The global breakdown of democracy attracted a lot of scholarly attention, but these debates are remarkably silent on gender. What is the link between autocratization and gender? The available scholarship gives a mixed answer to this important question. While some authors argue that democratic decline is accompanied by an erosion of gender and sexual rights, others point to the remarkable promotion of women’s rights under autocratic regimes. In this blogpost, we reflect on this contradiction and tease out some of the core findings and arguments in the debate.
“Gender washing” autocrats
According to some accounts, autocracies outperform democracies when it comes to adopting women’s rights. In particular, electoral autocracies seem to have become “gender champions”, outperforming both electoral autocracies and democracies. Bjarnegard and Zetterberg see this as a strategic choice by which autocratic leaders and regimes try to boost their international reputation by promoting women’s rights. This “gender washing” shifts the attention away from the problematic sides of their regimes, like the violation of human rights or electoral fraud. In particular, the adoption of gender quotas is a popular measure. Other favoured measures are employment rights and marital rights, which seem to be more directed at gaining the support of women in the regime, securing its sustainability.
Turkey’s president Erdogan opposes accusations of curtailing women’s rights, claiming that his administration advanced the rights of women in politics, business and education and that under his leadership women actually gained more freedom, citing the freedom of headscarves as main example. Hungary’s prime minister Orban prides himself for the promotion of “family friendly” policies supporting working mothers. This family agenda has clear demographic goals seeking to increase birth rates. Generous welfare benefits like baby loans, tax credits and cheap mortgages serve to maintain the popular support for this autocratic project, in particular among lower income white groups.
The claim to promote women’s interests -often narrowed down to maternity, family, and child benefits- is also supported by the strategic appointment of conservative women in leadership positions. Giorgia Meloni promised to decrease the gender pay gap, break the glass ceiling and sanction the right to abortion, yet, she also vehemently supports “traditional family values” and stripped same-sex parents of their parental rights. The appointment of women seems strategic in fighting the electoral radical right gender gap.
For instance, Marine Le Pen came close to winning the recent French presidential elections and managed to increasingly win the electoral support of women.
The spouses and daughters of autocratically leaning leaders also play an instrumental role in defending women’s interests. Some examples here are first lady Jeannette Kagame hosting the Global Gender Summit in 2019. She also won the “African Woman of Excellence Award” for her efforts to empower and educate women and girls. Ivanka Trump led the US government program Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative under her father’s presidency.
It is interesting to note how radical right women have moved from rejecting feminism to strategically appropriating the label and presenting themselves to be the true or authentic feminists. They trumpet a “feminist revolution” that ensures that “women can contribute to a variety of civic and professional roles while respecting the vocation and obligations of motherhood”.
Autocratic and autocratizing regimes frequently co-opt the sphere of women’s organizations supporting, some selective objectives and preventing these organisations from dissenting. The autocratic governments of Turkey and Hungary sponsor and orchestrate conservative women’s groups and send these as representatives to international forums.
Overall, the support of autocracies to women’s rights is limited to a set of specific rights and mainly serves to secure the loyalty and support of women, or do some geopolitical window dressing. More radical and transformative feminist and queer agendas are silenced, opposed and marginalized.
Opposing gender and sexual rights
Autocratic regimes often promote state projects to enforce heteronormative and patriarchal family models. They use a particularly gendered repertoire of repression in which the control of bodies, reproduction and sexuality is central. Female bodies are confined to the spaces of motherhood, family and care, and play a central role in the reproduction of the idealized and “pure” nation. Curtailing sexual and reproductive rights is used as an effective tool to limit the political participation of women and sexual minorities, and their exercise of citizenship rights.
Women and sexual minorities are facing unprecedented levels of targeted political violence. Not only people who act as political representatives, but also activists and journalists are frequently attacked. This violence is often directly perpetuated or condoned by autocratic regimes. Online and offline harassment and threats particularly affects trans women, women of colour, and bodies that do not conform to binary gender norms. Violence serves as a powerful repressive tool to (re)produce existing inequalities and to sustain autocratic regimes. It is used to punish those who (attempt to) raise a critical voice against the regime or to prevent collective action.
Earlier gained rights are rolled back, but also more subtle forms of policy dismantling are visible. Autocratically leaning leaders co-opt and reframe existing institutions and policies. Equal opportunities or diversity policies are renamed as institutions defending the family. Autocrats eliminate accountability mechanisms by changing or closing consultation platforms or repopulate such platforms with civil society actors that align with regime agendas.
While controlling the lives of women and queer people is aimed to limit collective power and prevent resistance, feminist and queer movements show remarkable resilience and serve as a core democratizing force. Massive protests against repressive autocracies emerged in places as diverse as Brazil, Iran, India or Turkey. Long term analyses show how protests in which women and other diverse actors play an active role are core to challenging and overthrowing non-democratic regimes. Indeed, strong mobilizations in Brazil and Poland have been effective in stopping autocratization efforts by the radical right.
By Conny Roggeband and Andrea Krizsan. 1st August 2024