Five Major Crucial Incidents in the Assault on the Rights of Women and Girls in the Past Year.

In the previous year, women’s rights organisations were preparing for a Trump presidency sequel. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The torrent and swiftness of administrative decrees emanating from the White House were seen as a intentional maneuver to cause confusion and fear. In many ways it worked – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as organisations scrambled to fill the gap left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But the situation was about to worsen.

The Trump administration has been the main instigator, supported by fervent lobbying efforts by far-right organisations using the moment to build worldwide connections with political allies.

The movement against gender equality denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as affluent financiers and clans that seek to undermine forward movement on multiple topics. Areas targeted involve abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.

They do this by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.

We review five junctures that affected the protection, honor, and existence of girls and women.

USAID Dismantled

In the month of March, six weeks after a major US aid agency is frozen, causing global disruption, a leading figure in the administration announces that nearly all of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts condemn the news, predicting that fatalities will ensue. Rights defenders say that the closure of the organization is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies 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 hundreds of thousands of people have already died from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries announce their own austerity measures. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.

Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit

In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a two-day conference held in parallel with the international conference on women's rights. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in high spirits as they celebrate shifts in US policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is back, after a analysis demonstrates that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining established norms on key women’s rights issues around the world.

Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa

Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among rights advocates. In early May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to resist what they label external influences undermining local norms. 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 presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of global institutions. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a family strengthening conference in the region, an event that health activists say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Campaigners note that the extent of foreign involvement has expanded considerably.

Contraceptive Destruction Order

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 July plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation 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 politically-motivated move “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities will not allow perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.

Broader Restrictions on Aid

Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which halts US aid to groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the rule was reinstated 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 extend the restrictions to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. More details on the policy's widened application are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.