Henry Jackson School of International Studies presents the lecture “Europeanization, Democratization, and Backsliding: Trajectories and Framing of Gender Equality Institutions in Poland” by Dr. Barbara Gaweda. This lecture is part of the Talking Gender in the EU in 2022-2023 lecture series that also covers Slovenia and the EU as a whole.

Dr. Gaweda’s abstract of the talk:

Since 2015, Polish governments have mainstreamed anti-gender equality rhetoric as a strategy to legitimize systemic changes and democratic backsliding. How has democratic backsliding affected Europeanizing gender equality institutions? I analyze Polish public discourse on the Plenipotentiary for Equality, a policy agency that aims to promote gender equality and antidiscrimination. I trace its framing and trajectories through European Union accession, until the ultraconservative and nationalist backlash in recent years to demonstrate how discursive and institutional linkages between Europeanization, democratization, and gender equality allow not only progress, but can also lead to opportunity moments for democratic and equality backsliding.

Dr. Barbara Gaweda is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for the European Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finnland.

The lecture is free and open to the public; registration is required.

More: lecture series description and registration

by RK