Five Defining Pivotal Events in the Erosion of the Rights of Females in This Past Year.

Twelve months prior, women’s rights organisations were anticipating a Trump presidency sequel. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The torrent and swiftness of executive orders originating in the White House were interpreted as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. The tactic proved effective – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as agencies hastened to fill the gap left by a sudden aid suspension. But that was just the beginning.

The US administration has been the central catalyst, aided by relentless activism by far-right organisations seizing the opportunity to forge international alliances with ideological partners.

The anti-rights movement describes a worldwide alliance of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as affluent financiers and clans that strive to weaken advances on numerous fronts. This covers abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.

They do this by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.

We review five episodes that influenced the security, respect, and well-being of the female population.

USAID Effectively Dismantled

In March, a month and a half following a prominent humanitarian funder is its funds are blocked, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration reveals that a vast majority of the institution's work will be scrapped. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts criticize the move, stating that mortality will increase. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is greater than a budgetary issue, 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 reduced funding, especially in war zones. As the year ends, data shows how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Two other major donor nations announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.

Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting

In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a biannual gathering held concurrently with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in buoyant mood as they applaud shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is returning, after a report shows that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining historic agreements on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.

Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa

Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty sparks alarm among human rights defenders. In the start of May, a president and first lady open a major forum to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A soon after, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to resist “radical global social engineering” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Campaigners note that the level of external participation has increased markedly.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As health facilities across Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a European depot. A global sexual health network states that their destruction will deny millions of women and girls from family planning options, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities will not allow perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.

‘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 commonplace under certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the policy was restored in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. 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 broader enforcement are expected in early 2026. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.