The Spanish Gender Regime between De-Democratization and Democratization Dynamics

What is the relation between democracy and gender regime change? How do struggles between democratization and de-democratization processes reshape gender relations? And how can empirical analysis inform the theorization of gender regimes and democratization? In this paper we explore these questions by analyzing the changes in the gender regime of Spain that were triggered by a multiplicity of factors in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis. We argue that a combination of macro (e.g. EU, national context) and meso level (e.g. political party system) factors helps to understand how the Spanish gender regime shifted towards a more neoliberal-conservative, and to some extent less democratic (e.g. ‘gag law’, systematic corruption), kind in the context of EU and national political priorities. However, political contestation has played a key role in counteracting de-democratization dynamics. Spain’s de facto federal structure, civil society and feminist movements’ struggles, women’s resistance to redomestication, new populist left parties, and new local governments emerging from civic platforms have offered political opportunities for resisting the changes in the gender regime. The theoretical framework will draw on Walby’s (2009) concepts of gender regime and ‘depth of democracy’, feminist analyses of democratization processes, and Verloo’s (2016) conceptualization of the relation between democracy and gender equality in terms of ongoing contestation. Conclusions will provide elements for understanding the continuously evolving and fragmented nature of gender regime in Spain’s crisis context, and for contributing to the further conceptualization of democracy and change in gender relations.