Five Major Landmark Occurrences in the Attack on the Rights of Women and Girls in This Past Year.

Twelve months prior, groups dedicated to gender equality were anticipating a return of Donald Trump to office. Few were prepared for. The flood and velocity of executive orders emanating from the White House were interpreted as a calculated strategy to overwhelm and create panic. In many ways it worked – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as agencies hastened to address the shortfall left by a major funding freeze. But that was just the beginning.

The American government has been the key driver, aided by intense advocacy work by deeply conservative factions exploiting the situation to forge international alliances with ideological partners.

The movement against gender equality describes a worldwide alliance of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as affluent financiers and clans that aim to roll back gains in a variety of areas. This covers pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.

They pursue this agenda via lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.

We look at five instances that affected the welfare, autonomy, and survival of women and girls.

The Dismantling of USAID

In early spring, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is halted, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration confirms that the lion's share of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists denounce the action, predicting that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and birth control and maternal healthcare. A multitude of agencies say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, 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 high-end hotel in NYC for a biannual gathering held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they welcome shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the women’s summit with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a analysis demonstrates that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining longstanding consensus on key women’s rights issues around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among human rights defenders. In early May, a president and first lady open a significant conference to push back on what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A shortly thereafter, another Pan-African conference on conservative ethics is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to stand up to “radical global social engineering” of global institutions. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has increased markedly.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a warehouse in Europe. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent countless females 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 deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “heartless and dangerous”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government are blocking usable products to be destroyed.

‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded

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 came as no surprise when the policy was restored in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in October, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. More details on the expansion of the rule are anticipated next year. A leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.