Five Defining Landmark Occurrences in the Rollback of the Rights of Women and Girls in 2025.

Twelve months prior, feminist advocacy groups were anticipating a new Trump administration. The ensuing chaos was largely unforeseen. The sheer number and rapid pace of executive orders issued from the White House were interpreted as a calculated strategy to cause confusion and fear. This strategy had its intended impact – there was chaos, resentment, and burnout as organisations scrambled to plug the hole left by a abrupt cessation of financial support. But this was only the precursor.

The American government has been the main instigator, aided by relentless activism by ultra-conservative groups seizing the opportunity to build worldwide connections with sympathetic regimes.

The movement against gender equality signifies a transnational grouping of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that aim to roll back gains in a variety of areas. Areas targeted involve reproductive choice, queer and transgender freedoms, diverse family models, and honest sex ed.

They accomplish their goals by pressuring states, backing lawsuits, disparaging UN work to advance equality, spreading disinformation, and funding non-profit organisations.

We examine five junctures that impacted the safety, dignity and lives of women and girls.

USAID Dismantled

In early spring, six weeks after a key American development organization is halted, causing global disruption, a top American diplomat states that over eighty percent of the organization's initiatives will be axed. Career diplomats, ex-presidents and humanitarian and health experts condemn the news, predicting that mortality will increase. Rights defenders say that the closure of the organization is greater than a budgetary issue, it is a savage attack on human rights and access to contraception and reproductive health services. A multitude of agencies say the impact on girls and women will be severe by waning support, especially in war zones. As the year ends, data shows how a significant mortality toll has been exacted from disease, starvation, lack of access to maternal care and gender-based violence, with a far greater catastrophe looming. 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 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 upmarket New York hotel for a strategic summit held alongside the annual UN Women gathering. It is an chance to exchange strategies on how to counter the UN's progressive policies. They are in buoyant mood as they celebrate new Washington directives on LGBTQ issues, inclusion, and reproductive rights. Meanwhile, the UN secretary general opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the poison of patriarchy” is resurgent, after a study indicates that groups opposing progressive rights are systematically eroding established norms 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 raises concerns among rights advocates. In May, a head of state and partner open a significant conference to push back on what they label overseas agendas corrupting societal morals. A soon after, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are graced by leading American and European conservative activists, including leaders of well-known groups. One speaker urges African NGOs to push back against “radical global social engineering” of international organizations. In the following month, a prominent church hosts a event focused on reinforcing families in West Africa, an event that health activists say has become a stage for criticizing gender equality. Activists observe 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 running out of contraceptives, including post-rape care packages, the US announces in July plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A global sexual health network 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 politically-motivated move “about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world” and “an intentional act of reproductive coercion”. A renowned doctors' group calls it “callous and reckless”. Charities attempt to acquire the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US declines every proposal. The situation remains at a standstill as the regional government will not allow the destruction of viable medicines.

‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded

Reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that offer, promote, or give information about abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It was widely expected when the rule was reinstated 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 expand the global gag rule to include national governments and international bodies in addition to NGOs, and to include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) projects. Additional information regarding the expansion of the rule are expected in early 2026. A leader in global maternal health says extending the reach will have “unimaginable effects”. Advocates for bodily autonomy fear that new US aid packages being arranged with states on the continent will become contingent upon adopting the new, wider policy.