Five Pivotal Events in the Rollback of the Rights of Women and Girls in the Past Year.
This time last year, women’s rights organisations were steeling themselves against a Trump presidency sequel. Scarcely anyone expected. The volume and speed of presidential directives coming out of the White House were interpreted as a premeditated approach to overwhelm and create panic. This strategy had its intended impact – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as organisations scrambled to compensate for the loss left by a freeze on international development funds. But this was only the precursor.
The Washington leadership has been the key driver, bolstered by intense advocacy work by religious fundamentalist networks capitalizing on the climate to solidify transnational relationships with ideological partners.
The movement against gender equality signifies a transnational grouping of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as billionaire families and individuals that aim to roll back forward movement on multiple topics. These include reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They pursue this agenda via advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We examine five junctures that affected the safety, dignity and lives of females globally.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In March, shortly after a key American development organization is frozen, causing international chaos, a leading figure in the administration states that the lion's share of the institution's work will be scrapped. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, cautioning that fatalities will ensue. Rights defenders say that the demise of the agency is greater than a budgetary issue, 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 waning support, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, data shows how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders follow with their own cuts. A director of a global justice organization says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a move to appease a political ally.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In the same month, 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 forum to discuss methods on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are actively undermining longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the warmer months, a series of conferences in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among human rights defenders. In early May, a president and first lady open a large assembly to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A few days later, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are graced by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of global institutions. In June, a global faith group hosts a family strengthening conference in the region, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the level of external participation has expanded considerably.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in midsummer plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny a huge female population from family planning options, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “callous and reckless”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reviving the global gag rule, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the policy was restored in January. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in October, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being negotiated with countries in Africa will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.
