Five Critical Crucial Incidents in the Assault on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
In the previous year, groups dedicated to gender equality were preparing for a return of Donald Trump to office. Scarcely anyone expected. The volume and speed of presidential directives originating in the White House were seen as a deliberate tactic to paralyze through overload. The tactic proved effective – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as organisations scrambled to fill the gap left by a sudden aid suspension. But this was only the precursor.
The American government has been the main instigator, supported by vigorous campaigning by far-right organisations exploiting the situation to solidify transnational relationships with ideological partners.
Often termed the anti-gender movement refers to a global network of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that aim to roll back gains in a variety of areas. These include reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They accomplish their goals by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We analyze five episodes that impacted the security, respect, and well-being of females globally.
The Dismantling of USAID
In the month of March, six weeks after a key American development organization is suspended, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat announces that nearly all of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, cautioning that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates 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 diminishing aid, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, reports confirm 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. Two other major donor nations initiate similar reductions. A director of a global justice organization says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a move to appease a political ally.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a two-day conference held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they applaud shifts in US policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the women’s summit with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is back, after a analysis demonstrates that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty triggers anxiety among human rights defenders. In the start of May, a national leader and spouse open a major forum to push back on what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A shortly thereafter, another continental gathering on conservative ethics is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker urges African NGOs to resist “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that health activists say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Campaigners note that the extent of foreign involvement has expanded considerably.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to destroy millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a warehouse in Europe. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent millions of women and girls from access to birth control, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “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”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains in deadlock as the regional government will not allow usable products to be destroyed.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which cuts American funding for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the policy was restored in the first month of the year. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. More details on the broader enforcement are likely forthcoming. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
