A Quintet of Pivotal Events in the Assault on the Rights of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
This time last year, groups dedicated to gender equality were anticipating a return of Donald Trump to office. Few were prepared for. The volume and speed of administrative decrees originating in the White House were interpreted as a premeditated approach to overwhelm and create panic. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as agencies hastened to fill the gap left by a freeze on international development funds. But this was only the precursor.
The US administration has been the central catalyst, aided by vigorous campaigning by religious fundamentalist networks exploiting the situation to strengthen global ties with sympathetic regimes.
The movement against gender equality describes a worldwide alliance of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that strive to weaken gains in a variety of areas. Areas targeted involve pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.
They accomplish their goals by influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We examine five junctures that affected 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 widespread distress, a senior US official reveals that a vast majority of the organization's initiatives will be axed. US diplomats, past leaders and aid and medical specialists condemn the news, predicting that fatalities will ensue. Activists say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Many organisations say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in regions of instability. 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. Another pair of leading funders proceed with parallel slashes. 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 luxury Manhattan venue for a two-day conference held alongside the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa focused on the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In early May, a president and first lady open a significant conference to push back on what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another continental gathering on conservative ethics is held. Both events are participated in by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker urges African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a family strengthening conference in the region, an event that health activists say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Campaigners note that the extent of foreign involvement has expanded considerably.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are facing shortages of birth control, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their incineration will prevent 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 politically-motivated move “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A renowned doctors' group 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 will not allow usable products to be destroyed.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Reviving the global gag rule, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of 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 the autumn, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being negotiated with countries in Africa will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.
