Gender as Tactic in Autocratic Politics
Authoritarian governments use gender strategically to reproduce their power. On the one hand, they actively support gender equality policies to reap specific rewards; on the other hand, they speak to specific interests and constituencies by opposing (certain) gender equality issues. This project examines the logic behind the distinct ways in which gender is used in autocrat tactics – and whether these deployments work.
Details
- Period: 2025-01-01 – 2028-12-31
- Budget: 6,659,000 SEK
- Funder: Swedish Research Council
Description
Since the end of the 20th century, gender equality has become a strong global norm closely intertwined with democracy, modernity, and progress. This development has resulted in political leaders having much to gain – both economically and politically – from portraying their countries as gender equal. At the same time, in recent years, we have also seen more open and organized resistance against gender, equality work, and (certain) gender equality reforms.
Authoritarian leaders have been able to strategically use both of these trends. At times, they have implemented gender equality reforms as a tactic to strengthen their own legitimacy, while simultaneously shifting the focus away from the regime's violations of democratic principles and human rights. Other times, they have, in word and deed, supported mobilization against gender equality, including against feminists and transgender people, in order to gain support from certain segments of the population.
This project seeks to increase our understanding of the logics behind these strategies. Under what circumstances do authoritarian governments use one strategy or the other? And how do they manifest themselves? The project also examines to what extent the strategies are successful and fulfill their legitimacy-building purposes.
Project leader Pär Zetterberg says:
As more and more countries move in an authoritarian direction and the liberal world order is challenged, it becomes important to understand how authoritarian leaders relate to – and try to take advantage of – central liberal values such as gender equality.