Five Major Pivotal Events in the Challenge to the Rights of Females in This Past Year.
In the previous year, organisations advocating for women's rights were steeling themselves against a new Trump administration. Hardly anyone anticipated. The torrent and swiftness of administrative decrees originating in the White House were interpreted 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 fill the gap left by a sudden aid suspension. But this merely marked the opening act.
The American government has been the main instigator, complemented by intense advocacy work by ultra-conservative groups capitalizing on the climate to strengthen global ties with like-minded governments.
The movement against gender equality denotes an international coalition of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as affluent financiers and clans that work to dismantle progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This encompasses abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They accomplish their goals by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We examine five junctures that influenced the security, respect, and well-being of the female population.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In March, six weeks after a major US aid agency is frozen, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration announces that the lion's share of the institution's work will be scrapped. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, cautioning that mortality will increase. 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 the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, reports confirm how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders proceed with parallel slashes. A head of a worldwide campaign network 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 March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held concurrently with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they welcome shifts in US policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the global conference with a grave caution that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is back, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining established norms on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in the region, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the level of external participation has grown significantly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As health facilities across Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to incinerate a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their incineration will prevent countless females from family planning options, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “heartless and dangerous”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities are blocking perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which halts US aid to 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 rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in October, 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. More details on the policy's widened application are anticipated next year. A director of a major health partnership says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.
