Gender and Democracy: Feminist Responses to Authoritarianism

In what ways have feminist, women and LGBTQ+ been responding to the ongoing “war on gender”, a central element in the now decades-long rising authoritarianism and erosion of democracy worldwide?

This session focus on the range of feminist responses across local and national boundaries when civil and political rights and socio-economic equality and equity are under attack in a context of renewed centrality given by right-wing governments and extreme-right civil society organizations to gender, race and immigration, among other key dimensions of inequality,

The objective is also to highlight and discuss how feminist responses to growing authoritarianism in government and society can contribute not only to the defense but also to the expansion of the very concept of democracy and democratic institutions.

The range of responses may include local, trans-local or transnational intersectional and emancipatory civic and political activism through larger organizational coalitions and demonstrations; electoral responses (voting behavior, running for office, political campaigns); grassroots organization (women’s, LGBTQ+ and other social movements), as well as new emerging types of political activism and political participation.