For a long time, gender equality was treated primarily as a matter of domestic policy. Today, however, its geopolitical dimension has become impossible to ignore. Across diverse political contexts, the rollback of women’s and LGBTIQ+ rights and attacks on reproductive health have evolved into a deliberate political strategy. Backed by wealthy donors and transnational networks, so-called anti-gender actors connect right-wing and religious extremists across borders, reshaping public discourse and political systems alike. Their narratives aim at polarizing societies, mobilizing and radicalizing constituencies, advancing broader political and economic objectives, and contesting the normative architecture of the liberal international order.
Yet, despite these developments, the recognition of (anti)gender as a geopolitical tool has remained marginal in foreign and security policy communities and in mainstream thinking. But treating the gender backlash as a domestic “culture war” issue means missing early-warning signals of democratic backsliding and of alliance formation among illiberal actors. This high-level event will examine how authoritarian and illiberal actors strategically deploy gender and why understanding these dynamics is essential to making sense of today’s geopolitical landscape.
Welcome by Linn Selle, Alfred von Oppenheim Head of the Europe Center, DGAP
Input by Neil Datta, Executive Director and Founder of the European Parliamentary Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF); Author of the Report “The Next Wave”
Panel discussion with:
- Konrad H. Arz von Straussenburg, Ambassador, Director for Human Rights and Counterterrorism, Deputy Director General, German Federal Foreign Office
- Catharina Boehme, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director - Programme, UNFPA (tbc)
- Saskia Brechenmacher, Senior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (digital)
- Neil Datta, Executive Director and Founder of the European Parliamentary Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF)
- Aditi Mukund, Visiting Fellow, Kubernein Initiative
Moderator: Leonie Stamm, Research Fellow, Europe Center, DGAP
Please note that space is limited.
If you would like to participate please send your request to events@dgap.org.
This event is being held in cooperation with the British Embassy Berlin.