Five Defining Pivotal Events in the Rollback of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
Twelve months prior, groups dedicated to gender equality were steeling themselves against a new Trump administration. Scarcely anyone expected. The sheer number and rapid pace of executive orders coming out of the White House were interpreted as a deliberate tactic to induce a state of shock. This strategy had its intended impact – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as networks struggled to address the shortfall left by a major funding freeze. But the situation was about to worsen.
The US administration has been the key driver, complemented by vigorous campaigning by ultra-conservative groups capitalizing on the climate to forge international alliances with political allies.
Often termed the anti-gender movement refers to a global network of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that strive to weaken progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This encompasses access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They pursue this agenda via advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We look at five instances that impacted the security, respect, and well-being of the female population.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In early spring, shortly after a major US aid agency is frozen, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat states that a vast majority of the body's projects will be terminated. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists condemn the news, cautioning that fatalities will ensue. 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 birth control and maternal healthcare. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by shrinking assistance, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders announce their own austerity measures. A head of a worldwide campaign network 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 concurrently with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they celebrate new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the poison of patriarchy” is back, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa focused on the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In May, a national leader and spouse open a significant conference to push back on what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are attended by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including heads of influential networks. One speaker urges African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of global institutions. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably.
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 dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent a huge female population from contraceptive supplies, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains unresolved as host nation officials are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reviving the global gag rule, which halts US aid to groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the policy was restored 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 broaden the scope of the policy to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Additional information regarding the policy's widened application are likely forthcoming. A director of a major health partnership says widening the scope will have “unimaginable effects”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
