A Quintet of Crucial Incidents in the Attack on the Rights of Women and Girls in This Past Year.

In the previous year, groups dedicated to gender equality were steeling themselves against a second Trump term. Hardly anyone anticipated. The sheer number and rapid pace of presidential directives emanating from the White House were seen as a intentional maneuver to paralyze through overload. This strategy had its intended impact – there was bewilderment, fury, and fatigue as groups rushed to compensate for the loss left by a freeze on international development funds. But that was just the beginning.

The Trump administration has been the key driver, supported by vigorous campaigning by deeply conservative factions exploiting the situation to forge international alliances with ideological partners.

Often termed the anti-gender movement describes a worldwide alliance of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as wealthy philanthropists and dynasties that work to dismantle progress across a wide spectrum of issues. These include reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.

They achieve this through lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.

We look at five moments that shaped the security, respect, and well-being of girls and women.

The Demise of a Major Aid Agency

In March, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is halted, causing international chaos, a leading figure in the administration reveals that a vast majority of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. US diplomats, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists condemn the news, stating that fatalities will ensue. Human rights advocates 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. A multitude of agencies say females will bear the brunt by shrinking assistance, especially in war zones. As the year ends, reports confirm how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from sickness, hunger, poor pregnancy healthcare, and abuse targeting females, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Additional key contributing countries announce their own austerity measures. A leader of an international advocacy group says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.

Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting

In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a biannual gathering held in parallel with 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 optimistic frame of mind as they applaud changes in American foreign policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the global conference with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is back, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are deliberately weakening historic agreements on key women’s rights issues around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa centered on the traditional family and national sovereignty raises concerns among human rights defenders. In May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to resist what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another Pan-African conference on family values is held. Both events are attended by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “international liberal agenda” of multilateral bodies. In the following month, a global faith group hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in the region, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe that the level of external participation has increased markedly.

Contraceptive Destruction Order

As clinics in sub-Saharan Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in midsummer plans to incinerate millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a European depot. A leading family planning organization states that their destruction will deny millions of women and girls from family planning options, and lead to a public health crisis of unwanted pregnancies. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about exporting a regressive policy worldwide” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government are blocking the destruction of viable medicines.

Broader Restrictions on Aid

Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the policy was restored in January. 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 sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. More details on the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Pro-choice activists fear that fresh American assistance deals being negotiated with countries in Africa will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.