Five Critical Landmark Occurrences in the Attack on the Rights of Females in the Past Year.

This time last year, feminist advocacy groups were anticipating a Trump presidency sequel. Scarcely anyone expected. The volume and speed of administrative decrees originating in the White House were seen as a calculated strategy to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as agencies hastened to compensate for the loss left by a freeze on international development funds. But the situation was about to worsen.

The Trump administration has been the primary force, bolstered by intense advocacy work by deeply conservative factions exploiting the situation to strengthen global ties with political allies.

Often termed the anti-gender movement describes a worldwide alliance of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as billionaire families and individuals that aim to roll back advances on numerous fronts. These include abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.

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

We review five moments that shaped the protection, honor, and existence of girls and women.

The Dismantling of USAID

In early spring, six weeks after a key American development organization is halted, causing widespread distress, a senior US official confirms that over eighty percent of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. American foreign service officers, past leaders and humanitarian and health experts condemn the news, warning that mortality will increase. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. Numerous groups say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by diminishing aid, especially in conflict areas. 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. Additional key contributing countries follow with their own cuts. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.

Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference

In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a strategic summit held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the poison of patriarchy” is back, after a report shows that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among equality campaigners. 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 regional summit on conservative ethics is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker urges African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has increased markedly.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy 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 countless females from access to birth control, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “callous and reckless”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US rejects each bid. 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 provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the rule was reinstated in the first month of the year. 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 expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being negotiated with countries in Africa will become contingent upon adopting the broadened restrictions.