By Samantha Hollenhorst
Over the past 5 years, a global phenomenon has emerged of a coordinated backsliding of women’s rights and freedoms. From the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the United States, to the Taliban’s near absolute prohibition on girls education in Afghanistan, to Poland’s near-total abortion ban this pattern has been apparent. At the current pace of change, gender equality won’t be achieved for another 300 years. Additionally, one in four countries report active backlash on women’s rights in 2024 according to UN Women’s 2024 Gender Snapshot.
In the US, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Clinic decision in 2022 eliminated federal protections on abortion that had been laid out by Roe v. Wade nearly 50 years prior. The lack of federal protections resulted in 12 states now having total bans and several more having severe restrictions. As a result of this one in five patients traveled to other states to receive abortion care in 2023, compared to one in ten in 2020. Additionally we have seen the maternal mortality rate in the US rise to 18.6 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023, with black women being even higher at 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Poland is a clear look at how democratic EU member states can backslide. In 2020, Poland’s constitutional court tightened their law on abortion. The court made it nearly impossible to access legal abortions. Despite a left leaning coalition government being elected in 2023 on promises of liberalizing the abortion laws, there is still a political deadlock. In addition to this, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) issued findings in 2024 that found the restrictive abortion law in Poland to be the cause of “grave and systematic human rights violations” the government has still not implemented CEDAW’s recommendations despite these findings being published over a year ago. Poland is one of only two EU members to not legalize abortion on request.
Afghanistan represents the near most extreme (if not most extreme) end of the spectrum. Since the Taliban’s return in 2021, women’s rights have been rolled back to the extreme. UN Women’s Gender Gap Report from 2024 found that 78% of young Afghan women are not in education, employment, or training, and nearly 30% of girls never start primary school. In addition, with the Taliban banning women from accessing healthcare delivered by men paired with women being forbidden from working, healthcare for women is virtually inaccessible. This puts Afghanistan’s healthcare system on the brink of collapse in addition to the obvious disadvantages for women and their health.
Timing indeed does not differ very much, because the rise of authoritarian populism globally has swiftly polarized gender into a wedge issue. Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil, and Donald Trump’s United States-arguably three strong examples-have all used “traditional family values” as a form of rhetoric to try to amass power for themselves. Religious nationalism amplifies these trends; the Taliban uses a version of Islamic law, Christian nationalism biases US politics, and the Catholic Church had much to do with Poland’s ban on abortion. Women’s bodies become the sites of religious and national identity. Antagonism to ‘gender ideology’ is the catch-all framework that has united the whole variegated opposition to LGBTQ+ rights and women’s autonomy.
The ramifications are not limited to the health of individuals. In 2024, the IWPR analysis chronicled how reproductive restrictions trap women in poverty. Additionally, it shows that excluding women from the workforce costs countries billions of dollars in GDP. The Turnaway Study found increased debt, evictions, and bankruptcy among women denied an abortion. The elimination of female teachers, healthcare workers, and civil servants has led to economic collapse in Afghanistan.
According to UN Women, if things don’t change, then gender equality will not be achieved until 300 years from now, according to projections based on current trends. The 2.2 million Afghan girls losing education represent irretrievable human potential. Having educated girls in society not only strengthens economies and reduces inequality, but contributes to more stable resilient societies overall. The World Health Organization confirms that 45% of abortions globally are unsafe when legal access is restricted, with consequences that mean hospitalizations, infertility, and preventable deaths.
It is time for the international community to go beyond statements and towards concrete action, such as codifying gender apartheid as an international crime, imposing targeted sanctions on regimes and individuals who grossly violate women’s rights, and supporting grass-roots movements. Democratic countries should protect rights proactively through constitutional safeguards, rather than waiting for rollback. The global roll-back in the field of women’s rights is one of the defining struggles of our times, with implications far beyond gender into democracy, human rights, and the possibility of a more just future.