Five Critical Crucial Incidents in the Attack on the Rights of Females in 2025.
This time last year, organisations advocating for women's rights were bracing themselves for a new Trump administration. Scarcely anyone expected. The sheer number and rapid pace of presidential directives coming out of the White House were seen as a calculated strategy to induce a state of shock. This strategy had its intended impact – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as groups rushed to plug the hole left by a sudden aid suspension. But that was just the beginning.
The Washington leadership has been the central catalyst, bolstered by fervent lobbying efforts by far-right organisations exploiting the situation to forge international alliances with ideological partners.
Often termed the anti-gender movement refers to a global network of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as billionaire families and individuals that work to dismantle 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 push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We examine five instances that shaped the protection, honor, and existence of the female population.
USAID Dismantled
In March, shortly after a major US aid agency is frozen, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration states that the lion's share of the institution's work will be scrapped. Career diplomats, past leaders and aid and medical specialists decry the decision, cautioning that fatalities will ensue. Human rights advocates say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say females will bear the brunt by diminishing aid, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, statistics reveal how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with millions more to come. Another pair of leading funders follow with their own cuts. A director of a global justice organization 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 the same month, several Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held in parallel with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they welcome changes in American foreign policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a report shows that groups opposing progressive rights are deliberately weakening established norms on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa focused on the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among equality campaigners. In May, a president and first lady open a major forum to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A shortly thereafter, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker urges African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In June, a global faith group hosts a family strengthening conference in West Africa, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the level of external participation has grown significantly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to destroy a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a warehouse in Europe. A global sexual health network states that their incineration will prevent a huge female population from access to birth control, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities will not allow usable products to be destroyed.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, 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 rule was reinstated in the first month of the year. 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. Further specifics about the broader enforcement are expected in early 2026. A leader in global maternal health says broadening the policy will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
