First CONGENIAL Hybrid Space on ‘Anti-Gender Rights Backlash’ creates a powerful transnational space for dialogue and solidarity

Hosted in collaboration with its partner institute Centre of Excellence in Gender Studies (CEGS) at Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, as well as TED University Ankara’s Centre for Gender Studies, the event connected participants across The Hague, Islamabad and Ankara, creating a powerful transnational space for dialogue and solidarity. 

Building upon transnational feminist praxis, intersectionality, and the politics of solidarity, this transnational conversation aimed at countering the global anti-gender movements by looking at the specific contexts of Turkey, Pakistan and the Netherlands, and co-creating strategies that would enable resistance and counter discourses across these diverse transnational regions. 

Historical roots and current manifestations of anti-gender movements in Turkey, Pakistan and the Netherlands

This first gathering reflected on the historical roots and current manifestations of anti-gender movements, identifying both the shared challenges and unique contexts. According to Hanife Aliefendioğlu, Professor in Communication and Media Studies at TED University, the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s decision to withdraw from the Council of Europe’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence is a stark expression of the anti-gender rights backlash that is currently unfolding in Turkey.

This backlash prompted the Ministry of Family and Social Services to urge avoiding terms like ‘gender’ and ‘gender identity,’ arguing they harm women, children and the social fabric. Following this, the Turkish Higher Education Council (YÖK) halted its gender equality projects and removed its 2015 policy on women and gender equality from its website.

Kerem Selçuk, TED University lecturer in English language, added how a proposed legal reform in Turkey is explicitly targeting the LGBTIQ+ existence through criminalization of public expressions of queer identities and restriction of legal procedures for gender affirmation processes. The reform also aims at modifying Article 25 of the Turkish Penal Code by adding a new clause into ‘absence acts’. It introduces penalties of one-and-a-half to four years for anyone ‘who exhibits an attitude or behaviour that is contrary to the biological sex at birth and public morality, or who publicly encourages, praises or promotes such behaviour.’ Moreover, it rewrites the procedure for gender reassignment, raising the minimum age from 18 to 25.

Rabbia Aslam, Assistant Professor in Gender Studies at CEGS historicized anti-gender politics in Pakistan by tracing its roots to the country’s Islamization under Zia-ul-Haq’s military dictatorship in the 1980s and stated that these policies are multifaceted, shaped by cultural and religious factors. 

Oppressive state structures constrained rights-based movements, including those advocating for ethnic and sexual minorities. More recently, the striking down of the 2018 Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill by a decision of the Federal Sharia Court that declared some of its provisions unislamic exemplifies the shrinking space for gender justice. 

Gender studies as a discipline have also encountered several challenges since the inception, being equated with promoting ‘western agenda’ threatening local culture, societal values, religions and the family structure. Recently, an attempt was made to ban gender and women studies as a discipline across Pakistan by filing a petition in 2020 in the Lahore High Court based on the allegation that these departments promoting ‘homosexuality’.

Finally, ISS Assistant Professor Silke Heumann highlighted how the Netherlands, considered a country with strong liberal commitments, is not immune to the rise of anti-gender rights politics. 

Firstly, she argued the liberal context itself is problematic because despite the legalization of sex work and recognition of same-sex marriage, inclusion often remains narrow and normative. It is organized around family-centred and state-controlled models that regulate rather than emancipate gender and sexual diversity.

In addition, while some right-wing political parties have co-opted gender and equality agendas for their own purposes, the recent rise of extreme right populism in the country openly combines a strong anti-gender agenda with an attack on migration, antiracism and environmentalism. 

The Dutch case shows the importance of situating (anti)gender politics in the context of this broader assault on democracy, rights and dissidence that these populist and authoritarian movements are forging.

Mapping collective strategies of solidarity

Together, participants also began mapping collective strategies of solidarity to strengthen transnational feminist connections. These include the strengthening of broad solidarities and forging of alliances based on intersectional politics. 

During the conversation, it was echoed that the agenda of gender justice should not stand alone. The participants demanded to expand the struggle by forming alliances between feminist, environmentalist, labour and human rights movements. 

The importance of transnational hybrid and digital spaces like the event itself for exchange about and mutual support on issues related to gender justice and the teaching of gender studies was also underlined. Kerem Selçuk pointed out the significance of doing archival and memory work as an activist strategy to counter anti-gender ideologies and movements. This includes creating online archives and documenting oral histories of queer life and violence. This strategy aims at defending existence through memory: ‘what is archived cannot be erased’.