped the protection, honor, and existence of the female population.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In early spring, shortly after a major US aid agency is its funds are blocked, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat reveals that a vast majority of the organization's initiatives will be axed. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists denounce the action, stating that mortality will increase. Activists say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and birth control and maternal healthcare. Numerous groups say females will bear the brunt by waning support, especially in war zones. As the year ends, statistics reveal how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Two other major donor nations announce their own austerity measures. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is a move to appease a political ally.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a biannual gathering held concurrently with the annual UN Women gathering. 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 women’s summit with a stark warning that “the poison of patriarchy” is returning, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa focused on the traditional family and national sovereignty triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In the start of May, a president and first lady open a large assembly to resist what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has grown significantly.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their incineration will prevent millions of women and girls 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 forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities are blocking perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which halts US aid to 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 signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the policy's widened application are anticipated next year. A director of a major health partnership says broadening the policy will have “catastrophic impacts”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.
