Five Defining Significant Developments in the Challenge to the Rights of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
This time last year, organisations advocating for women's rights were preparing for a return of Donald Trump to office. Scarcely anyone expected. The torrent and swiftness of administrative decrees emanating from the White House were seen as a intentional maneuver to paralyze through overload. This strategy had its intended impact – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as agencies hastened to fill the gap left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But that was just the beginning.
The Washington leadership has been the key driver, aided by vigorous campaigning by ultra-conservative groups seizing the opportunity to build worldwide connections with political allies.
The movement against gender equality denotes an international coalition of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that strive to weaken progress across a wide spectrum of issues. These include reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They accomplish their goals by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We examine five junctures that shaped the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women.
The Dismantling of USAID
In early spring, six weeks after a key American development organization is halted, causing widespread distress, a leading figure in the administration announces that nearly all of the institution's work will be scrapped. Career diplomats, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, stating that mortality will increase. Human rights advocates say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Numerous groups say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by diminishing aid, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Two other major donor nations announce their own austerity measures. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a move to appease a political ally.
Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference
In March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a biannual gathering held in parallel with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in high spirits as they applaud new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the venom of male dominance” is returning, after a analysis demonstrates that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among human rights defenders. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of global institutions. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the level of external participation has increased markedly.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a warehouse in Europe. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from access to birth control, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” 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 reach their intended destinations, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains in deadlock as host nation officials refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines.
Broader Restrictions on Aid
Reviving the global gag rule, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in October, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are likely forthcoming. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being negotiated with countries in Africa will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.
