🔗 Share this article Five Major Pivotal Events in the Attack on the Rights of Females in This Past Year. Twelve months prior, women’s rights organisations were steeling themselves against a new Trump administration. Hardly anyone anticipated. The sheer number and rapid pace of executive orders issued from the White House were viewed as a intentional maneuver to cause confusion and fear. This strategy had its intended impact – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as agencies hastened to compensate for the loss left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But this was only the precursor. The Washington leadership has been the key driver, supported by fervent lobbying efforts by religious fundamentalist networks exploiting the situation to build worldwide connections with sympathetic regimes. This opposition to progressive rights signifies a transnational grouping of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that work to dismantle advances on numerous fronts. This covers access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction. They accomplish their goals by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations. We look at five instances that shaped the safety, dignity and lives of the female population. The Demise of a Major Aid Agency In early spring, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is its funds are blocked, causing global disruption, a top American diplomat reveals that a vast majority of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, cautioning that fatalities will ensue. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. Numerous groups say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by reduced funding, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Another pair of leading funders announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization 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 Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held in parallel with the international conference on women's rights. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they welcome changes in American foreign policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is returning, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world. African ‘Family Values’ Conferences Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among human rights defenders. In early May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to resist what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another regional summit on traditional morals is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of international organizations. In June, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has grown significantly. American Plan to Burn Birth Control As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny millions of women and girls from access to birth control, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as host nation officials refuse to permit perfectly good supplies to be incinerated. Broader Restrictions on Aid Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which cuts American funding for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It came as no surprise 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 broaden the scope of the policy 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 leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become contingent upon adopting the broadened restrictions.
Twelve months prior, women’s rights organisations were steeling themselves against a new Trump administration. Hardly anyone anticipated. The sheer number and rapid pace of executive orders issued from the White House were viewed as a intentional maneuver to cause confusion and fear. This strategy had its intended impact – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as agencies hastened to compensate for the loss left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But this was only the precursor. The Washington leadership has been the key driver, supported by fervent lobbying efforts by religious fundamentalist networks exploiting the situation to build worldwide connections with sympathetic regimes. This opposition to progressive rights signifies a transnational grouping of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as billionaire families and individuals that work to dismantle advances on numerous fronts. This covers access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction. They accomplish their goals by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations. We look at five instances that shaped the safety, dignity and lives of the female population. The Demise of a Major Aid Agency In early spring, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is its funds are blocked, causing global disruption, a top American diplomat reveals that a vast majority of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, cautioning that fatalities will ensue. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. Numerous groups say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by reduced funding, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Another pair of leading funders announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization 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 Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held in parallel with the international conference on women's rights. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they welcome changes in American foreign policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is returning, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world. African ‘Family Values’ Conferences Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among human rights defenders. In early May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to resist what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another regional summit on traditional morals is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of international organizations. In June, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has grown significantly. American Plan to Burn Birth Control As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny millions of women and girls from access to birth control, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as host nation officials refuse to permit perfectly good supplies to be incinerated. Broader Restrictions on Aid Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which cuts American funding for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It came as no surprise 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 broaden the scope of the policy 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 leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become contingent upon adopting the broadened restrictions.