Five Key Moments in the Attack on the Rights of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.

This time last year, feminist advocacy groups were bracing themselves for a new Trump administration. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The torrent and swiftness of executive orders issued from the White House were regarded as a calculated strategy to induce a state of shock. In many ways it worked – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as networks struggled to address the shortfall left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But that was just the beginning.

The American government has been the main instigator, bolstered by relentless activism by religious fundamentalist networks capitalizing on the climate to build worldwide connections with sympathetic regimes.

Often termed the anti-gender movement describes a worldwide alliance of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as billionaire families and individuals that work to dismantle forward movement on multiple topics. These include access to termination, gay and trans protections, alternative households, and factual sexual instruction.

They do this by advocating to officials, financing legal challenges, sabotaging multilateral work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.

We review five moments that impacted the safety, dignity and lives of girls and women.

USAID Effectively Dismantled

In early spring, shortly after a prominent humanitarian funder is suspended, causing widespread distress, a senior US official confirms that over eighty percent of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. US diplomats, past leaders and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, stating that people will die as a result. Activists say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a brutal assault on fundamental freedoms and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by reduced funding, especially in conflict areas. 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. Two other major donor nations initiate similar reductions. A head of a worldwide campaign network says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a move to appease a political ally.

Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference

In March, several Christian-right organisations meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a biannual gathering held alongside the UN's flagship gender equality meeting. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in buoyant mood as they welcome changes in American foreign policy on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the women’s summit with a grave caution that “the poison of patriarchy” is resurgent, after a analysis demonstrates that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding established norms on core aspects of gender equality around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the summer, a cluster of meetings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy raises concerns among equality campaigners. In early May, a national leader and spouse open a major forum to push back on what they label external influences undermining local norms. A shortly thereafter, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are graced by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker urges African NGOs to stand up to “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In June, a major religious institution hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that pro-choice campaigners say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Campaigners note that the level of external participation 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 July plans to dispose of millions of dollars worth of contraceptives held in a European depot. A major reproductive health federation states that their incineration will prevent a huge female population from access to birth control, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an dogmatic choice “about forcing a conservative worldview globally” and “a calculated move to control fertility”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “heartless and dangerous”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US refuses all offers. The situation remains in deadlock as the regional government will not allow usable products to be destroyed.

‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded

Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is standard practice for certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the policy was restored in the first month of the year. 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 national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Additional information regarding the policy's widened application are expected in early 2026. A director of a major health partnership says widening the scope will have “catastrophic impacts”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being arranged with states on the continent will become conditional on accepting the new, wider policy.