Five Pivotal Events in the Erosion of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.

Twelve months prior, feminist advocacy groups were preparing for a new Trump administration. Few were prepared for. The flood and velocity of administrative decrees coming out of the White House were seen as a premeditated approach to induce a state of shock. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as agencies hastened to plug the hole left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen.

The US administration has been the primary force, aided by fervent lobbying efforts by religious fundamentalist networks seizing the opportunity to solidify transnational relationships with political allies.

Often termed the anti-gender movement signifies a transnational grouping of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as billionaire families and individuals that work to dismantle forward movement on multiple topics. This covers reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.

They achieve this through influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.

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

The Dismantling of USAID

In the month of March, six weeks after a major US aid agency is frozen, causing international chaos, a senior US official confirms that a vast majority of the institution's work will be scrapped. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts decry the decision, stating that lives will be lost. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Numerous groups say females will bear the brunt by diminishing aid, especially in war zones. As the year ends, evidence indicates how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders follow with their own cuts. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is a move to appease a political ally.

Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting

In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a strategic summit held concurrently with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they applaud shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is back, after a analysis demonstrates 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 human rights defenders. In the start of May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A soon after, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are graced by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker urges African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the scale of their presence has grown significantly.

US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives

As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to incinerate a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. A global sexual health network states that their incineration will prevent a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains in deadlock as the regional government will not allow usable products to be destroyed.

Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy

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 was widely expected when the ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. 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 expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.