Five Crucial Incidents in the Challenge to the Rights of Females in the Past Year.

This time last year, groups dedicated to gender equality were steeling themselves against a new Trump administration. Hardly anyone anticipated. The torrent and swiftness of executive orders emanating from the White House were seen as a calculated strategy to induce a state of shock. The tactic proved effective – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as agencies hastened to compensate for the loss left by a sudden aid suspension. But this merely marked the opening act.

The Washington leadership has been the primary force, bolstered by intense advocacy work by deeply conservative factions using the moment to build worldwide connections with political allies.

The movement against gender equality signifies a transnational grouping of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that aim to roll back progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This covers access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.

They do this by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.

We look at five junctures that shaped the safety, dignity and lives of women and girls.

The Demise of a Major Aid Agency

In early spring, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is frozen, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration reveals that a vast majority of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts decry the decision, warning that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates say that the demise of the agency is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and birth control and maternal healthcare. A multitude of agencies say females will bear the brunt by reduced funding, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, evidence indicates 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. Additional key contributing countries announce their own austerity measures. A director of a global justice organization says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.

Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit

In March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a strategic summit held concurrently with the international conference on women's rights. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate changes in American foreign policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining historic agreements on key women’s rights issues around the world.

Summits Promoting Conservative Norms

Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the conventional household and state autonomy raises concerns among rights advocates. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a major forum 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 presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of international organizations. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the extent of foreign involvement has increased markedly.

US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives

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 July plans to incinerate a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “heartless and dangerous”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains at a standstill as host nation officials refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.

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 typical of certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the policy was restored in January. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are anticipated next year. A director of a major health partnership says broadening the policy will have “unimaginable effects”. Pro-choice activists fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.