Challenging Gender Equality: National Manifestations of a Transnational ”virus” – The Case for Romanian Anti-Genderism

Abstract

Presenter: Rebecca Miriana Basut (SNSPA), Bucharest, Romania) Discussant: David Paternotte, ULB Chair: Ana Ines Langer (University of Glasgow) In the past ten years, we have been witnessing the alarming rise of anti-”gender” movements that penetrated the deepest structures of the society and politics. There is a growing literature assessing ultra-conservative anti-gender campaigns as a global movement, aimed at shaping a global offensive against initiatives and laws meant to protect women`s rights, sexual minorities` rights and gender equality. Analyzing the Romanian case of anti-gender movements, the current research explores the relationship and nature of interactions between anti-gender organizations operating transnationally and ultra-conservative state and non-state actors based nationally. By tracing anti-gender activism in the past ten years, the purpose of the study is to verify the hypothesis according to which transnational anti-gender coalitions empowered gender-unsensitive political decisions, producing sexual democracy backsliding in the selected case study. The aim behind the proposed research is to understand the patterns of cooperation between transnational and national anti-gender actors and the struggle over gendered issues in a broader political landscape. The research is aimed at providing, for those interested in the ongoing anti-gender current, a better understanding of the patterns of anti-genderists interactions and the struggle over gender with the finality of disrupting policy processes and challenging democratic norms. The research design of the current paper entails an exploratory and interpretative approach, since the assumed objective demands a qualitative and transversal (synchronic) analysis, which fits into the constructivist paradigm. Hence, data is obtained and analyzed using the content analysis method.