A Quintet of Pivotal Events in the Attack on the Rights of Women and Girls in 2025.

Twelve months prior, feminist advocacy groups were steeling themselves against a new Trump administration. Scarcely anyone expected. The volume and speed of presidential directives emanating from the White House were interpreted as a intentional maneuver to cause confusion and fear. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as groups rushed to plug the hole left by a freeze on international development funds. But this merely marked the opening act.

The American government has been the primary force, bolstered by vigorous campaigning by far-right organisations using the moment to strengthen global ties with political allies.

The anti-rights movement describes a worldwide alliance of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as billionaire families and individuals 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 achieve this through influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.

We look at five junctures that impacted the welfare, autonomy, and survival of the female population.

USAID Dismantled

In March, a month and a half following a prominent humanitarian funder is its funds are blocked, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat states that the lion's share of the body's projects will be terminated. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and relief and public health authorities criticize the move, predicting that mortality will increase. Human rights advocates say that the demise of the agency is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and birth control and maternal healthcare. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in war zones. As the year ends, evidence indicates how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with many more millions at risk. Another pair of leading funders initiate similar reductions. A leader of an international advocacy group says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a move to appease a political ally.

Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting

In the same month, several Christian-right organisations meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a two-day conference held in parallel with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate changes in American foreign policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the poison of patriarchy” is back, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining historic agreements on key women’s rights issues around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among rights advocates. In the start of May, a president and first lady open a major forum to combat 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 leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to resist “international liberal agenda” of global institutions. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the extent of foreign involvement has increased markedly.

Contraceptive Destruction Order

As health facilities across Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains at a standstill as host nation officials will not allow the destruction of viable medicines.

Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy

Reviving the global gag rule, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about 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. Additional information regarding the policy's widened application are anticipated next year. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being negotiated with countries in Africa will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.