Five Defining Significant Developments in the Rollback of the Rights of Females in This Past Year.
This time last year, groups dedicated to gender equality were preparing for a new Trump administration. Few were prepared for. The sheer number and rapid pace of executive orders emanating from the White House were viewed as a intentional maneuver to paralyze through overload. In many ways it worked – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as groups rushed to fill the gap left by a freeze on international development funds. But the situation was about to worsen.
The Washington leadership has been the main instigator, aided by vigorous campaigning by far-right organisations seizing the opportunity to forge international alliances with sympathetic regimes.
This opposition to progressive rights signifies a transnational grouping of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that work to dismantle advances on numerous fronts. Areas targeted involve reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They accomplish their goals by influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We analyze five episodes that impacted the protection, honor, and existence of the female population.
The Dismantling of USAID
In early spring, six weeks after a major US aid agency is its funds are blocked, causing international chaos, a senior US official confirms that nearly all of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. Career diplomats, past leaders and humanitarian and health experts condemn the news, stating that people will die as a result. Rights defenders say that the closure of the organization is more than a funding crisis, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by diminishing aid, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, data shows how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Another pair of leading funders initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a two-day conference held alongside the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they applaud new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is returning, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding historic agreements on key women’s rights issues around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa focused on the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among rights advocates. 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 soon after, 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 calls on African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of global institutions. In June, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Campaigners note that the level of external participation has grown significantly.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
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 dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their incineration will prevent countless females 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 imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “heartless and dangerous”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains unresolved as host nation officials will not allow the destruction of viable medicines.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which halts US aid to groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is standard practice for 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 extend the restrictions to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Further specifics about the broader enforcement are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become dependent on agreeing to the new, wider policy.
