🔗 Share this article A Quintet of Key Moments in the Challenge to the Freedoms of Women and Girls in 2025. In the previous year, feminist advocacy groups were preparing for a new Trump administration. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The volume and speed of administrative decrees issued from the White House were viewed as a intentional maneuver to induce a state of shock. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as organisations scrambled to address the shortfall left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen. The Trump administration has been the main instigator, complemented by intense advocacy work by religious fundamentalist networks exploiting the situation to solidify transnational relationships with sympathetic regimes. The movement against gender equality denotes an international coalition of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as affluent financiers and clans that aim to roll back forward movement on multiple topics. Areas targeted involve reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed. They pursue this agenda via pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations. We examine five episodes that impacted the protection, honor, and existence of the female population. The Demise of a Major Aid Agency In the month of March, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is its funds are blocked, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat reveals that nearly all of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. American foreign service officers, former presidents and aid and medical specialists denounce the action, stating that people will die as a result. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Many organisations say the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, reports confirm how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. Another pair of leading funders announce their own austerity measures. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda. Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a biannual gathering held in parallel with 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 buoyant mood as they welcome new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world. African ‘Family Values’ Conferences Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa focused on the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among equality campaigners. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a significant conference to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A shortly thereafter, another Pan-African conference on traditional morals is held. Both events are attended by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of global institutions. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has grown significantly. Contraceptive Destruction Order As health facilities across Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to destroy millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a storage facility in Belgium. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive countless females from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities will not allow usable products to be destroyed. Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the policy was restored 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 broaden the scope of the policy to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.
In the previous year, feminist advocacy groups were preparing for a new Trump administration. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The volume and speed of administrative decrees issued from the White House were viewed as a intentional maneuver to induce a state of shock. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as organisations scrambled to address the shortfall left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen. The Trump administration has been the main instigator, complemented by intense advocacy work by religious fundamentalist networks exploiting the situation to solidify transnational relationships with sympathetic regimes. The movement against gender equality denotes an international coalition of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as affluent financiers and clans that aim to roll back forward movement on multiple topics. Areas targeted involve reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed. They pursue this agenda via pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations. We examine five episodes that impacted the protection, honor, and existence of the female population. The Demise of a Major Aid Agency In the month of March, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is its funds are blocked, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat reveals that nearly all of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. American foreign service officers, former presidents and aid and medical specialists denounce the action, stating that people will die as a result. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Many organisations say the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, reports confirm how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with millions more to come. Another pair of leading funders announce their own austerity measures. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda. Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a biannual gathering held in parallel with 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 buoyant mood as they welcome new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world. African ‘Family Values’ Conferences Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa focused on the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among equality campaigners. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a significant conference to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A shortly thereafter, another Pan-African conference on traditional morals is held. Both events are attended by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of global institutions. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has grown significantly. Contraceptive Destruction Order As health facilities across Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to destroy millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a storage facility in Belgium. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive countless females from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities will not allow usable products to be destroyed. Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the policy was restored 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 broaden the scope of the policy to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.