Five Landmark Occurrences in the Rollback of the Rights of Females in the Past Year.
In the previous year, groups dedicated to gender equality were preparing for a return of Donald Trump to office. Scarcely anyone expected. The volume and speed of White House mandates issued from the White House were seen as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. In many ways it worked – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as networks struggled to compensate for the loss left by a sudden aid suspension. But the situation was about to worsen.
The US administration has been the main instigator, aided by relentless activism by ultra-conservative groups capitalizing on the climate to forge international alliances with like-minded governments.
The anti-rights movement signifies a transnational grouping of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that seek to undermine advances on numerous fronts. These include pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.
They do this by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.
We review five junctures that influenced the safety, dignity and lives of females globally.
The Demise of a Major Aid Agency
In the month of March, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is frozen, causing widespread distress, a leading figure in the administration confirms that the lion's share of the institution's work will be scrapped. Career diplomats, former presidents and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, predicting that fatalities will ensue. Rights defenders say that the closure of the organization is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and access to contraception and reproductive health services. A multitude of agencies say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by waning support, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, data shows how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Additional key contributing countries initiate similar reductions. A leader of an international advocacy group 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 conservative religious groups meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a two-day conference 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 buoyant mood as they celebrate shifts in US policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the poison of patriarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that opponents of gender equality 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 focused on the conservative family structures and national independence triggers anxiety among rights advocates. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a major forum to push back on what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another continental gathering on conservative ethics is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker urges African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a major religious institution hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in the region, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the level of external participation has grown significantly.
US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives
As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are facing shortages of birth control, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a warehouse in Europe. A global sexual health network states that their elimination will deprive 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 imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “callous and reckless”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains at a standstill 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 provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the policy was restored in the first month of the year. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in the autumn, 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 likely forthcoming. A leader in global maternal health says widening the scope will have “catastrophic impacts”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that new US aid packages being discussed with African nations will become dependent on agreeing to the new, wider policy.
