Gender fatigue, backlash and antigender mobilizations across Europe

The paper aims to explore the anti-gender and anti-feminist politics across Europe as an indication of “gender fatigue”. New studies have documented a “gender fatigue” in the Nordic countries, most prevalent among right-wing leaners, younger citizens and among men (cf. Kjaer, Segaard and Shamshira-Petersen 2025, p 15; Shamshiri-Petersen, Christensen & Qvotrup Jensen 2025; 56). This development raises many challenging questions: Is it a general backlash? Which groups experience gender fatigue across Europe? How can it be explained? What kind of policy responses and citizens activism would be useful to counter this development? Right-wing movements and parties across Europe have successfully explored gender fatigue among people after many years of political focus on gender equality. An analysis of who experiences gender fatigue requires an analysis across Europe, comparable to the Nordic comparison (cf. Kjer et al. 2025). Comparative European research has analyzed Anti-gender Mobilizations in Europe and the Feminist Response. Productive Resistance in eight national case-studies Resistance (cf. Smrdejl and Kuhar eds. 2025). It shows that issues concerning anti-feminism, anti-gender ideology, motherhood and social reproduction have become cultural, political and highly affective battlefields across Europe. Similar research from Austria and Germany emphasizes the need to develop knowledge, feminist scholarship and broad alliances to resist anti-gender mobilization across Europe, for example knowledge-based activism and broad alliances between scholars and activists (ibid.). The growth of gender fatigue and anti-gender mobilization raises many challenging questions. The aim of this explorative paper is to stimulate theoretical and comparative reflections about the relations between gender fatigue and gender backlash across Europe. Why has the critique of gender equality developed into gender fatigue and gender backlash? What has been the role of right-wing European parties and movements in this development? What feminist and masculinity theories can contribute to explain it? What strategies and alliances are needed to counter gender backlash and anti-gender-mobilization?