Five Significant Developments in the Challenge to the Rights of Women and Girls in 2025.
Twelve months prior, feminist advocacy groups were anticipating a new Trump administration. Few were prepared for. The volume and speed of White House mandates coming out of the White House were seen as a premeditated approach to paralyze through overload. This strategy had its intended impact – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as agencies hastened to compensate for the loss left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen.
The US administration has been the key driver, aided by intense advocacy work by ultra-conservative groups capitalizing on the climate to strengthen global ties with ideological partners.
Often termed the anti-gender movement refers to a global network of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that aim to roll back advances on numerous fronts. This encompasses reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They accomplish their goals by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.
We examine five episodes that influenced the protection, honor, and existence of the female population.
The Dismantling of USAID
In the month of March, shortly after a major US aid agency is suspended, causing turmoil around the world, a top American diplomat states that over eighty percent of the body's projects will be terminated. Career diplomats, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, warning that lives will be lost. Activists say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and family planning and reproductive care. Many organisations say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by shrinking assistance, especially in war zones. 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 a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders follow with their own cuts. A leader of an international advocacy group says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In March, several faith-based advocacy networks 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 oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the poison of patriarchy” is resurgent, after a analysis demonstrates that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining historic agreements on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa centered on the conservative family structures and national independence triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In early May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A shortly thereafter, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of international organizations. In June, a major religious institution 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 grown significantly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As health facilities across Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive countless females from access to birth control, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities refuse to permit perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
Broader Restrictions on Aid
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which cuts American funding for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was widely expected 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 extend the restrictions to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “catastrophic impacts”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become contingent upon adopting the broadened restrictions.
