Five Critical Pivotal Events in the Challenge to the Rights of Women and Girls in 2025.
In the previous year, groups dedicated to gender equality were preparing for a Trump presidency sequel. Scarcely anyone expected. The sheer number and rapid pace of White House mandates emanating from the White House were seen as a calculated strategy to cause confusion and fear. The tactic proved effective – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as networks struggled to address the shortfall left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But this was only the precursor.
The American government has been the primary force, bolstered by fervent lobbying efforts by deeply conservative factions using the moment to strengthen global ties with like-minded governments.
This opposition to progressive rights refers to a global network of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that work to dismantle forward movement on multiple topics. This covers access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.
They accomplish their goals by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We analyze five junctures that impacted the security, respect, and well-being of women and girls.
The Dismantling of USAID
In the month of March, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is its funds are blocked, causing global disruption, a senior US official announces that nearly all of the body's projects will be terminated. Career diplomats, past leaders and humanitarian and health experts decry the decision, warning that people will die as a result. Rights defenders say that the closure of the organization is more than a funding crisis, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by waning support, especially in war zones. As the year ends, data shows how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Additional key contributing countries proceed with parallel slashes. A director of a global justice organization says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a move to appease a political ally.
Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference
In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a strategic summit held in parallel with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they applaud new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy raises concerns among rights advocates. In May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A few days later, another Pan-African conference on conservative ethics is held. Both events are graced by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including heads of influential networks. One speaker urges African NGOs to resist “radical global social engineering” of international organizations. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in an African nation, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the extent of foreign involvement has increased markedly.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a storage facility in Belgium. A global sexual health network states that their destruction will deny millions of women and girls from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. 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 are blocking usable products to be destroyed.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reviving the global gag rule, 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 ban was reimposed in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says broadening the policy will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.