A Quintet of Key Moments in the Erosion of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in 2025.
This time last year, women’s rights organisations were preparing for a Trump presidency sequel. Scarcely anyone expected. The volume and speed of executive orders emanating from the White House were seen as a calculated strategy to induce a state of shock. The tactic proved effective – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as networks struggled to compensate for the loss left by a sudden aid suspension. But this merely marked the opening act.
The Trump administration has been the key driver, bolstered by intense advocacy work by ultra-conservative groups exploiting the situation to build worldwide connections with like-minded governments.
This opposition to progressive rights describes a worldwide alliance of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that work to dismantle advances on numerous fronts. These include reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They accomplish their goals by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.
We analyze five junctures that influenced the protection, honor, and existence of girls and women.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In March, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is suspended, causing international chaos, a leading figure in the administration announces that the lion's share of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, predicting that fatalities will ensue. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Many organisations say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, reports confirm 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. Another pair of leading funders initiate similar reductions. A director of a global justice organization says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
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 alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate new Washington directives 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 back, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy sparks alarm among rights advocates. In the start of May, a national leader and spouse open a major forum to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A soon after, another continental gathering on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker urges African NGOs to resist “radical global social engineering” of international organizations. In June, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence has grown significantly.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
As health facilities across Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive countless females from family planning options, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the rule was reinstated in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Additional information regarding the policy's widened application are likely forthcoming. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being negotiated with countries in Africa will become conditional on accepting the broadened restrictions.
