Five Crucial Incidents in the Challenge to the Freedoms of Women and Girls in the Past Year.

In the previous year, organisations advocating for women's rights were steeling themselves against a second Trump term. Few were prepared for. The volume and speed of presidential directives emanating from the White House were seen as a deliberate tactic to paralyze through overload. The tactic proved effective – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as agencies hastened to plug the hole left by a major funding freeze. But this merely marked the opening act.

The Trump administration has been the main instigator, aided by relentless activism by deeply conservative factions exploiting the situation to build worldwide connections with political allies.

This opposition to progressive rights denotes an international coalition of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as affluent financiers and clans that strive to weaken progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This covers abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.

They do this by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.

We look at five episodes that impacted the welfare, autonomy, and survival of girls and women.

The Dismantling of USAID

In the month of March, six weeks after a prominent humanitarian funder is its funds are blocked, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat states that over eighty percent of the institution's work will be scrapped. Career diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, stating that mortality will increase. Rights defenders say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say the impact on girls and women will be severe by shrinking assistance, 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 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.

Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit

In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a biannual gathering held concurrently with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in high spirits as they welcome new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is back, after a study indicates that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding established norms on core aspects of gender equality around the world.

Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa

Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa focused on the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among rights advocates. In May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A soon after, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of multilateral bodies. In June, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in the region, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably.

US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives

As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a warehouse in Europe. A global sexual health network states that their incineration will prevent countless females from access to birth control, 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 “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains in deadlock as local authorities are blocking usable products to be destroyed.

Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy

Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which cuts American funding for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the policy was restored in January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.