Five Defining Key Moments in the Assault on the Rights of Women and Girls in 2025.

Twelve months prior, groups dedicated to gender equality were anticipating a Trump presidency sequel. Scarcely anyone expected. The torrent and swiftness of presidential directives coming out of the White House were seen as a intentional maneuver to paralyze through overload. To a large extent, it succeeded – there was confusion, anger and exhaustion as groups rushed to plug the hole left by a major funding freeze. But this merely marked the opening act.

The American government has been the primary force, supported by fervent lobbying efforts by deeply conservative factions seizing the opportunity to forge international alliances with political allies.

This opposition to progressive rights signifies a transnational grouping of policymakers, doctrinal establishments, and activist outfits as well as ultra-rich backers and donors that strive to weaken advances on numerous fronts. These include abortion, LGBTQ rights, trans rights, non-traditional family structures and comprehensive sexuality education.

They do this by influencing policymakers, funding litigation, undermining global initiatives to promote fairness, circulating falsehoods, and resourcing aligned NGOs.

We look at five instances that affected the protection, honor, and existence of girls and women.

USAID Effectively Dismantled

In March, six weeks after a major US aid agency is frozen, causing global disruption, a senior US official announces that a vast majority of the agency’s programmes will be eliminated. American foreign service officers, former presidents and relief and public health authorities condemn the news, predicting that fatalities will ensue. Human rights advocates say that the closure of the organization is not just a financial shortfall, it is a vicious offensive against basic liberties and access to contraception and reproductive health services. Numerous groups say the impact on girls and women will be severe by diminishing aid, especially in war zones. 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 many more millions at risk. Another pair of leading funders initiate similar reductions. A leader of an international advocacy group says a decision to slash billions in overseas assistance is a move to appease a political ally.

Conservative Religious Groups Lobby at UN Women Meeting

In the same month, several conservative religious groups meet in an upmarket New York hotel for a biannual gathering held concurrently with the annual UN Women gathering. 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 UN secretary general opens the gender equality forum with a somber alert that “the toxin of gendered hierarchy” is returning, after a report shows that opponents of gender equality are systematically eroding historic agreements on fundamental freedoms for women around the world.

Conferences on Traditional Values in Africa

Over the warmer months, a sequence of gatherings in Africa themed around the conventional household and state autonomy sparks alarm among rights advocates. In May, a head of state and partner open a large assembly to combat what they label criminal foreign forces eroding traditional family values. A shortly thereafter, another regional summit on family values is held. Both events are graced by leading American and European conservative activists, including heads of influential networks. One speaker exhorts 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. Advocates remark that the scale of their presence has increased markedly.

American Plan to Burn Birth Control

As health facilities across Africa report they are running out of contraceptives, including prophylaxis for assault victims, the US announces in July plans to destroy a vast stockpile of birth control held in a storage facility in Belgium. A leading family planning organization states that their elimination will deprive countless females from family planning options, 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 deliberate form of reproductive oppression”. A prominent medical humanitarian organization calls it “cruel and irresponsible”. NGOs offer to buy the contraceptives so they can be distributed to those in need, but the US rejects each bid. The situation remains at a standstill as the regional government are blocking perfectly good supplies to be incinerated.

‘Global Gag Rule’ Expanded

Bringing back the anti-abortion funding ban, which prohibits Washington's support for groups that provide, advocate for or advise on abortion services overseas, is commonplace under certain US administrations. It was anticipated when the rule was reinstated in January. The administration also rejoined an international anti-abortion agreement. 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. More details on the broader enforcement are expected in early 2026. A expert in child welfare says broadening the policy 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 broadened restrictions.