Women in revolt achieved so much. Why are decades of progress now being reversed?

Born Kicking, London, 1983. An exhibit by artist Jill Posener at London Tate Britain’s exhibition of feminist art and activism from 1970-90. Photograph: Courtesy of the artist

‘Brainwashed by a homicidal policy” is how the man just elected president of Argentina described supporters of women’s abortion rights. The far-right libertarian Javier Milei has pledged to hold a referendum to ban abortion, just three years after Argentina became the largest Latin American country to legalise it, and the country’s feminists are gearing up for a big fight to protect their reproductive rights.

This development is part of a depressing global picture. The UN has said the world is failing women and girls, and is “way off track” to meet targets to improve women’s lives. One in five girls is married before she turns 18, it is lawful to discriminate against women in more than half the countries in the world, and almost 250 million women experience physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner each year. In Afghanistan and Iran, the slide backwards from the relatively liberal 1970s, when women thronged the universities and cafes of Kabul and Tehran, has been absolute.