🔗 Share this article Five Major Key Moments in the Challenge to the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year. In the previous year, groups dedicated to gender equality were bracing themselves for a return of Donald Trump to office. Hardly anyone anticipated. The sheer number and rapid pace of White House mandates issued from the White House were regarded as a calculated strategy to paralyze through overload. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as groups rushed to fill the gap left by a freeze on international development funds. But this was only the precursor. The US administration has been the key driver, supported by vigorous campaigning by deeply conservative factions using the moment to strengthen global ties with like-minded governments. The anti-rights movement describes a worldwide alliance of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that seek to undermine gains in a variety of areas. This covers pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching. They accomplish their goals by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs. We review five junctures that shaped the protection, honor, and existence of the female population. USAID Dismantled In the month of March, shortly after a major US aid agency is its funds are blocked, causing international chaos, a senior US official states that nearly all of the body's projects will be terminated. American foreign service officers, past leaders and humanitarian and health experts criticize the move, predicting that fatalities will ensue. Activists say that the closure of the organization is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and birth control and maternal healthcare. Many organisations say the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in war zones. As the year ends, reports confirm 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 initiate similar reductions. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding 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 luxury Manhattan venue for a two-day conference held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining established norms on key women’s rights issues around the world. Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa focused on the conventional household and state autonomy sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In May, a president and first lady open a major forum to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another continental gathering on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence has grown significantly. Contraceptive Destruction Order As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, 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 warehouse in Europe. A leading family planning organization states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from contraceptive supplies, 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 “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities will not allow the destruction of viable medicines. Broader Restrictions on Aid Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the policy was restored in January. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. 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. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
In the previous year, groups dedicated to gender equality were bracing themselves for a return of Donald Trump to office. Hardly anyone anticipated. The sheer number and rapid pace of White House mandates issued from the White House were regarded as a calculated strategy to paralyze through overload. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as groups rushed to fill the gap left by a freeze on international development funds. But this was only the precursor. The US administration has been the key driver, supported by vigorous campaigning by deeply conservative factions using the moment to strengthen global ties with like-minded governments. The anti-rights movement describes a worldwide alliance of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that seek to undermine gains in a variety of areas. This covers pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching. They accomplish their goals by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs. We review five junctures that shaped the protection, honor, and existence of the female population. USAID Dismantled In the month of March, shortly after a major US aid agency is its funds are blocked, causing international chaos, a senior US official states that nearly all of the body's projects will be terminated. American foreign service officers, past leaders and humanitarian and health experts criticize the move, predicting that fatalities will ensue. Activists say that the closure of the organization is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and birth control and maternal healthcare. Many organisations say the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in war zones. As the year ends, reports confirm 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 initiate similar reductions. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding 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 luxury Manhattan venue for a two-day conference held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining established norms on key women’s rights issues around the world. Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa focused on the conventional household and state autonomy sparks alarm among equality campaigners. In May, a president and first lady open a major forum to combat what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another continental gathering on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence has grown significantly. Contraceptive Destruction Order As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, 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 warehouse in Europe. A leading family planning organization states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from contraceptive supplies, 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 “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities will not allow the destruction of viable medicines. Broader Restrictions on Aid Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the policy was restored in January. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. 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. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.