A Thread of Hope: Gender Resistance amidst Democratic Decline in Global South Countries

Abstract

This panel examines gender politics, resistance, and democratic erosion across diverse contexts, including India, Indonesia, China, and Korea. The first paper explores the enduring impact of colonial legal frameworks on the regulation of commercial sex work in India, showing how structural control persists alongside forms of resistance. The second paper analyses gender politics in Indonesia’s democratic backsliding, demonstrating how feminist actors negotiate both restraint and opportunity. Expanding the scope, the third paper investigates adaptive strategies within China’s feminist movement under increasing authoritarianism, highlighting evolving forms of activism and survival. The fourth paper shifts focus to Korea, examining how gendered polarization, online aggression, and self-censorship reshape feminist expression in a highly digitalised context. Together, the panel challenges linear assumptions about democratic decline by demonstrating that restrictive environments not only constrain but also transform and, at times, enable new forms of gendered resistance.

Title	Details
Adaptive Resistance: China's Feminist Movement Under Escalating Authoritarianism (2013-2023)	View Paper Details
Gendered Polarization, Online Aggression, and Self-Censorship in Korea	View Paper Details
Continuities of Control: Colonial Legacies and the Contemporary Regulation of Commercial Sex Work in India	View Paper Details
Afghan women’s resistance amidst democratic erosion and authoritarian governance	View Paper Details
Restraint and Resistance: Gender Politics in Indonesia’s Democratic Backsliding	View Paper Details