Rethinking Gender and Politics

Why is gender perspective on politics important what makes it relevant and timely today, and what can a gender approach contribute to the understanding of contemporary politics? Gender and gender politics are contested concepts in feminist theory and political science as well as travelling concepts that change meanings in different contexts, influenced by time, place, and space. The Beijing conference in 1995 established a temporary consensus about gender equality and women’s equal rights as (universal) ideals supported by many national governments and by UN institutions. The political conflicts during the last 20 years following 9/11 in 2001 and the subsequent ‘war on terror’ exacerbated the political polarization around gender politics and women’s right. The Arab Spring 2010/11 and the Growth of Rightwing political parties and movements in the West mobilized against women’s rights organizations targeting women’s rights, ‘gender ideology’ sexuality, LGBTQ and abortion issues. These global political developments inspired a growing activism led by younger people across the world concerned with gender equality, women’s rights and abortion, sexual harassment, gender violence and rape, for example Black feminists and minority groups in Black Life Matters, the #MeToo, 'A rapist in your path’ [un violador en tu camino], etc.

The post-pandemic period and the experience of living with Corona for more than two years, including the recent War in Ukraine, have affected many people’s lives and futures hard has provided a unique opportunity for collective self-reflection. This inspires existential questions about the implications of contemporary political, social, and environmental developments or gender politics and social justice. The book aims to rethink gender and politics from intersectional and transnational perspectives. The ‘intersectional turn’ concerns the transformation of national politics, democracy, and welfare states premised on the inclusion of women, and other marginalized and racialized social groups. The ‘global turn’ is premised on transnational and postcolonial understandings of the geopolitical, environmental, and social problems from the perspective of social and environmental justice.