A Quintet of Key Moments in the Rollback of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
Twelve months prior, feminist advocacy groups were bracing themselves for a return of Donald Trump to office. Hardly anyone anticipated. The flood and velocity of executive orders coming out of the White House were interpreted as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. The tactic proved effective – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as agencies hastened to plug the hole left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But this merely marked the opening act.
The Washington leadership has been the key driver, complemented by fervent lobbying efforts by deeply conservative factions exploiting the situation to forge international alliances with ideological partners.
This opposition to progressive rights signifies a transnational grouping of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as affluent financiers and clans that work to dismantle advances on numerous fronts. Areas targeted involve abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They achieve this through influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We review five junctures that impacted the security, respect, and well-being of the female population.
USAID Dismantled
In the month of March, six weeks after a key American development organization is halted, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration states that the lion's share of the body's projects will be terminated. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, predicting that mortality will increase. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and birth control and maternal healthcare. Many organisations say the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in war zones. As the year ends, statistics reveal how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. Two other major donor nations initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In the same month, several Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a biannual gathering held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is returning, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are systematically eroding established norms on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa focused on the traditional family and national sovereignty triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In early May, a head of state and partner open a significant conference to resist what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A few days later, another continental gathering on conservative ethics is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In June, a global faith group hosts a family strengthening conference in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a warehouse in Europe. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny countless females from family planning options, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. 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 renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains in deadlock as the regional government are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which cuts American funding for groups that offer, promote, or give information about 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 the autumn, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. More details on the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.
