This Countering Backlash working paper explores how philanthropic institutions with a history of supporting women’s and LGBTQ+ rights and democracy are seeing and responding to anti-gender backlash, and the background dynamics shaping the struggle.
It is based on a scan commissioned by the Countering Backlash programme. The paper seeks to contribute to an analysis of the dynamics of patriarchal backlash by looking at the perspectives and priorities of the private philanthropic institutions on which many of the groups and initiatives affected by and challenging anti-gender backlash depend for their survival.
This new research shows how philanthropic institutions who support gender justice are stepping up and seeking out new ways to respond to the scaled-up, well-financed and globally coordinated anti-gender ideology backlash today, and how they support activists and civil society organisations. The research also calls for increased funding for collaboration among feminist activists and organisers. There is an urgent need for more funding to enable activists and organisers to create their own spaces for analysis and discussion for more meaningful and effective coordination.
Findings from the paper are also explored in ‘5 ways funding is crucial for organising and defeating gender backlash’.