Five Major Pivotal Events in the Assault on the Rights of Women and Girls in 2025.

In the previous year, feminist advocacy groups were bracing themselves for a new Trump administration. Scarcely anyone expected. The torrent and swiftness of administrative decrees coming out of the White House were regarded as a deliberate tactic to overwhelm and create panic. The tactic proved effective – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as organisations scrambled to compensate for the loss left by a major funding freeze. But that was just the beginning.

The American government has been the primary force, supported by fervent lobbying efforts by religious fundamentalist networks capitalizing on the climate to build worldwide connections with political allies.

Often termed the anti-gender movement refers to a global network of government figures, churches, and advocacy collectives as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that work to dismantle advances on numerous fronts. This covers abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.

They accomplish their goals by lobbying governments, supporting court cases, discrediting international efforts to push for parity, disseminating propaganda, and supporting ideologically-matched groups.

We look at five instances that shaped the safety, dignity and lives of the female population.

USAID Effectively Dismantled

In early spring, six weeks after a key American development organization is halted, causing global disruption, a leading figure in the administration reveals that a vast majority of the institution's work will be scrapped. American foreign service officers, former presidents and relief and public health authorities criticize the move, warning that fatalities will ensue. Human rights advocates say that the dismantling of this institution is more than a funding crisis, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and birth control and maternal healthcare. Many organisations say women and girls will be disproportionately affected by shrinking assistance, especially in conflict areas. As the year ends, data shows how hundreds of thousands of people have already died from illness, famine, inadequate obstetric services, and violence against women, with a far greater catastrophe looming. Two other major donor nations proceed with parallel slashes. 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.

Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference

In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an high-end hotel in NYC for a strategic summit held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to defeat the UN’s “radical agenda”. They are in optimistic frame of mind as they applaud shifts in US policy on gender, diversity and abortion. Meanwhile, the world's top diplomat opens the global conference with a stark warning that “the venom of male dominance” is resurgent, after a report shows that anti-rights actors are actively undermining historic agreements on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.

African ‘Family Values’ Conferences

Over the warmer months, a series of conferences in Africa focused on the conservative family structures and national independence raises concerns among rights advocates. In the start of May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to combat what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A few days later, another continental gathering on traditional morals is held. Both events are participated in by leading US and European anti-rights figures, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to stand up to “international liberal agenda” of international organizations. In June, a prominent church hosts a gathering about supporting traditional households in an African nation, an event that health activists say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Activists observe that the scale of their presence has increased markedly.

Contraceptive Destruction Order

As health facilities across Africa report they are depleting their stocks of family planning supplies, including emergency kits for survivors of sexual violence, the US announces in July plans to incinerate a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a warehouse in Europe. A major reproductive health federation states that their elimination will deprive 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 deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A international emergency medical charity calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can fulfill their original purpose, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as the regional government refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.

Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy

Reviving the global gag rule, which cuts American funding for 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 reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in the autumn, the US announces it intends to extend the restrictions to include sovereign states and UN agencies in addition to NGOs, and to cover diversity programmes. More details on the expansion of the rule are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says widening the scope will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being negotiated with countries in Africa will become dependent on agreeing to the new, wider policy.