Resistance to Gender Equality in Europe: Individual, Contextual, and Political Dimensions

Abstract

Across Europe, democratic societies are arenas for both support and resistance to gender equality. On one hand, policy efforts, social movements, and international campaigns have advanced women’s economic and political status. On the other, countries such as Italy, Poland, Hungary, and Lithuania have recently witnessed conservative, authoritarian, and populist actors contesting equal participation under the banner of a “war on gender ideology” (Graff 2014), affecting anti-discrimination laws, reproductive rights, gender quotas, and women’s political representation (Krizsán & Roggeband 2018; Brescoll et al. 2018). These developments challenge traditional modernization theory, which assumes that social and cultural attitudes - including support for gender equality - advance linearly with economic and social development (Inglehart & Norris 2003). While the bulk of the existing scholarship has highlighted socio-economic factors and anti-immigrant sentiment as drivers of backlash against liberal values, the role of gender attitudes and sexist beliefs in shaping resistance towards gender equality remain less well understood. Yet resistance to gender equality is becoming increasingly politically relevant. This resistance is shaped by both individual-level and contextual factors. At the individual level, gender, gender identity, hostility toward women, and personal experiences with discrimination are anticipated to play a significant role. At the contextual level, factors such as the electoral success of conservative and populist radical right parties, prior achievements in gender equality, and the level of democratic institutionalization are expected to be influential. This panel explores the conceptualization, the distribution, the drivers, and political consequences of resistance to gender equality across Europe. The panel also seeks to advance the measurement of gender-equality attitudes by critically assessing existing survey instruments and introducing new approaches to capturing multidimensional forms of resistance. It highlights how resistance to gender equality appears in opposition to policy initiatives, reinforcement of traditional gender norms, and support for anti-gender equality parties. By moving beyond narrow conceptualizations of gender attitudes, the panel offers insights into the complex dynamics of gender resistance and its implications for democracy and social progress in advanced industrial societies.

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