Women’s Rights in an Age of Global Disorders

At the wake of the global system crisis making the case for “women’s rights are human rights” has once more become a matter of resistance and opposition not only by local patriarchs but also by centers of power, including through the institutions of the UN. The 9/11 attacks on the twin towers, 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 COVİD-19 pandemic, destabilized the legitimacy of mainstream liberal values, institutions and modes of governance. The right-wing populist responses to the militarized global disorder blame the ills, including the growing care crisis, on foreign influences, multilateral diplomacy and breakdown of morality, a situation they aim to correct by reinforced securitization, nationalist / pro-family policies and restoration of the patriarchal gender contract. Until now, feminism has achieved relative success in integrating into the mainstream society. However, confronting the anti-gender stream of authoritarianism, which is the new shield of patriarchy and capitalism, a paradigm shift that can liberate women’s body and labor is needed. In this respect, placing security at the center of the debate, in envisioning a mainstream social order based on care as its organizing principle offers much promise, which I aim to explore.