Gender Wars: East and South

Lead Research Organisation: University of Oxford
Department Name: Area Studies

Abstract

The last decade has seen a significant conservative backlash against women's and LGBTQ rights across the globe. From Russia to the United States, attempts to curtail women's reproductive rights have been accompanied by a backlash against (liberal) feminism and non-heterosexual identities. In Central Eastern Europe and Latin America, in particular, conservative political and religious actors have sought to curb debate about gender inequality, reproductive injustice, sexual violence, and discrimination against LGBTQ communities. The term "gender ideology" has been adopted by a range of actors, including right-wing politicians and catholic and evangelical preachers, to mobilise support for conservative and populist agendas. In both regions, conservative actors portray feminism and LGBTQ rights as the outcome of "cultural colonisation" from international bodies and changing demographics from increased levels of migration. Appropriating the language of rights, they advocate a ban on abortion and parents' rights to educate their children about sex and sexuality based on faith-based values. In countries across both regions, this has led, amongst other things, to the marginalization of equality-based sex education and Gender Studies, a the refusal to ratify the Istanbul Convention, and a rejection of self-identification for transgender people.

Gender Wars: East and South is an international, interdisciplinary network of scholars and an artist focusing on gender and sexuality across Latin America and Central Eastern Europe in a comparative, cross-regional perspective . Its purpose is to bring together disciplinary expertise, area-based knowledge, and local know-how to shed light on how different institutional, religious, and cultural histories in and across these regions have contributed to the development of the contemporary backlash. Existing scholarship, mostly by political scientists, has mostly focused on the political dimensions of "anti-genderism", documenting the electoral successes of radical right parties, or the transnational backlash against anti-gender discrimination policies in countires with right-wing, conservative leadership. However, this has left significant cultural and historical dimensions understudied. What role have historical changes in religious life, family structures, and legal reforms in the field women's and LGBTQ rights played in generating contemporary "anti-genderisms"? How has the experience of various forms of authoritarian regimes and processes of post-authoritarian democratization influenced social and cultural perceptions of gender and sexuality? How have the effects of neoliberalism (for instance, changes in labour regulations and social welfare) intersected with "pro-family" conservative approaches in these regions?

Across a series of workshops, roundtables, and artistic interventions hosted by academics at network hubs (University of Oxford, Central European University, Federal University of Bahia, University of Amsterdam, University of Brasilia, University of Warsaw), Gender Wars aims to document the similarities, differences, and connections between "anti-gender" movements across the two regions by harnessing the specialist, area-based knowledge and local contacts of network members. It will bring scholars of "anti-gender" movements from across the Humanities and Social Sciences in dialogue with political scientists, in order to expose the historically, socio-culturally, and religiously specific dynamics in each region which generate and underpin the conservative backlash against women's and LGBTQ rights. Finally, it will expose the role of art in critically interrogating and resisting anti-gender movements in Latin America and Central Eastern Europe and integrate artist-led practice in the facilitation, recording, and dissemination of inter-disciplinary dialogues.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description Catholicising Reproduction, Reproducing Catholicism: Activist Practices and Intimate Negotiations in Poland, 1930 - Present 
Organisation University of Warsaw
Country Poland 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Collaboration in the form of joint workshops; mutual participation in network events; sharing of subject knowledge, research expertise, and contacts; mutual dissemination of research blogs, publication news, etc.
Collaborator Contribution Collaboration in the form of joint workshops; mutual participation in network events; sharing of subject knowledge, research expertise, and contacts; mutual dissemination of research blogs, publication news, etc.
Impact Online workshop.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Hub on Global Experiences of Gender in the Age of Care Crises and Transformation 
Organisation University of Oxford
Department Oxford School of Global and Area Studies (OSGA)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Participation in Kick-Off meeting, and delivered talk on the Gender Wars research network at the first Hub Impulse Talk event. Provided contacts to academic and non-academic stakeholders for Hub projects and members. Participation in further Hub Events since kick-off, and participation in Hub conference "Gender in an Age of Global Care Crisis", Thursday 21 March - Friday 22nd March, 2024.
Collaborator Contribution Mutual intellectual input to Gender Wars networking events (and from Gender wars network members to Hub networking events), introduction to new academic and non-academic stakeholders.
Impact Currently no outputs; collaboration started in January 2023.
Start Year 2023
 
Description Feminist resistances in Latin America and Europe 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact This workshop brought together postgraduate students at the University of Brasilia (40 students in person) and academics, postgraudate students, and respresentatives from the third sector (35 participants online) for a workshop led by network members Prof Biroli and Prof Roggeband.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://genderwars.web.ox.ac.uk/event/feminist-resistances-latin-america-and-europe
 
Description In-Person Follow-up on "Liberal practices and conservative global knowledge flows" 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Panellists and audience members pondered both the future of reproductive rights and religion in Poland, and how to translate the results of research into emancipatory politics to reduce the impact of conservative attacks on "gender ideology".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://genderwars.web.ox.ac.uk/article/person-follow-liberal-practices-and-conservative-global-know...
 
Description Public talk, Pracowania Etnograficzna (Warsaw) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The event explored histories of gender-non normativity and queer activism in globally peripheral countries (CEE and LA, particularly Poland and Brasil) through the medium of zines and samizdat (1960s-to the present), photographs and video material (interviews). It was be centred around the stories queer (João Silvério Trevisan, Ryszard Kisiel) and transgender (Laerte Coutinho, Ewa Holuszko) artists and activists who were censored and in some cases imprisoned by authoritarian (Communist/ right-wing) regimes in Poland and Brasil. The purpose was to re-claim their place in their national histories and reflect on the meaning of their activism in the light of today's 'gender wars'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://genderwars.web.ox.ac.uk/event/discussion-archives-queerness-and-violence
 
Description Research network launch event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Event held to launch the research network, with netwrok members and invited speakers from universities in London, Oxford, and Lancaster.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://genderwars.web.ox.ac.uk/event/gender-wars-launch-event
 
Description Roundtable: Liberal practices and conservative global knowledge flows 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact This roundtable discussed the results of ethnographic and historical research on sexuality, birth control and Catholicism in Poland.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://genderwars.web.ox.ac.uk/event/roundtable-liberal-practices-and-conservative-global-knowledge...
 
Description Shifting narratives: Archives, Queerness, and Violence 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact In the workshop, Karol Radziszewski, the major Polish contemporary queer artist, responded to contemporary attempts to use history to serve masculinist heteronormative nationalistic goalsby focusing on minority (LGBTQ+) voices to rewrite historical narratives.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://genderwars.web.ox.ac.uk/event/shifting-narratives-archives-queerness-and-violence
 
Description The role of global networks and actors in Latin American and Eastern Europe 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact Network member Hadley Renkin (Central European University) led an online roundtable with Roman Kuhar (University of Ljubljana), Dorottya Szikra (Central European University), Dorottya Redai (Central European University/Labrisz Leszbikus Egyesület) discussing the role of global actors and networks in Latin American and Eastern European gender wars.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://genderwars.web.ox.ac.uk/event/role-global-networks-and-actors-latin-american-and-eastern-eur...