Towards intersectional democratic futures? Constructing democracy and feminism in the EU in times of anti-gender politics

Democracy and feminism are highly contested concepts in contemporary European politics and scholarly debates. On one hand, democracy is undermined in the European Union (EU) by democratically backsliding member states and diverse tendencies towards “illiberal democracy.” Such trends are often fuelled by anti-gender actors seeking to reverse hard-won gains on the rights of women, LGBTIQ+ people, and racialized minorities. On the other hand, feminist politics and its potential to provide democratic and inclusive solutions is undermined by internal fractures and conflicts within the feminist movement. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to explore the current interconnected challenges and hostilities faced by democracy, feminist politics, and intersectional movements in the EU. It provides empirical insights into the diverging and converging discursive constructions of ‘democracy’, ‘feminism’ and, ultimately ‘intersectionality’, by feminist institutional actors in the European Parliament (EP) and EU-level activists when addressing anti-gender challenges and examines their possibilities and limitations in advancing intersectional democratic futures. Our critical starting point is that anti-gender politics sets a new context that not only underlines the old shortcomings and inequalities related to democracy and feminism but also introduces new ones. Specifically, our research questions are: How do feminist institutional actors in the European Parliament (EP) and EU-level activists construct the concepts of ‘democracy’ and ‘feminism’ in times of anti-gender hostilities? What are the differences and similarities in those constructions? What do they mean for addressing anti-gender challenges and building democratic futures? The study is based on a qualitative analysis of 33 semi-structured interviews conducted between 2023 and 2024. The interviews are divided into two groups: (1) activists from civil society organizations engaged in EU-level advocacy for gender equality, LGBTIQ+ rights, and anti-racism (N=16), and (2) feminist institutional actors from the 9th term of the European Parliament, including parliamentary staff and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) (N=17). Our preliminary findings suggest that while there exist shared goals among feminist actors, their differing positions and access to resources lead to various construction and prioritization of democracy and feminism. We argue that a key distinction lies in how ‘democracy’ is constructed – contested by activists yet regarded as a cornerstone by institutional actors. Consequently, this affects intersectional solidarity and collective solutions to anti-gender threats in ways that we describe in our discussion.