A Quintet of Pivotal Events in the Attack on the Rights of Females in 2025.

This time last year, organisations advocating for women's rights were bracing themselves for a second Trump term. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The torrent and swiftness of White House mandates coming out of the White House were viewed as a intentional maneuver to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as agencies hastened to compensate for the loss left by a sudden aid suspension. But this was only the precursor.

The American government has been the primary force, bolstered by vigorous campaigning by far-right organisations using the moment to forge international alliances with sympathetic regimes.

The anti-rights movement signifies a transnational grouping of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that aim to roll back progress across a wide spectrum of issues. Areas targeted involve reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.

They accomplish their goals by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.

We analyze five episodes that impacted the welfare, autonomy, and survival of the female population.

USAID Dismantled

In March, shortly after a major US aid agency is suspended, causing turmoil around the world, a leading figure in the administration announces that a vast majority of the institution's work will be scrapped. US diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, cautioning that lives will be lost. Activists say that the demise of the agency is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and birth control and maternal healthcare. Numerous groups say females will bear the brunt by waning support, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, evidence indicates how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with millions more to come. Additional key contributing countries proceed with parallel slashes. 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.

Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting

In March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a biannual gathering held alongside the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in high spirits as they celebrate new Washington directives on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the women’s summit with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is returning, after a study indicates that anti-rights actors are actively undermining longstanding consensus on key women’s rights issues around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa themed around the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among human rights defenders. In early May, a head of state and partner open a significant conference to push back on what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A few days later, another continental gathering on conservative ethics is held. Both events are graced by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of international organizations. In June, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has increased markedly.

US Threat to Destroy Contraceptives

As health facilities across Africa report they are facing shortages of birth control, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a warehouse in Europe. A global sexual health network states that their destruction will deny 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 exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “callous and reckless”. Charities attempt to acquire 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 perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.

‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded

Reviving the global gag rule, which halts US aid to groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is standard practice for 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 October, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. More details on the policy's widened application are likely forthcoming. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the expanded global gag.