Five Landmark Occurrences in the Attack on the Rights of Women and Girls in 2025.

In the previous year, groups dedicated to gender equality were steeling themselves against a Trump presidency sequel. Scarcely anyone expected. The sheer number and rapid pace of executive orders emanating from the White House were interpreted as a premeditated approach to overwhelm and create panic. In many ways it worked – there was disarray, outrage, and weariness as organisations scrambled to compensate for the loss left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But this merely marked the opening act.

The Trump administration has been the primary force, bolstered by relentless activism by ultra-conservative groups capitalizing on the climate to strengthen global ties with sympathetic regimes.

This opposition to progressive rights describes a worldwide alliance of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as affluent financiers and clans that aim to roll back progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This covers pro-choice policies, equality for sexual minorities, gender identity recognition, and inclusive relationship teaching.

They pursue this agenda via pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to foster equity, propagating misinformation, and bankrolling sympathetic charities.

We analyze five episodes that impacted the security, respect, and well-being of females globally.

USAID Effectively Dismantled

In March, six weeks after a key American development organization is suspended, causing widespread distress, a senior US official announces that the lion's share of the body's projects will be terminated. US diplomats, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts criticize the move, predicting that fatalities will ensue. Rights defenders say that the closure of the organization is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. Many organisations say females will bear the brunt by diminishing aid, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, reports confirm how a tremendous loss of life has already occurred from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, 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 a move to appease a political ally.

Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference

In March, several conservative religious groups meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a two-day conference held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an opportunity to share tactics on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in high spirits as they welcome shifts in US policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the poison of patriarchy” is returning, after a study indicates that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.

Summits Promoting Conservative Norms

Over the warmer months, a cluster of meetings in Africa centered on the conventional household and state autonomy triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to push back on what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another Pan-African conference on conservative ethics is held. Both events are participated in by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker calls on African NGOs to resist “radical global social engineering” of multilateral bodies. In June, a major religious institution hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in West Africa, an event that health activists say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Advocates remark that the extent of foreign involvement has increased markedly.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in midsummer plans to destroy a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a storage facility in Belgium. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive millions of women and girls from contraceptive supplies, and lead to hundreds of thousands of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. The organization labels the plan an politically-motivated move “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 reach their intended destinations, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities refuse to permit the destruction of viable medicines.

‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded

Reviving the global gag rule, which cuts American funding for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is typical of certain US administrations. It came as no surprise when the rule was reinstated 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 encompass equity and inclusion initiatives. Further specifics about the policy's widened application are anticipated next year. A expert in child welfare says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Reproductive justice campaigners fear that upcoming Washington funding agreements being negotiated with countries in Africa will become conditional on accepting the expanded global gag.