Call for Papers: Resisting Anti-Gender Ideology and Feminist Backlash, 12-13 October 2026
Hosted by the SARChI Chair in Gender Politics at Stellenbosch University At the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS)
12-13 October 2026
The conference will explore how anti-gender discourse and mobilisation shape public debate, law, policy, educational institutions, religious spaces, media ecologies, and everyday life. Particular attention will be given to how backlash politics affect struggles for feminist freedom, reproductive justice, the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence, and the dignity, safety, and citizenship of trans and genderdiverse communities. By bringing these conversations together, the conference aims to deepen South African, African, and global dialogue on authoritarianism, populism, democratic backsliding, homophobia, transphobia and a backlash against feminism and gender justice at a moment of intensifying contestation.
Thematic Areas
The organisers invite contributions that engage with, but are not limited to, the following themes:
• Genealogies and political economies of anti-gender mobilisation
• Backlash against feminist movements, feminist institutions, and gender studies
• Reproductive justice, abortion politics, bodily autonomy, and healthcare access
• Sexual and gender-based violence, accountability, carcerality, prevention, and survivor-centred responses
• Trans and gender-diverse identities, recognition, belonging, safety, and citizenship
• Law, policy, and constitutionalism in relation to gender and sexuality rights
• Religion, culture, and morality politics in anti-gender campaigns
• Digital publics, media, disinformation and hate speech in the circulation of anti-gender narratives
• Universities, schools, and curricula as contested sites of gender knowledge
• African, decolonial, and intersectional feminist responses to backlash politics
• Movement-building, coalition politics, and solidarities across struggles
• Creative, methodological, and pedagogical interventions for gender justice
Conference Format and Participants
The conference is envisioned as a two-day event, 12- 13 October 2026 and will include keynote presentations, academic paper panels, roundtables, activist dialogues, postgraduate sessions, and selected creative or community-engaged contributions. The organisers welcome participation from academics, independent researchers, civil society actors, legal practitioners, health professionals, policymakers, artists, and postgraduate students whose work speaks to the conference themes.
Call for Abstracts and Panels
We invite abstracts for papers, panels, roundtables, and creative or communityengaged presentations that critically address the anti-gender movement and ideology, and its implications for feminist politics and gender justice. We particularly welcome contributions that are theoretically rigorous, empirically grounded, historically attentive, and politically engaged.
Important Dates
• Abstract submission deadline: 15 July 2026
• Notification of acceptance: 30 July 2026
• Registration opens: 1 September 2026
• Conference dates: 12-13 October 2026
For more details, refer here
