Five Major Landmark Occurrences in the Assault on the Rights of Women and Girls in the Year 2025.

A year ago, feminist advocacy groups were anticipating a second Trump term. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The sheer number and rapid pace of presidential directives issued from the White House were viewed as a calculated strategy to cause confusion and fear. The tactic proved effective – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as groups rushed to plug the hole left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But this was only the precursor.

The American government has been the central catalyst, supported by intense advocacy work by far-right organisations exploiting the situation to forge international alliances with like-minded governments.

Often termed the anti-gender movement signifies a transnational grouping of political leaders, religious institutions, civil society groups as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that aim to roll back progress across a wide spectrum of issues. This covers reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.

They pursue this agenda via pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.

We review five moments that affected the protection, honor, and existence of females globally.

USAID Effectively Dismantled

In early spring, a month and a half following a major US aid agency is halted, causing global disruption, a senior US official reveals that a vast majority of the organization's initiatives will be axed. American foreign service officers, ex-presidents and relief and public health authorities denounce the action, warning that people will die as a result. Rights defenders say that the dismantling of this institution is not just a financial shortfall, it is a savage attack on human rights and family planning and reproductive care. A multitude of agencies 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 disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with millions more to come. Another pair of leading funders proceed with parallel slashes. A leader of an international advocacy group says a choice to reduce international development funding is an attempt to placate a powerful partner.

Faith-Based Activists Mobilize at UN Conference

In March, several faith-based advocacy networks meet in an luxury Manhattan venue for a strategic summit held concurrently with the annual UN Women gathering. It is an forum to discuss methods on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate changes in American foreign policy on social issues and termination of pregnancy. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations opens the women’s summit with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is resurgent, after a analysis demonstrates that anti-rights actors are systematically eroding longstanding consensus on core aspects of gender equality around the world.

Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa

Over the summer, a sequence of gatherings in Africa centered on the conservative family structures and national independence triggers anxiety among equality campaigners. In early May, a national leader and spouse open a large assembly to resist what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A few days later, another continental gathering on conservative ethics is held. Both events are graced by leading Western campaigners against gender ideology, including presidents of prominent organizations. One speaker exhorts African NGOs to resist “worldwide progressive social restructuring” of international organizations. In June, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in an African nation, an event that reproductive rights advocates say has become a forum for opposing queer and trans rights. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence has grown significantly.

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 incinerate a significant cache of reproductive health commodities held in a storage facility in Belgium. A global sexual health network states that their destruction will deny a huge female population from family planning options, 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 deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “callous and reckless”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as local authorities refuse to permit usable products to be destroyed.

Widening of the Anti-Abortion Policy

Reviving the global gag rule, 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 came as no surprise when the policy was restored in the first month of the year. The administration also reaffirmed membership in a pro-life declaration. But in October, the US announces it intends to expand the global gag rule to include governments and multilateral organisations in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Additional information regarding the broader enforcement are expected in early 2026. A director of a major health partnership says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that fresh American assistance deals being negotiated with countries in Africa will become contingent upon adopting the broadened restrictions.