Five Major Pivotal Events in the Rollback of the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
In the previous year, groups dedicated to gender equality were preparing for a new Trump administration. Few were prepared for. The flood and velocity of executive orders originating in the White House were interpreted as a deliberate tactic to cause confusion and fear. The tactic proved effective – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as agencies hastened to fill the gap left by a major funding freeze. But this was only the precursor.
The US administration has been the main instigator, complemented by intense advocacy work by religious fundamentalist networks exploiting the situation to solidify transnational relationships 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 billionaire families and individuals that aim to roll back forward movement on multiple topics. This covers pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.
They accomplish their goals by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We examine five episodes that impacted the security, respect, and well-being of women and girls.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In the month of March, a month and a half following a prominent humanitarian funder is halted, causing widespread distress, a top American diplomat announces that nearly all of the body's projects will be terminated. Career diplomats, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts criticize the move, warning that lives will be lost. Activists say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and birth control and maternal healthcare. Many organisations say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by shrinking assistance, especially in war zones. As the year ends, statistics reveal how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries initiate similar reductions. A leader of an international advocacy group says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a two-day conference held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they welcome changes in American foreign policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the women’s summit with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is returning, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among rights advocates. In the start of May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to resist what they label external influences undermining local norms. A few days later, another continental gathering on conservative ethics is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of global institutions. In June, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in West Africa, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence 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 midsummer plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny a huge female population from access to birth control, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “heartless and dangerous”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains in deadlock as the regional government refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines.
Broader Restrictions on Aid
Reviving the global gag rule, which halts US aid to groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the rule was reinstated in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Further specifics about the broader enforcement are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.
