Five Significant Developments in the Erosion of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.
Twelve months prior, feminist advocacy groups were preparing for a second Trump term. Scarcely anyone expected. The sheer number and rapid pace of administrative decrees emanating from the White House were viewed as a calculated strategy to paralyze through overload. The tactic proved effective – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as networks struggled to address the shortfall left by a major funding freeze. But this merely marked the opening act.
The Trump administration has been the central catalyst, aided by relentless activism by far-right organisations exploiting the situation to build worldwide connections with political allies.
The anti-rights movement denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as billionaire families and individuals that aim to roll back advances on numerous fronts. This covers 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 advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We analyze five moments that impacted the protection, honor, and existence of women and girls.
The Dismantling of USAID
In the month of March, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is frozen, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat states that a vast majority of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. US diplomats, ex-presidents and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, stating that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Many organisations say the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in regions of instability. 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 millions more to come. Two other major donor nations initiate similar reductions. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a strategic summit held in parallel with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they applaud new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the global conference with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is returning, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening established norms on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a series of conferences in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In early May, a head of state and partner open a significant conference to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A few days later, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker urges African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of global institutions. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a family strengthening conference in the region, an event that health activists say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to incinerate a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny countless females from access to birth control, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities are blocking usable products to be destroyed.
Broader Restrictions on Aid
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which cuts American funding for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on 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 rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the broadened restrictions.
