Five Critical Significant Developments in the Assault on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.

This time last year, women’s rights organisations were anticipating a Trump presidency sequel. Scarcely anyone expected. The torrent and swiftness of presidential directives coming out of the White House were regarded as a calculated strategy to cause confusion and fear. This strategy had its intended impact – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as networks struggled to compensate for the loss left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen.

The Trump administration has been the central catalyst, supported by fervent lobbying efforts by ultra-conservative groups using the moment to forge international alliances with political allies.

The movement against gender equality describes a worldwide alliance of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as billionaire families and individuals that seek to undermine forward movement on multiple topics. Areas targeted involve reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.

They do this by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.

We look at five junctures that impacted the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women.

The Dismantling of USAID

In March, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is suspended, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat confirms that nearly all of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, former presidents and aid and medical specialists criticize the move, warning that fatalities will ensue. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and birth control and maternal healthcare. Numerous groups say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by diminishing aid, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.

Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference

In March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a biannual gathering held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the women’s summit with a stark warning that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is returning, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are actively undermining longstanding consensus on key women’s rights issues around the world.

Summits Promoting Conservative Norms

Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa focused on the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among human rights defenders. In the start of May, a president and first lady open a major forum to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A few days later, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker urges African NGOs to resist “radical global social engineering” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has increased markedly.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from access to birth control, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization 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 at a standstill as the regional government refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.

‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded

Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the rule was reinstated in the first month of the year. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. 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. Further specifics about the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.