Five Defining Significant Developments in the Challenge to the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
In the previous year, feminist advocacy groups were bracing themselves for a Trump presidency sequel. Few were prepared for. The sheer number and rapid pace of White House mandates coming out of the White House were seen as a intentional maneuver to cause confusion and fear. This strategy had its intended impact – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as networks struggled to plug the hole left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But that was just the beginning.
The American government has been the primary force, aided by fervent lobbying efforts by ultra-conservative groups exploiting the situation to forge international alliances with ideological partners.
The anti-rights movement refers to a global network of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that aim to roll back forward movement on multiple topics. These include access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They achieve this through advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We review five instances that shaped the protection, honor, and existence of girls and women.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In the month of March, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is suspended, causing widespread distress, a top American diplomat reveals that nearly all of the institution's work will be scrapped. US diplomats, past leaders and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, warning that fatalities will ensue. Rights defenders say that the demise of the agency 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 females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, evidence indicates how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Additional key contributing countries follow with their own cuts. A leader of an international advocacy group says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a move to appease a political ally.
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 concurrently 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 shifts in US policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is returning, after a study indicates that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa focused on the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In the start of May, a president and first lady open a significant conference to resist what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A few days later, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to resist “radical global social engineering” of international organizations. In June, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that health activists say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Advocates remark that the extent of foreign involvement has expanded considerably.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are facing shortages of birth control, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to destroy a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. A leading family planning organization states that their elimination will deprive countless females from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities are blocking usable products to be destroyed.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which cuts American funding for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the rule was reinstated in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in October, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Additional information regarding the policy's widened application are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says broadening the policy will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the new, wider policy.