Five Major Significant Developments in the Challenge to the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.

Twelve months prior, groups dedicated to gender equality were preparing for a return of Donald Trump to office. Few were prepared for. The sheer number and rapid pace of presidential directives originating in the White House were regarded as a calculated strategy to overwhelm and create panic. In many ways it worked – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as groups rushed to compensate for the loss left by a freeze on international development funds. But that was just the beginning.

The Washington leadership has been the primary force, complemented by fervent lobbying efforts by religious fundamentalist networks using the moment to forge international alliances with sympathetic regimes.

This opposition to progressive rights describes a worldwide alliance of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that strive to weaken advances on numerous fronts. This covers 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 push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.

We analyze five instances that influenced the safety, dignity and lives of females globally.

The Demise of a Major Aid Agency

In the month of March, a month and a half following a key American development organization is halted, causing widespread distress, a top American diplomat states that a vast majority of the institution's work will be scrapped. American foreign service officers, past leaders and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, warning that mortality will increase. Activists say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and birth control and maternal healthcare. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by waning support, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, data shows how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders follow with their own cuts. A director of a global justice organization says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a move to appease a political ally.

Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit

In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a biannual gathering held concurrently with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they applaud changes in American foreign policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a grave caution that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding established norms on core aspects of gender equality around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy raises concerns among equality campaigners. In early May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to resist what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another continental gathering on conservative ethics is held. Both events are graced by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of global institutions. In June, a prominent church hosts a family strengthening conference in an African nation, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has grown significantly.

US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives

As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a European depot. A leading family planning organization states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from family planning options, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities will not allow the destruction of viable medicines.

Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy

Reviving the global gag rule, which cuts American funding for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the policy was restored 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 expand the global gag rule to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are anticipated next year. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.