Feminist Governance at a Crossroads: Contemporary Public Policy Challenges

Feminist governance takes many forms, including gender equality mandates and applying a gender and diversity lens to public policies. Since the 1970s it has made inroads at national, subnational and transnational levels of governance. Now it is subject to a challenges ranging from neoliberal marketisation to populist anti-gender movements as well as longstanding conservative resistance to gender regime change. These challenges are taking place in the context of global issues such as pandemics, climate change and population movements. At the crossroads, there are also opportunities for imagining of feminist futures, for local, national, international and transnational public policy. A broad range of theoretical and empirical approaches are of relevance in examining how gendered policy claims are made, including practitioner reflections and feminist institutional approaches. The discursive strategies actors use to build, maintain or protect advances in support of feminist governance are of particular interest. Similarly, understanding both the sources and narratives of resistance and pushback, throughout the policy cycle are pressing research areas. This section welcomes papers and panels dealing with these challenges across all policy areas, from abortion to the care economy, immigration, industrial relations, gender-based violence, macro-economic policy and the regulation of hate speech and disinformation on social media. The progress of public policy processes such as gender responsive budgeting are also of considerable interest. The section welcomes papers and panels that consider: • Implementation and success of feminist ideas, gender equality and gender mainstreaming in governance: • Gender equality policy, including research on care work, economy, welfare and budgeting; • Body Politics in public policy: politics of inclusion and exclusion in movements, institutions and public life; • Feminist movements and women’s human rights; • Feminist futures and utopias, areas for research and activism • Anti-gender mobilisations and resistance in organisations and government; • The online world and technology - including misogyny and violence against women in public life, digital affect and consciousness raising • Engagement with neoliberal and technocratic governance; • State feminism and feminist entanglements with illiberalism; • Gendered disinformation and misinformation; • Conflict and security, gender-based violence • Intergenerational justice, global commons and decolonisation