Gender equality. Public policies or political and religious discoursive battlefield?

Abstract

Romania’s pre-and post-accession to the European Union revealed that gender equality had been considered a marginal domain of interest, with mandatory legislative and institutional changes that had to be put into practice given the acquis communautaire. The financial and economic crisis was an important setback, it deterred Romania from a progressive democratic road, and opened avenues for democratic backsliding. Important challenges were brought by the financial and economic crisis and later on by conservative political and civil society’s forces mobilizing against gender equality. During the last couple of years, we have also witnessed an intensification of mobilization against gender equality called anti-gender campaigns. The article is both descriptive and reflexive and analyzes the configuration of the anti-gender campaigns in Romania, identifies the themes that mobilized discourses and activities combating the so called `gender ideology` and identifies the main actors supporting these campaigns. The article highlights that the opposition against gender equality is not restricted to discourse or civic mobilization but has already entered the field of political representation.