A Quintet of Significant Developments in the Rollback of the Rights of Women and Girls in the Past Year.

In the previous year, groups dedicated to gender equality were bracing themselves for a new Trump administration. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The volume and speed of White House mandates emanating from the White House were seen as a premeditated approach to paralyze through overload. The tactic proved effective – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as agencies hastened to fill the gap left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But this merely marked the opening act.

The American government has been the central catalyst, aided by intense advocacy work by religious fundamentalist networks exploiting the situation to forge international alliances with sympathetic regimes.

Often termed the anti-gender movement signifies a transnational grouping of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as affluent financiers and clans that strive to weaken advances on numerous fronts. This covers reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.

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

We review five moments that impacted the welfare, autonomy, and survival of females globally.

The Demise of a Major Aid Agency

In March, a month and a half following a prominent humanitarian funder is frozen, causing global disruption, a senior US official reveals that nearly all of the institution's work will be scrapped. American foreign service officers, former presidents and humanitarian and health experts decry the decision, predicting that people will die as a result. Activists say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Many organisations say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, reports confirm how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with many more millions at risk. Two other major donor nations follow with their own cuts. A leader of an international advocacy group says a move to cut foreign aid drastically is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.

Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit

In March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a biannual gathering held concurrently with the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in optimistic frame of mind 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 stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a analysis demonstrates that groups opposing progressive rights are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to resist what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A soon after, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are participated in by leading American and European conservative activists, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to stand up to “radical global social engineering” of global institutions. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that pro-choice campaigners 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 prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from family planning options, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. 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 host nation officials are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.

‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded

Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the policy was restored in January. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. More details on the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being discussed with African nations will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.