Five Defining Significant Developments in the Attack on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in 2025.
In the previous year, women’s rights organisations were anticipating a return of Donald Trump to office. Few were prepared for. The volume and speed of administrative decrees coming out of the White House were viewed as a deliberate tactic to cause confusion and fear. This strategy had its intended impact – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as networks struggled to address the shortfall left by a major funding freeze. But this was only the precursor.
The US administration has been the key driver, supported by vigorous campaigning by far-right organisations seizing the opportunity to build worldwide connections with ideological partners.
The movement against gender equality refers to a global network of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as affluent financiers and clans that aim to roll back progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This encompasses reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.
They achieve this through pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We analyze five junctures that influenced the protection, honor, and existence of women and girls.
USAID Dismantled
In early spring, a month and a half following a key American development organization is suspended, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat confirms that nearly all of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists condemn the news, warning that lives will be lost. Human rights advocates say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and family planning and reproductive care. Many organisations say females will bear the brunt by reduced funding, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, reports confirm how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Additional key contributing countries follow with their own cuts. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting
In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a strategic summit held in parallel with 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 optimistic frame of mind as they welcome new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the poison of patriarchy” is back, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are deliberately weakening historic agreements on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
Summits Promoting Conservative Norms
Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa centered on the conservative family structures and national independence sparks alarm among rights advocates. In early May, a national leader and spouse open a significant conference to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A few days later, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to resist “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In June, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in an African nation, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Advocates remark that the level of external participation has expanded considerably.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are running out of contraceptives, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their incineration will prevent millions of women and girls from contraceptive supplies, and lead to a surge in unplanned pregnancies and dangerous terminations. 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 unresolved as the regional government will not allow usable products to be destroyed.
‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded
Reviving the global gag rule, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was widely expected 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 broaden the scope of the policy to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Further specifics about the expansion of the rule are expected in early 2026. A director of a major health partnership says widening the scope will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.