The workshop will feature two panels with well-known, prominent and junior scholars on gender equality politics in Germany and Europe, to discuss contemporary challenges in gender politics, especially with the politicization of immigration, as well as with the rise of populist right parties. In unsettled times, gender relations become a favorite target for social repression, but the openings created by changing political alignments are also opportunities for women politicians and for feminist and gender-queer mobilizations. Thus, the workshop will draw attention to the changes in women’s status that have occurred and are sometimes seen as precipitating “backlash.”
The workshop will examine narratives of progress as well as of reaction, and the opportunities opening for social movements as once secure political parties falter. It will focus on gender equity politics, LGBTQ+I issues, motherhood, and gender studies in Germany and draw connections to developments across Europe and offer comparisons to experiences in the United States. It will try to account for the specificities of German history, parties and policies, in the context of challenges that are coursing throughout Europe and sometimes echoed in developments in the US.
Introductory Remarks
Kathrin Zippel, Northeastern University
Panel 1: Family, Gender Binaries, and Knowledge Production
Chair and Discussant: Mary Brinton, Harvard University
Coffee Break 3:30 - 3:50 pm
Panel 2: Gender Politics Inside and Outside of the Right
Chair and Discussant: Laura Frader, Northeastern University
This event is part of Worldwide Week at Harvard, which will showcase the breadth of Harvard's global engagement from October 6-12, 2019.
