Appropriation of Gender Equality as Transnational Norm: Conservative Religious and Right-Wing Actors in Comparison

A battle between institutions expanding liberal rights and conservative or right-wing forces has flared in most western societies since the mid-nineties. This is particularly true with regard to the transnational diffusion of gender equality norms. The promotion of gender mainstreaming, the recognition of sexual diversity or of “reproductive rights” is naturally seen as part of a liberal agenda and as reliable tool for combating discrimination. However, non-liberal movements and actors seem to increasingly appropriate “gender” for making their claims, albeit in different ways. Conservative Catholics, for instance, reframe transnational gender norms as “gender ideology” being promoted by the EU and UN and seeking to indoctrinate particularly children through the recommendation of gender-sensitive curricula. In a different vein, political groups and parties oppose Muslim immigrants because they would reject gay-rights, and, thus the “western heritage” of liberalism. Against this background, the paper analyses the appropriation of gender equality norms by non-liberal actors from a comparative angle. The main argument is that despite different ways of appropriating gender – as a source of contention or as a source of legitimacy - they share the strategy to base their illiberal claims on liberal rights or values and aim at excluding those who they consider as “the other”.