Liberia’s president one of many who fear Donald Trump’s victory will hinder fight for gender equality

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Liberia’s president has said Hillary Clinton’s defeat was a missed opportunity for women around the world, as fears grew that Donald Trump’s victory in the US election would damage women’s lives and political hopes far beyond America’s borders.



The shock result dashed hopes that a first female president could serve as a powerful feminist global figurehead, amid growing concerns that a Trump administration could cut aid funds for some of the most vulnerable women in the world.

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“We are extremely saddened by this missed opportunity on the part of the people of the United States to join smaller democracies in ending the marginalisation of women,” Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman to be elected as head of state in Africa, told BBC television.

Multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump, and his lewd comments boasting of assault on leaked footage, are particularly disturbing for campaigners against gender violence.

“Trump’s victory is a clear message to women around the world that we don’t count, that our safety and demands for justice for sexual violence are not important,” said Mona Eltahawy, a Cairo-based writer and feminist.

“When a sexual predator can become president of any country – most of all the most important country in the world – it’s a green light that women’s bodies are fair game.”

In India, activists fighting the country’s endemic violence against women said Trump’s victory was devastating because of America’s global leadership role.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Journalist Mona Eltahawy, who says Trump’s victory sends a message that women’s bodies are fair game. Photograph: Brian Ach/Getty Images

“It reinforces the belief, which is also there in India, that men can get away with violating women with impunity,” said Sonali Khan, country director of the women’s rights organisation Breakthrough, adding that it sent a dispiriting political message as well.

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“It is still difficult for a woman to hold a position of political power. Hillary Clinton is more qualified; she has experience. Despite that, this decision. I mean it makes you think: ‘was it because she’s a woman?’” said Khan.

Chinese feminists had been rooting for Clinton, who has occupied a special place in their hearts since giving a famous 1995 speech in Beijing, in which she declared: “Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.”

“I cannot accept the result. I cannot believe my eyes,” said Li Maizi, one of the leading members of China’s nascent feminist movement.

When Li and four other Chinese campaigners were arrested in Beijing as part of a government crackdown last year, Clinton came to her defence, accusing President Xi Jinping of being “shameless” for claiming to speak up for gender equality while “persecuting” feminist activists.

She fears Trump is unlikely to fight for feminists in a similar way. “I have been in a bad mood for the entire day,” Li said. “I will carry on using toilet paper with Trump’s face on it.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Japanese politician Yuriko Koike. Photograph: Kiyoshi Ota/EPA

In Japan, women had hoped a Clinton victory would boost their efforts to raise the profile of women in politics, still extremely low despite the recent elections of Yuriko Koike as governor of Tokyo and Renhō Murata as leader of the country’s main opposition party.

Murata, the first woman to lead the Democratic party, congratulated Trump on his victory, but added that she hoped he would distance himself from comments made during the campaign and prove that he respected the rights of women and minorities.

Mari Miura, a political science professor at Sophia University and a gender equality expert, said she feared Trump’s victory could be used as “justification for a misogynistic backlash” on the other side of the Pacific.

“If even Clinton, a prominent politician with lots of experience, can’t win, then it will send out the message to Japan that it will never have a female prime minister,” Miura said.

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Women make up fewer than one in 10 MPs in the lower house of Japan’s parliament and one in five in the upper house. There are just three women in the 20-member cabinet and prime minister Shinzō Abe has got off to a slow start with his pledge to fill 30% of public and private sector leadership positions with women by the end of the decade.

There are also concerns that a Trump administration might cut aid to some of the most vulnerable women in the world, including those with HIV/Aids and victims of sexual violence.

“There is increasing recognition that sexual violence in conflict is major issue, and a major part of responding to that is reproductive healthcare including access to abortion,” said Heather Barr, senior researcher on women’s rights at Human Rights Watch.

“The US has been a major donor for services for women around the world and, in the wake of a campaign that has focused on restricting reproductive freedom, we are concerned about both quantities of aid and restrictions that might be placed on it.”

Vidhi Doshi in Mumbai, Tom Phillips in Beijing and Justin McCurry in Tokyo contributed to reporting.