Five Crucial Incidents in the Assault on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in 2025.
In the previous year, organisations advocating for women's rights were anticipating a Trump presidency sequel. Few were prepared for. The torrent and swiftness of executive orders issued from the White House were seen as a premeditated approach to overwhelm and create panic. The tactic proved effective – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as agencies hastened to fill the gap left by a sudden aid suspension. But this was only the precursor.
The Washington leadership has been the main instigator, aided by fervent lobbying efforts by religious fundamentalist networks capitalizing on the climate to build worldwide connections with sympathetic regimes.
The anti-rights movement signifies a transnational grouping of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that seek to undermine forward movement on multiple topics. This encompasses access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They accomplish their goals by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We analyze five instances that affected the welfare, autonomy, and survival of women and girls.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In March, shortly after a key American development organization is frozen, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat announces that nearly all of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, former presidents and relief and public health authorities denounce the action, warning that lives will be lost. Activists say that the closure of the organization is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Many organisations say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by waning support, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Two other major donor nations proceed with parallel slashes. A director of a global justice organization says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference
In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they welcome new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is returning, after a study indicates that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining historic agreements on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In May, a president and first lady open a large assembly to resist what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A few days later, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker urges African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In June, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the extent of foreign involvement has increased markedly.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to dispose of a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny 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 dogmatic choice “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which prohibits Washington's support for 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 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 encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. More details on the broader enforcement are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
