Five Crucial Incidents in the Attack on the Freedoms of Women and Girls in 2025.

Twelve months prior, feminist advocacy groups were anticipating a second Trump term. Hardly anyone anticipated. The torrent and swiftness of administrative decrees issued from the White House were viewed as a calculated strategy to cause confusion and fear. This strategy had its intended impact – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as groups rushed to fill the gap left by a major funding freeze. But this was only the precursor.

The Trump administration has been the primary force, aided by fervent lobbying efforts by ultra-conservative groups using the moment to build worldwide connections with like-minded governments.

Often termed the anti-gender movement refers to a global network of elected officials, faith-based bodies, non-governmental organisations as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that seek to undermine forward movement on multiple topics. This encompasses access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.

They do this by influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.

We review five junctures that influenced the welfare, autonomy, and survival of women and girls.

The Dismantling of USAID

In March, six weeks after a prominent humanitarian funder is halted, causing international chaos, a top American diplomat states that the lion's share of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. US diplomats, ex-presidents and aid and medical specialists condemn the news, cautioning that lives will be lost. Activists say that the closure of the organization 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 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 many more millions at risk. Two other major donor nations follow with their own cuts. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a choice to reduce international development funding is a move to appease a political ally.

Christian-Right Groups Raise Voices During UN Women Summit

In the same month, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a two-day conference held alongside the international conference on women's rights. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to oppose what they term a UN overreach. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they applaud shifts in US policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the global conference with a grave caution that “the poison of patriarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are actively undermining longstanding consensus on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the summer, a series of conferences in Africa focused on the conservative family structures and national independence triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In the start of May, a president and first lady open a significant conference to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another Pan-African conference on traditional morals is held. Both events are attended by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker calls on African NGOs to push back against “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In June, a global faith group hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that health activists say has become an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender platform. Campaigners note that the scale of their presence has expanded considerably.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As medical centers in numerous African countries report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to dispose of a vast stockpile of birth control held in a warehouse in Europe. A leading family planning organization states that their elimination will deprive a huge female population from contraceptive supplies, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an ideological decision “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. Aid groups propose purchasing the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains unresolved as the regional government will not allow usable products to be destroyed.

Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy

Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which halts US aid to groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the ban was reimposed in the first month of the year. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. But in October, the US announces it intends to broaden the scope of the policy to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. More details on the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach will have “devastating consequences”. Pro-choice activists fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become dependent on agreeing to the new, wider policy.