Five Major Significant Developments in the Challenge to the Freedoms of Women and Girls in This Past Year.
A year ago, women’s rights organisations were anticipating a Trump presidency sequel. Hardly anyone anticipated. The flood and velocity of White House mandates issued from the White House were seen as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as groups rushed to fill the gap left by a freeze on international development funds. But this merely marked the opening act.
The American government has been the primary force, bolstered by intense advocacy work by religious fundamentalist networks exploiting the situation to solidify transnational relationships with political allies.
Often termed the anti-gender 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 gains in a variety of areas. These include abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.
They do this by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.
We look at five instances that impacted the safety, dignity and lives of women and girls.
USAID Effectively Dismantled
In the month of March, shortly after a key American development organization is frozen, causing widespread distress, a top American diplomat announces that the lion's share of the body's projects will be terminated. American foreign service officers, past leaders and relief and public health authorities decry the decision, stating that lives will be lost. Rights defenders say that the demise of the agency is more than a funding crisis, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and birth control and maternal healthcare. Many organisations say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by shrinking assistance, especially in regions of instability. As the year ends, evidence indicates how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with many more millions at risk. Another pair of leading funders follow with their own cuts. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is a gesture of alignment with another government's agenda.
Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit
In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a biannual gathering held alongside the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they celebrate changes in American foreign policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the venom of male dominance” is returning, after a analysis demonstrates that opponents of gender equality are deliberately weakening longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.
African ‘Family Values’ Conferences
Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy sparks alarm among human rights defenders. In early May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to resist what they label external influences undermining local norms. A soon after, another regional summit on conservative ethics is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of global institutions. In June, a major religious institution hosts a family strengthening conference in West Africa, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably.
Contraceptive Destruction Order
As health facilities across Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a warehouse in Europe. A leading family planning organization states that their destruction will deny countless females from family planning options, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. 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 in deadlock as host nation officials will not allow usable products to be destroyed.
Broader Restrictions on Aid
Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which halts US aid to 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 January. The administration also signed onto a conservative consensus document. But in October, 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. More details on the broader enforcement are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.
