Anti-gender campaigns – just a new twist to the old problems? European democracies in crisis and the long-term legacies of exclusion and violence

Abstract

Current concerns over the state of democracy and democratic backsliding in different parts of the world have spurred an important academic debate on democratic crisis and how democratic institutions are undermined and dismantled. Analysts of democracy point to a trend of democratic decay that not only affects the more recent or “third wave” democracies but also threatens more established ones. However, they often completely lack gendered, intersectional lenses: meaning no attention to specific exclusionary (gendered, raced, classed, sexualized) dynamics and implications, unevenly affecting marginalized and underrepresented groups in society. The focus of these debates is mostly on preventing backsliding, repairing, or saving liberal democracy ignoring the fact that equality and inclusion remain unrealized ideals in most countries so far. In order to understand the problems that current anti-gender and antidemocratic forces pose for democracy in Europe it is necessary to investigate the legacies that underpin liberal democracies in Europe. Some particular problematic legacies for intersectional feminist futures are capitalism and neoliberalism, colonialism, fascism, organized religion, post-socialist legacies, and (liberal) representative democracy. Anti-gender and antidemocratic forces draw on and tap into these legacies and are able to thrive because of these roots of ongoing problems with democracy in Europe and beyond. Therefore, to address problems that these forces create for democracy we need to challenge more profound – and predominantly intersectional – power inequalities that are located in the foundations on which European democracies are built. This panel aims to explore not only how actors opposing feminist agendas and goals are rooted in and shaped by specific legacies, but also how this shapes feminist responses to such anti-feminist forces.

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