Five Critical Landmark Occurrences in the Erosion of the Rights of Females in 2025.
A year ago, women’s rights organisations were steeling themselves against a return of Donald Trump to office. Hardly anyone anticipated. The flood and velocity of executive orders issued from the White House were viewed as a calculated strategy to induce a state of shock. This strategy had its intended impact – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as networks struggled to plug the hole left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen.
The US administration has been the key driver, bolstered by intense advocacy work by religious fundamentalist networks using the moment to forge international alliances with like-minded governments.
Often termed the anti-gender movement describes a worldwide alliance of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that seek to undermine gains in a variety of areas. This encompasses abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They do this by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We look at five episodes that influenced the welfare, autonomy, and survival of women and girls.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In the month of March, shortly after a major US aid agency is its funds are blocked, causing turmoil around the world, a senior US official announces that the lion's share of the body's projects will be terminated. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists criticize the move, warning that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and access to contraception and reproductive health services. A multitude of agencies say the impact on girls and women will be severe by waning support, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, statistics reveal how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with millions more to come. 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 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 luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held concurrently with the international conference on women's rights. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they welcome changes in American foreign policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is back, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are actively undermining 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 conservative family structures and national independence triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In early May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to combat what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another continental gathering on conservative ethics is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to resist “international liberal agenda” of multilateral bodies. In June, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Campaigners note that the extent of foreign involvement has increased markedly.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
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 incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from access to birth control, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains in deadlock as the regional government are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.
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 commonplace under certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the rule was reinstated in the first month of the year. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.
