After the Wave: Is the International Order Leaving Women Behind?

The 2010s saw a remarkable, if uneven, wave of feminist gains worldwide: the expansion of reproductive rights in Latin America, the advancement of LGBTQ+ rights and marriage equality across the Americas, Europe, and parts of Asia, the rise of feminist foreign policies, and the advancement of the Women, Peace and Security agenda within international institutions. Women were visible and often central participants in democratic and anti-authoritarian movements around the world, from Ukraine to Hong Kong, leaving political legacies that outlasted the protests themselves.
Many of these gains have since proven fragile, contested by both backlash and resistance — far-right governments mobilizing against gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights, authoritarian regimes targeting feminist and queer organizing directly, and armed conflicts generating new forms of gendered violence while subordinating women's rights to security logics.
We welcome paper proposals exploring how feminist gains are being simultaneously eroded and contested across international institutions, conflict zones, and transnational movements, and what this reveals about the gendered foundations of the current international order. Panels might address, among other topics: