Feminist Politics for Democratizing Societies and Institutions

Abstract

In the global context where both democracy and equality are challenged, feminist politics stands out as a key democratizing force for both society and institutions. Regarding societal democratisation, feminist politics is concerned with intersectional inequalities and places new formerly excluded issues on the political agenda as democratic priorities. It seeks to democratize all areas of society, for instance, through policies aiming at an equal redistribution of care work or the construction of spaces free from gender-based violence. Regarding the democratisation of institutions, it establishes mechanisms to effectively include all minoritized groups in political institutions. The current context however calls for a deeper investigation of the relationship between feminism & intersectionality and democracy & democratisation, and invites political science debates to better understand its characteristics, potential, and challenges. The aim of this panel is to investigate this relationship and to explore feminist politics’ potential for and contribution to the democratization of society and institutions. The panel invites analyses including feminist movements and institutional practices that promote the inclusion and participation of intersectionally gendered, racialized, and LGBTIAQ* subjects in a variety of social and institutional processes, feminist experiments of democratic design, or feminist community practices to reappropriate the public space to make it more inclusive and capable to respond to the needs of citizens, especially from intersectionally marginalised groups. The panel welcomes theoretical and empirical papers that address, amongst others, the relationship between democracy and feminist politics; feminist movements’ visions of future, more equitable societies; feminist democratic innovations/interventions in decision- and policymaking; feminist movements and institutional practices to democratize society and/or institutions, through protest politics, democratic design, or any other practice, from different regions of the world; and challenges that feminist democratic practices face.

Title	Details
Democratic (Re)Design for Unequal Democracies?	View Paper Details
Engaging Marginalised Groups in Citizens’ Assemblies: An Intersectional Study of Brussels Climate Assembly and Paris Citizen Assembly	View Paper Details
Managing Sensitivities: LGBTIQ Rights, Gendered Language, and Administrative Neutrality in Finnish and German Parliaments	View Paper Details
Towards intersectional democratic futures? Constructing democracy and feminism in the EU in times of anti-gender politics	View Paper Details
"When Femocrats Disagree: Understanding Feminist Divides in Italian gender policymaking”	View Paper Details