This paper interrogates the reality of gender backlash in Uganda by tracing the process of legislating on the 2019 Sexual Offences Bill (SOB). We trace the early beginnings of the Bill by highlighting the motivation that guided the framing of the Bill, the role of individual actors and alliances in pushing for the gender equity reform, and the oppositional forces against the reform. Working with participatory forms of qualitative research methods, the focus on the legislative cycle of the SOB as a policy case aimed to enable us to understand what constitutes backlash, and its drivers and manifestations. […]
Grasping Patriarchal Backlash: A Brief for Smarter Countermoves
Nearly three decades ago the UN World Conference on Women at Beijing appeared to be uniting the international community around the most progressive platform for women’s rights in history. Instead of steady advancement, we have seen uneven progress, backsliding, co-option, and a recent rising tide of patriarchal backlash. […]
Caste and Gender Backlash: A Study of the #MeToo Movement in Tertiary Education in Kolkata, India
In the light of the #MeToo movement, this paper explores how the positionality (in terms of caste and class) of female university students in Kolkata, India is employed as an instrument of backlash to pushback their efforts at making progressive change with regard to sexual harassment. […]
Feminist protests and politics in a world in crisis
To explore the challenges to feminist and gender justice activism and to identify new energies in the field, Sohela Nazneen and Awino Okech have guest-edited the Gender & Development journal’s special double issue on Feminist protests and politics in a world of crisis. You can also watch the authors discuss their articles in an Institute of Development Studies’s webinar held in November 2021.
Countering patriarchal backlash against gender justice series summary
Co-hosted with the Men Engage Alliance and Countering Backlash at the MenEngage Ubuntu Symposium this series explored the global patriarchal backlash. […]
Masculinities and Transition: Enduring Privilege?
This 2019 study focusing on Egypt, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Ukraine, include findings that progress on women’s economic advancement remains constrained by persistent and pervasive gender stereotypes, reinforcing gender segregation at work and the gendered division of labour at home, even though all of the countries are in the midst of transitions to more modern market economies. […]
Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice: What’s Law Got to Do with It?
This collection explores different processes by which activists and other actors have worked for change, interrogates what we mean when we talk about ‘solidarity’, and questions the usefulness and place of law. […]
Therapeutic Activism: Men of Hope Refugee Association Uganda Breaking the Silence over Male Rape in Conflict-related Sexual Violence
This study explores the perspectives and dilemmas of male survivors in a context of intersectional marginalisation and patriarchal oppression in Kampala. […]
The New ‘MASVAW Men’: Strategies, Dynamics and Deepening Engagements. A Case Study of a Networked Approach to Challenging Patriarchy Across Institutions in Uttar Pradesh
This study explores a growing network in Uttar Pradesh, India, and the role of men and boys in addressing sexual and gender-based violence through collective action, including experiences of local opposition, institutional resistance, and backlash. […]
Sexuality, Development and Non-conforming Desire in the Arab World: The Case of Lebanon and Egypt
This report argues that neither Egypt nor Lebanon are said to offer social or legal environments that are supportive of sexual and gender nonconformists (SGNs). […]
Engendering Men: A Collaborative Review of Evidence on Men and Boys in Social Change and Gender Equality
This collaborative evidence review moves beyond a narrow or individualistic programmatic focus and attempts to achieve a broader understanding of the interplay between laws, policies, and institutional practices in achieving gender equality. […]
A Critical Analysis of Public Policies on Education and LGBT Rights in Brazil
This audit analyses key aspects of public policies in education and sexuality in Brazil, which were designed as part of the wider 2004 programme ‘Brazil Without Homophobia’ (BWH – Programa Brasil sem Homofobia). […]
Men in Collective Action on SGBV in Kenya: A Case Study
This collaborative study examines the ways in which collective action and the involvement of men may influence the prospects of effectively changing community perceptions and values regarding sexual and gender-based violence. […]
The Implications of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 on Uganda’s Legal System
This paper analyses the contents of the Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 (AHB), traces its background and status as of the time of writing, analyses the legal issues that were likely to arise before it became law and the issues that did arise with the bill still in its pre-passed state and, finally, discusses some of the positive aspects of the bill. […]