Restraint and Resistance: Gender Politics in Indonesia’s Democratic Backsliding

Does democratic erosion always have detrimental effects on women’s and gender rights? Much research suggests a positive and linear relationship between strong democratic institutions and the protection of gender rights, highlighting that democratic decline would eventually lead to rollback of gender achievements (Beer 2009; Roggeband and Krizsán 2020; Graff and Korolczuk 2021). Another body of work shows that women’s rights can also improve in some authoritarian contexts (Tripp 2019; Donno 2024; Bush and Zetterberg 2024). This paper builds on these debates by investigating how the character of democratic decline matters for women’s and gender rights, and how contesting movements exercise their agency to influence both the public and the state. The paper argues that the erosion of democratic quality has divergent impacts on gender-related advocacy. Where democratic backsliding is incremental and ideologically polarised, it does not only restrain but also facilitate movements in advocating for gender rights. Drawing on a case study of Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy and the biggest Muslim-majority democracy, the paper examines how the pro-gender and the predominantly Islamist anti-gender movements adapt their influence and strategies in family and reproductive health policies. It looks at how the restraining political environment affects their access to the public, political elites, and the policymaking process. As democratic regression has deepened over the past decade under President Joko Widodo, the government has consolidated power by restricting Islamist actors, monopolising discourses of pluralism, and narrowing civic freedoms (Fealy 2020; Mietzner 2021). Despite the escalating repression against dissent and shrinking civic space, the pro-gender movements managed to achieve some policy gains. Whereas, while lacking political wins, the anti-gender groups have managed to maintain influence by promoting moral narratives in the public sphere (Afrianty 2020; Sya’rani 2023). This paradox underscores how de-democratisation does not automatically dismantle gender equality. Instead, it reshapes the opportunities and constraints that structure gender politics.