Five Major Pivotal Events in the Challenge to the Rights 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 torrent and swiftness of executive orders emanating from the White House were regarded as a intentional maneuver to induce a state of shock. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as groups rushed to compensate for the loss left by a sudden aid suspension. But this was only the precursor.
The US administration has been the main instigator, aided by relentless activism by ultra-conservative groups capitalizing on the climate to strengthen global ties with like-minded governments.
The anti-rights movement denotes an international coalition of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as affluent financiers and clans that seek to undermine advances on numerous fronts. This encompasses access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They do this by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We examine five episodes that affected the welfare, autonomy, and survival of females globally.
The Dismantling of USAID
In the month of March, six weeks after a major US aid agency is suspended, causing international chaos, a leading figure in the administration announces that a vast majority of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, former presidents and relief and public health authorities denounce the action, stating that fatalities will ensue. Rights defenders say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. Many organisations say the impact on girls and women will be severe by diminishing aid, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, data shows how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with many more millions at risk. Another pair of leading funders follow with their own cuts. A director of a global justice organization says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In the same month, several Christian-right organisations meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a biannual gathering held alongside 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 social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the women’s summit with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is back, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among rights advocates. In May, a national leader and spouse open a major forum to resist what they label external influences undermining local norms. A soon after, another regional summit on conservative ethics is held. Both events are graced by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to resist “international liberal agenda” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the scale of their presence has grown significantly.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a European depot. 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 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 renowned doctors' group calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as host nation officials refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.
Broader Restrictions on Aid
Reviving the global gag rule, which halts US aid to groups that provide, advocate for or advise on 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 reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are expected in early 2026. A leader in global maternal health says broadening the policy will have “devastating consequences”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.