Gender and Illiberal Politics

Abstract

This chapter argues that gender plays a key role in the illiberal project of demonizing liberalism by reducing it to its sociocultural dimension and by culturalizing political cleavages. It explores what is meant by “resistance to gender” and how this trend resonates with core features of the illiberal worldview: its anti-modernism, anti-globalism, anti-individualism, and post-postmodernism. While anti-genderism’s origins are religious, the role of religion in illiberal anti-gender politics is often instrumental. We provide evidence of the convergence between illiberalism and anti-genderism from countries such as Poland, Hungary, Sweden, Spain, and the United States. Finally, the chapter discusses existing conceptualizations of the relationship between anti-genderism on the one hand and illiberalism as well as populism on the other. We propose the concept of opportunistic synergy to capture the growing ideological affinity and developing political collaboration between religious fundamentalists, ultraconservative civil-society actors, and right-wing politicians.