Five Defining Key Moments in the Rollback of the Rights of Women and Girls in the Past Year.

A year ago, women’s rights organisations were bracing themselves for a new Trump administration. Hardly anyone anticipated. The flood and velocity of administrative decrees coming out of the White House were seen as a deliberate tactic to paralyze through overload. The tactic proved effective – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as networks struggled to plug the hole left by a major funding freeze. But that was just the beginning.

The American government has been the primary force, bolstered by fervent lobbying efforts by deeply conservative factions using the moment to forge international alliances with ideological partners.

The anti-rights movement denotes an international coalition of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that work to dismantle progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This covers access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.

They do this by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.

We examine five junctures that influenced the safety, dignity and lives of women and girls.

The Demise of a Major Aid Agency

In the month of March, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is frozen, causing international chaos, a senior US official confirms that the lion's share of the institution's work will be scrapped. US diplomats, past leaders and humanitarian and health experts denounce the action, cautioning that people will die as a result. Human rights advocates say that the closure of the organization is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by waning support, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, reports confirm how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Another pair of leading funders follow with their own cuts. A director of a global justice organization says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.

Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference

In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a strategic summit held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate new Washington directives on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the gender equality forum with a stark warning that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is returning, after a study indicates that opponents of gender equality are actively undermining established norms on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.

Summits Promoting Conservative Norms

Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa themed around the conservative family structures and national independence triggers anxiety among human rights defenders. In May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to resist what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to resist “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of global institutions. In June, a major religious institution hosts a family strengthening conference in the region, an event that health activists say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the level of external participation has increased markedly.

US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives

As health facilities across Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to destroy millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their destruction will deny countless females from access to birth control, 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 renowned doctors' group calls it “heartless and dangerous”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government are blocking usable products to be destroyed.

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 came as no surprise 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 extend the restrictions to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. Further specifics about the broader enforcement are expected in early 2026. A leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become dependent on agreeing to the expanded global gag.