The Changing Politics of Gender in Times of De-Democratisation

While gender equality rights has always been highly disputed, worldwide important progress in state action to reduce gender inequality was made over the past decades (Htun and Weldon 2018). Several factors are identified that account for progress. In particular collective organizing and gender rights advocacy are singled out as key drivers (Htun and Weldon 2018; Krizsan and Roggeband 2018a, Tremblay, Paternotte, Johnson 2011). So far, the emphasis in existing scholarship has been on understanding progress, explaining the conditions under which gender equality policies are successfully adopted. Yet, previous gains appear to be at risk as opposition to gender equality is rising globally and the need for analyzing and theorizing backlash becomes pertinent. Attacks on gender equality and women’s and LGBT rights activism have become more vocal, more global and better organized (Graff and Korolczuk 2018; Verloo and Paternotte 2018). In addition, de-democratization trends and the spread of illiberal democracy create uncertain and unstable contexts to advance or protect gender equality rights (Alonso and Lombardo 2018). We see a widening and assertive pushback particularly affecting recent democracies, but increasingly old democracies as well (Alonso and Lombardo 2018; Krizsan and Roggeband 2018b). A variety of actors actively mobilizes against gender equality and sexuality rights, including religious and conservative actors, right wing populist and nationalist groups, men’s rights groups and more recently anti-gender ideology movements (Kuhar and Paternotte 2017; Roggeband 2018). Also, increasingly, state actors like governments and political parties openly express their opposition to gender equality and question its legitimacy as a political objective. The space of human rights groups is curbed, and in some contexts they face repressive or even violent actions ranging from disproportionate auditing as a means of control, to policing and physical attacks of activists (Baker et al. 2017; Human Rights First 2017). In policy and public debates groups opposing gender and sexuality rights gain voice and standing that is in par with women’s rights groups and LGBT groups. Movement-countermovement dynamics evolve in the context of hostile states. These attacks on gender equality are an important aspect of recent de-democratization trends Processes of democratic backsliding, illiberalism and authoritarianism are widely discussed in scholarly debates. Democratic backsliding degrades citizens’ rights, government accountability, and citizens lose their power to influence policy (Lust and Waldner: 2015: 3). Leading scholars have argued that current processes are more vexing than previous forms of backsliding (Bermeo 2016; Lust and Waldner 2015; Foa and Mounk 2017). Governments use newly elected constitutional assemblies, referenda, as well as courts and legislature to increase their power and weaken opposition. Next, backsliding tends to have a gradual, incremental character, rather than radical breakdown (Greskovits 2015). The evolving scholarship on de-democratization pays little attention to gender aspects of these processes. An exception to this are interpretations of de-democratization as a form of cultural backlash against social and political changes that took place during the last decades for example in the realm of gender equality or family relations (Norris 2016, Fomina and Kucharczyk 2016). Research and reporting identifies several gendered dimensions of democratic backsliding that each require more attention. First, regimes moving towards illiberalism and authoritarianism are often led by governments expressing nativist and nationalist ideologies in which gender equality and sexuality rights are depicted as values externally imposed on them, for instance by the European Union, threatening national values and identity and state sovereignty (Bolzendahl and Gracheva 2018). This reasoning is used as justification to question and terminate existing policies and legislation. Gender equality processes and institutions that were in place are now de-funded and marginalized, which leads to the erosion of policy arrangements and turns existent policies and legislation into empty vessels (Krizsan and Roggeband 2018b; Roggeband and Krizsan 2018). Also, defenders of gender equality rights are depicted as “foreign agents”, which limits the recognition, space and participation of women’s rights advocates in policy processes (Korolczuk and Graff 2018). The emphasis on “traditional” values negatively affects the position and rights of women and sexual minorities. Women are referred back to their roles as mothers and reproducers of the nation in contexts as diverse as Bolivia, Hungary, Poland, and Turkey. Abortion and reproductive rights are curtailed across Central and Eastern Europe. The most recent international convention on women’s rights, the Istanbul Convention on violence against women is at the centre of attacks. The political debates, referenda and policy changes promoting traditional family values opposed to the rights of women and diverse family forms signal a move from a rights-based approach towards an approach where individual rights are subordinated to collective nationalist and familialist objectives (Krizsan and Roggeband 2018b, Roggeband and Krizsan 2018). Second, efforts to defend and advance gender equality rights are obstructed by the closure of civic space which is identified in the literature as one of the vital aspects of de-democratization (Carothers and Brechenmacher 2014, Rutzen 2015, Baker et al. 2017). Studies on civil society and protests in backsliding or (semi-)autocratic states indicate that governments moving towards authoritarianism often use a range of different methods of control to suppress civil society organizations they perceive as threatening (Carothers and Breichenmacher 2014; Rutzen 2015; Poppe and Wolff 2017). State hostility not only entails threats to the rights of civil society, but also obstruction and repression (Baker et al. 2017; Human Rights First 2017; Gerő and Kerényi 2017). Methods may include exclusion from consultative platforms, co-optation by using the reliance of organizations on state funding or cooperation to control their activities; and repressive or even violent actions, which limit and disempower organizations (Baker et al., 2017; Nimu 2018). The decreased space for civic organizing and protest is a major threat for women as they have often been excluded from state institutions and male dominated politics, and therefore particularly dependent on civil society organizing (Howell 2005; Strolovitch and Townsend-Bell 2013). Securing voice through co-operation with state actors was previously the most efficient strategy used by women’s groups in achieving gender policy progress (McBride and Mazur 2010, Krizsan and Roggeband 2018a). A decrease in civic space means the reduction of a key channel for the advancement and protection of gender equality and for upholding the rule of law. Third, gendered aspects of de-democratization are not only impacting patterns of democratic backsliding but are also present in popular responses to de-democratization. Gendered attacks on democracy in various places have to confront fierce reactions from women’s and LGBT movements that in some places appear to be reinvigorated by the backlash (Gerő and Kerényi 2017). Protests such as the Women’s March in the US (Chenoweth and Berry 2018), the Polish “black protests” or protests against presidential candidate Bolsonaro in Brazil became important catalysts for new pro-democracy efforts. While women’s rights activism plays an important role in defending democracy, movement capacity to engage with democratic backsliding and rights reversal diverges. Over time women’s movements have used a varied of strategies to challenge and engage the state actors and institutions, like protest and grassroots activism, but also networking and lobbying. Yet, the increased hostility towards critical civil society organizations in general, and towards human rights organizations in particular, blocks earlier successful strategies of engaging the state. In some countries, activist have successfully turned to grass roots activism and protests on gender equality issues have become a constitutive part of wider pro-democracy protests. In Poland pro-abortion protests are among the largest and best organized street protests since the PiS government has taken office. In Croatia, the debate over sexual education was a key element of the protest agenda that ousted the populist government in 2016. In Spain, collective agency has played a key role in counteracting regression of women’s rights and re-democratizing the political space (Alonso and Lombardo 2018). Women’s movement capacities and strategies, and their relationship with state actors may be changing in this wave of contestation over democracy and liberal norms. Moreover, due to the centrality of gender in attacks on democracy, gender issue may become a genuinely integral part of mainstream pro-democracy struggles. This workshop aims to move forward in analysing and theorizing the consequences of increased opposition and attacks to gender equality and its advocates. Its focus will be threefold: 1) analysing and understanding the relation between opposition to gender equality and processes of de-democratization and the implications of backlash for equality rights and policies supporting them; 2) analysing the dynamics between actors that oppose and promote gender and sexuality rights (movement-countermovement dynamics); and 3) analysing the responses of gender rights advocates and particularly women’s movements to backlash and hostilities. We plan to address three larger sets of questions: 1. What are the gendered dynamics and implications of current processes of democratic backsliding, illiberalism and authoritarianism? Are gender rights in decline in contexts of de-democratization and closing civic space? Do we see backsliding and reversal in gender equality and sexual rights and policies? How resilient are equality policies and institutional arrangements established in the last two decades? 2. What actors mobilize against gender and sexuality rights? What strategies do they use to attack equality rights? Why and how are anti-equality forces successful in mobilizing and attracting support from governments and other powerful allies? How do anti-gender movements deal with the promotors of gender equality and sexual rights, do they directly interact with them? What is the role of the state in this movement-countermovement dynamics? 3. What does this evolving context means for equality advocacy? What do the anti-gender attacks and hostile states mean for movement capacities and strategies? Does activism falter in hostile conditions or do we see resistance and strengthening? How are the relations between state and gender rights organizations reconfigured and how does this affect the inclusion and participation of these groups into policy processes? What strategies do activists employ to prevent the regression of rights? The workshop aims to bring together three fields of inquiry: research on gender policy change, democratization research with particular attention to gender aspects of democracy, and social movement research and particularly research on movement-countermovement dynamics and women’s movements, LGBT movements and their allies. The objective is to work towards a productive and intellectually stimulating communication across these fields in order to facilitate a better understanding of current challenges to gendered democracy. Bibliography Alonso, A., & Lombardo, E. (2018). Gender equality and de-democratization processes: The case of Spain. Politics and Governance, 6(3), 78-89. Baker, A. et al. 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