Feminism, Gender and Democracy: What Actions in Response to the Backlash in Europe?

Co-organised with the support of Emma Rafowicz

Four days before International Women’s Day, European parliamentarians, activists, and NGO representatives will meet to look at practical ways the European Parliament and the EU can help build a feminist, inclusive, intersectional, and transnational response to the anti-gender backlash in Europe.

4 March 2026
3:30 – 5:30 pm
Room ASP 3G3
European Parliament, Brussels

Around the world, anti-gender and far-right movements are threatening hard-won rights of women, LGBTQI+ people, and marginalised communities. These attacks are not only setbacks for equality; they are warning signs for the state of democracy, undermining freedom of expression, organisation, and the core principles of the rule of law.

Long seen as a global leader on equality, the European Union is now weakened by internal and global dynamics which, if left unchallenged, risk opening the door to deeper authoritarian shifts.

In response, feminist resistance is organising across Europe. Change-makers are developing legal, community-based, and transnational strategies to defend human rights, equality, and democracy. Documented through several European projects, including FIERCE, these struggles and the growing opposition to masculinism are now central to public debate.

This event aims to take stock of the rise of anti-gender movements in Europe and their funding, to analyse the strategies that threaten democracy, and to foster political and strategic dialogue between European parliamentarians and feminist movements.

Specific objectives

• Highlight recent cases of backlash in Europe as indicators of broader democratic challenges
• Share experiences of backlash at different levels (local, national, European; activist and political)
• Foster convergence and dialogue between activists, policymakers, institutions, and NGOs
• Make feminist forms of resistance to anti-gender movements visible
• Present key findings from the FIERCE project and its sister projects to inform action strategies and future work on masculinism (EMMELO project)
• Develop intersectional approaches linking gender equality and democratic resilience within European institutions
• Inspire concrete, transnational, and intersectional responses

HOW TO ATTEND

• In person: You have to register via the official event registration form on the S&D website https://www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu/registration/international-womens-day-sds-countering-global-backlash-womens-rights-and-democracy
• Online: If you can’t make it to Brussels, join the live stream on the Socialists and Democrats website during the main conference (from 15:30 – 17:30 CET) at www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu