A Quintet of Key Moments in the Assault on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.
A year ago, groups dedicated to gender equality were steeling themselves against a second Trump term. Few were prepared for. The torrent and swiftness of administrative decrees issued from the White House were regarded as a intentional maneuver to overwhelm and create panic. This strategy had its intended impact – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as agencies hastened to address the shortfall left by a freeze on international development funds. But that was just the beginning.
The Trump administration has been the primary force, complemented by intense advocacy work by religious fundamentalist networks capitalizing on the climate to forge international alliances with political allies.
The movement against gender equality describes a worldwide alliance of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that aim to roll back progress across a wide spectrum of issues. Areas targeted involve abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They do this by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We examine five moments that impacted the security, respect, and well-being of the female population.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In early spring, six weeks after a prominent humanitarian funder is frozen, causing global disruption, a senior US official confirms that over eighty percent of the institution's work will be scrapped. US diplomats, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, predicting that people will die as a result. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and birth control and maternal healthcare. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by diminishing aid, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, statistics reveal how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with many more millions at risk. Additional key contributing countries proceed with parallel slashes. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance 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 luxury Manhattan venue for a two-day conference held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in high spirits as they celebrate changes in American foreign policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the women’s summit with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is returning, after a analysis demonstrates that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining established norms on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the warmer months, a series of conferences in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In early May, a national leader and spouse open a significant conference to resist what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another continental gathering on conservative ethics is held. Both events are participated in by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of multilateral bodies. In June, a major religious institution hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in the region, an event that health activists say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Activists observe that the extent of foreign involvement has increased markedly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are facing shortages of birth control, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as host nation officials will not allow the destruction of viable medicines.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, 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 anticipated when the ban was reimposed in January. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in October, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Further specifics about the broader enforcement are expected in early 2026. 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 conditional on accepting the broadened restrictions.