A Quintet of Landmark Occurrences in the Erosion of the Rights of Women and Girls in the Past Year.

In the previous year, feminist advocacy groups were preparing for a Trump presidency sequel. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The volume and speed of White House mandates issued from the White House were viewed as a premeditated approach to cause confusion and fear. In many ways it worked – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as organisations scrambled to plug the hole 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 deeply conservative factions using the moment to strengthen global ties with political allies.

The movement against gender equality signifies a transnational grouping of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that work to dismantle gains in a variety of areas. These include access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.

They do this by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.

We look at five instances that shaped the safety, dignity and lives of girls and women.

USAID Effectively Dismantled

In the month of March, shortly after a key American development organization is frozen, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration confirms that a vast majority of the organization's initiatives will be axed. American foreign service officers, former presidents and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, cautioning that mortality will increase. Rights defenders say that the dismantling of this institution is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say the impact on girls and women will be severe by diminishing aid, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, statistics reveal how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders proceed with parallel slashes. 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 the same month, several Christian-right organisations meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a two-day conference held concurrently with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they applaud changes in American foreign policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding established norms on key women’s rights issues around the world.

Summits Promoting Conservative Norms

Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In early May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to resist what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another Pan-African conference on conservative ethics is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to stand up to “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. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has grown significantly.

Contraceptive Destruction Order

As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are facing shortages of birth control, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to incinerate a vast stockpile of birth control held in a warehouse in Europe. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent millions of women and girls from family planning options, 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 prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities will not allow usable products to be destroyed.

Broader Restrictions on Aid

Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, 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 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 expand the global gag rule to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. More details on the expansion of the rule are anticipated next year. A leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being negotiated with countries in Africa will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.