Five Critical Significant Developments in the Rollback of the Rights of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.

Twelve months prior, feminist advocacy groups were bracing themselves for a return of Donald Trump to office. Hardly anyone anticipated. The flood and velocity of executive orders originating in the White House were seen as a premeditated approach to cause confusion and fear. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as organisations scrambled to address the shortfall left by a freeze on international development funds. But that was just the beginning.

The Washington leadership has been the key driver, complemented by vigorous campaigning by far-right organisations using the moment to build worldwide connections with like-minded governments.

The anti-rights movement signifies a transnational grouping of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that work to dismantle gains in a variety of areas. Areas targeted involve abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.

They pursue this agenda via lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.

We review five moments that impacted the security, respect, and well-being of females globally.

USAID Dismantled

In March, six weeks after a prominent humanitarian funder is halted, causing turmoil around the world, a senior US official states that over eighty percent of the body's projects will be terminated. Career diplomats, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts condemn the news, warning that lives will be lost. Activists say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and birth control and maternal healthcare. Many organisations say females will bear the brunt by waning support, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Two other major donor nations announce their own austerity measures. A leader of an international advocacy group 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 biannual gathering held concurrently with the international conference on women's rights. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate changes in American foreign policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the women’s summit with a stark warning that “the poison of patriarchy” is back, after a report shows that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.

Summits Promoting Conservative Norms

Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among human rights defenders. In the start of May, a president and first lady open a large assembly to combat what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A shortly thereafter, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are participated in by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including heads of influential networks. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to stand up to “radical global social engineering” of multilateral bodies. In June, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in the region, an event that health activists say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has grown significantly.

Contraceptive Destruction Order

As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to incinerate a vast stockpile of birth control held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains in deadlock as host nation officials will not allow perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.

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 typical of 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 the autumn, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. More details on the policy's widened application are likely forthcoming. A leader in global maternal health says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.