Five Critical Crucial Incidents in the Assault on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Past Year.

Twelve months prior, women’s rights organisations were steeling themselves against a return of Donald Trump to office. Scarcely anyone expected. The volume and speed of presidential directives issued from the White House were seen as a premeditated approach to cause confusion and fear. This strategy had its intended impact – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as organisations scrambled to plug the hole left by a sudden aid suspension. But this merely marked the opening act.

The US administration has been the primary force, complemented by vigorous campaigning by religious fundamentalist networks capitalizing on the climate to solidify transnational relationships with like-minded governments.

The anti-rights movement refers to a global network of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as affluent financiers and clans that seek to undermine advances on numerous fronts. These include pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.

They achieve this through lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.

We analyze five episodes that shaped the welfare, autonomy, and survival of females globally.

The Demise of a Major Aid Agency

In the month of March, shortly after a major US aid agency is its funds are blocked, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration confirms that a vast majority of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, predicting that mortality will increase. Activists say that the demise of the agency is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and family planning and reproductive care. Many organisations say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by diminishing aid, especially in war zones. As the year ends, reports confirm how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Additional key contributing countries initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.

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 alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they welcome shifts in US policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the poison of patriarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding established norms on key women’s rights issues around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa focused on the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among human rights defenders. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to combat what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another Pan-African conference on traditional morals is held. Both events are participated in by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. 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 a stage for criticizing gender equality. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has grown significantly.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are facing shortages of birth control, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their destruction will deny countless females from family planning options, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as local authorities refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines.

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 rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Additional information regarding the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.