A Quintet of Key Moments in the Rollback of the Rights of Females in the Year 2025.
Twelve months prior, organisations advocating for women's rights were preparing for a return of Donald Trump to office. Scarcely anyone expected. The torrent and swiftness of presidential directives issued from the White House were seen as a calculated strategy to paralyze through overload. In many ways it worked – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as groups rushed to fill the gap left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen.
The Washington leadership has been the key driver, aided by vigorous campaigning by ultra-conservative groups seizing the opportunity to forge international alliances with sympathetic regimes.
Often termed the anti-gender movement refers to a global network of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as billionaire families and individuals that work to dismantle forward movement on multiple topics. These include access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They pursue this agenda via pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We examine five moments that impacted the protection, honor, and existence of the female population.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In early spring, six weeks after a key American development organization is suspended, causing widespread distress, a senior US official states that the lion's share of the institution's work will be scrapped. US diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities criticize the move, stating that fatalities will ensue. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. Many organisations say the impact on girls and women will be severe by waning support, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, reports confirm how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference
In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a two-day conference 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 high spirits as they celebrate shifts in US policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is back, after a analysis demonstrates that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining historic agreements on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a series of conferences in Africa themed around the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In the start of May, a president and first lady open a large assembly to resist what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A shortly thereafter, another regional summit on conservative ethics is held. Both events are graced by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker urges African NGOs to resist “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from access to birth control, 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 “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as host nation officials refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reviving the global gag rule, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the ban was reimposed in January. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in the autumn, 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. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are expected in early 2026. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the new, wider policy.
