Five Major Landmark Occurrences in the Erosion of the Rights of Females in the Past Year.
A year ago, groups dedicated to gender equality were preparing for a return of Donald Trump to office. Few were prepared for. The flood and velocity of executive orders coming out of the White House were viewed as a deliberate tactic to paralyze through overload. This strategy had its intended impact – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as agencies hastened to plug the hole left by a freeze on international development funds. But this merely marked the opening act.
The American government has been the primary force, supported by intense advocacy work by ultra-conservative groups using the moment to solidify transnational relationships with political allies.
Often termed the anti-gender movement refers to a global network of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that work to dismantle gains in a variety of areas. This covers abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They achieve this through influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We analyze five instances that influenced the safety, dignity and lives of girls and women.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In early spring, a month and a half following a key American development organization is frozen, 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 decry the decision, predicting that mortality will increase. Rights defenders say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and birth control and maternal healthcare. A multitude of agencies say females will bear the brunt by waning support, especially in war zones. As the year ends, statistics reveal how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with many more millions at risk. Two other major donor nations announce their own austerity measures. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a move to appease a political ally.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a strategic summit held in parallel with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in high spirits as they applaud changes in American foreign policy 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 back, after a analysis demonstrates that groups opposing progressive rights are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.
Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa
Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In the start of May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to resist 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 participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker urges African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of global institutions. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in the region, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has increased markedly.
American Plan to Burn Birth Control
As health facilities across Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from family planning options, 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 calculated move to control fertility”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “callous and reckless”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains in deadlock as host nation officials refuse to permit perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.
Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, 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 rule was reinstated in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in October, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are anticipated next year. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the broadened restrictions.
