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In person icon Challenges to Gender Equality: Navigating the Gender, Politics and Knowledge Nexus in Europe

Democracy
Gender
Social Movements
Knowledge
Feminism
Political Activism
Activism
Policy-Making
P048
Teresa Kulawik
Södertörn University
Lenita Freidenvall
Stockholm University
Anna Durnova
University of Vienna
Lenita Freidenvall
Stockholm University

In person icon Building: VMP 5, Floor: 4, Room: 4098

Thursday 09:00 - 10:40 CEST (23/08/2018)

Abstract

Gender equality is a human right and one of the fundamental values of the European Union (EU). However, a special Eurobarometer survey on gender equality, released on 20 November 2017, stresses that gender equality has not been achieved in the EU member states. In fact, the Gender Equality Index, published by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in 2017, shows that progress is moving forward at a snail’s pace and in even going backwards in some domains. These results coexist with the recent rise of populism, nationalism and radical right groups, in which critique against gender equality policies, feminism, LGBTQ and reproductive rights have been utilized in the promotion of populist leaders and parties. Based on claims on “science” and “expert knowledge” as a contrast to “gender ideology”, populist actors have legitimized their attacks on gender equality in favor of an anti-feminist agenda. These developments beg the question how epistemic configurations - the politics of knowledge and truth - are produced and reproduced, and the ways in which these configurations are organized and integrated into politics. This panel brings together scholars exploring the following questions: ‪how to conceptualize resistance against “gender ideology” in the context of struggles over the production of knowledge‬? How can the role of epistemological dynamics in politics be studied? How can attacks on gender equality by populist forces be framed in terms of epistemic systems? How do the women’s movement and other civil society organizations counteract the efforts by anti-gender actors? ‬‬

Title Details
Politics of Knowledge and Opposition to Gender Equality: a Conceptual Framework for Analysing New Dynamics and Configurations View Paper Details
The Paradoxes of Political Epistemology: Democratization of Expertise Versus Antigenderism in Germany. View Paper Details
Challenging Economic Narratives of ‘No Alternative’: Feminist Knowledge Production in Gender Budgeting Activism in the UK View Paper Details
Counteracting Challenges to Gender and Sexual Equality: Knowledge, Expertise and Social Mobilization View Paper Details
Equality and Epistemic Configurations. Processes of Knowledge Production Pertaining to Gender Equality in Sweden View Paper Details
Global Backlash or Fragmented Fears? Global and Local Dynamics of Discourses by Anti-Feminist Movements in Times of a Global Consensus on Women’s Rights View Paper Details