ZiF Research Group
Global Contestations of Women's and Gender Rights
October 2020 – July 2021
Convenors: Alexandra Scheele (Bielefeld, GER), Julia Roth (Bielefeld, GER), Heidemarie Winkel (Bielefeld, GER)
Closing Conference of the Research Group Global Contestations of Women's and Gender Rights

Conflicts over Women’s and Gender Rights: Ambivalences and Contradictions
10 - 12 March 2022
Convenors: Alexandra Scheele (Bielefeld, GER), Julia Roth (Bielefeld, GER), Heidemarie Winkel (Bielefeld, GER)
In the academic year 2020/21, the convenors PD Dr. Alexandra Scheele, Prof. Dr. Julia Roth and Prof. Dr. Heidemarie Winkel (all from Bielefeld University) together with more than 20 fellows from different disciplinary backgrounds analyzed the specific mechanisms and patterns of contestations over women’s and gender rights in diverse contexts across the globe. This included a theoretical reconsideration of the causes and structures of gender inequality, such as global capitalism, neoliberalism, nationalisms, authoritarian states or fundamentalist religions, and the reconceptualization of notions of equality in selected contexts and empirically-based reconfiguration of struggles for women’s and gender rights. That way, the inherent contentious nature of equality rights and the development of equality principles as a globally contested terrain came into view – taking the division of labor, citizenship and religion as empirical arenas.
In the closing conference, the group wants to take a closer look at the central patterns and common – unifying – elements in the conflicts over gender rights, in order to better understand the mechanisms of contestation. Most notably, to address the ambivalences, contradictions and tensions between what has been achieved in the struggles for equality on the one hand and the current backlashes and attacks on the other hand. We start from the assumption that women’s and gender rights are claimed globally – despite or even because of women*’s vulnerability. We presume that the articulation of the right to equality is a central prerequisite of the present contestations in the various local conflicts and contexts.
The event will host as key speakers:
- Prof. Shirin Rai (University of Warwick). She is an interdisciplinary scholar who has written extensively on issues of gender, governance and development and politics and performance.
- Prof. Nadje Al-Ali (Brown University). She studies feminist activism and gendered mobilization, with a focus on Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey and the Kurdish political movement.
The event will be held in a hybrid format. Please register in advance by contacting Marina Hoffmann and indicate if you wish to attend in person (spaces are limited and only possible under 2G+ rules) or online via Zoom.
E-Mail: marina.hoffmann@uni-bielefeld.de
Program
Thursday, 10 March 2022
11:00 – 11:30 | Conference Opening Words of welcome by Véronique Zanetti (ZiF Executive Director) & Convenors of the Research Group |
11:30 – 13:00 | Keynote: Shirin Rai (Coventry, GBR) Unknowers and unknowing: Why does the importance and costs of unpaid labour continue to be overlooked in global policy frameworks? (Online) University of Warwick - Warwick Interdisciplinary Research Centre for International Development (WICID) Moderation: Alexandra Scheele |
13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch Break |
14:00 – 16:00 | Panel I: Ambivalences and contradictions in illiberal, authoritarian and populist contexts and ideological settings Ligia Fabris (Rio de Janeiro, BRA): Gendered-based political violence and Neo-conservatism: Lessons from Brazil Andrea Pető (Budapest, HUN / Vienna, AUT): Sexual politics in flux: Actors, agents and strategies Moderation: Brigit Sauer |
16:00 – 16:30 | Coffee Break |
16:30 – 17:30 | Panel II: Reconsidering gender ideologies and gender myths Heidemarie Winkel (Bielefeld, GER): Sacralization of gender difference: The secular/religious divide, the immanent frame and the male turn in Catholic theology Moderation: Ina Kerner |
17:30 – 18:00 | General discussion |
Friday, 11 March 2022
9:00 – 11:00 | Panel III: Fundamentalist-authoritarian continuities José Manuel Barreto (Bogotá, COL): Gender ideology's wars: Patterns of the reaction against gender rights in Latin America Fatima Sadiqi (Fez, MAR): Transformations and ambivalences of women's rights after the Arab Spring Moderation: Ligia Fabris |
11:00 – 11:30 | Coffee Break |
11:30 – 13:30 | Panel IV: Freedom, equality, neo-liberalism? The role of gender inequalities and ideologies Karsten Schubert (Freiburg, GER): The politics of being left alone. Negative freedom, anti-genderism, and the critique identity politics Birgit Sauer (Vienna, AUT): Archliberal, illiberal or neoliberal? Anti-gender mobilization of the authoritarian right in Austria and Germany Martina Sproll (Berlin, GER): The transformation of the social through digitization: Impact on (gender) inequalities Moderation: Andrea Pető |
13:30 – 15:00 | Lunch Break |
15:00 – 16:30 | Keynote: Nadje Al-Ali (Providence, USA) Beyond Backlash: Reflections on global feminist contestations (Online) Director Middle East Studies, Brown University, Institute for International & Public Affairs Moderation: Heidemarie Winkel |
16:30 – 17:00 | Coffee Break |
17:00 – 18:30 | Panel V: Ambivalences and contradictions in neoliberal contexts Verónica Schild (London, CAN): Women's and gender rights without social justice? Latin American lessons on the limits of a neoliberal trade-off Alexandra Scheele (Bielefeld, GER): The devaluation of care work and its influence on gender equality in Germany Moderation: Heidemarie Winkel |
Saturday, 12 March 2022
9:30 – 10:30 | Panel VI: Queer/Feminist Contestations I: Unruly practices Holly Patch (Bielefeld, GER) / Thomas Hilder (Dragvoll, NOR): From musical asylum to queer choral mobilization Onyinyechukwu Durueke (Port Hartcourt, NGA): Women’s resistance in Nigeria |
10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee Break |
11:00 – 13:00 | Panel VII: Queer/Feminist Contestations II: Organized solidarities & institutionalized representation/contestations Lívia de Souza Lima (Bielefeld, GER): Black feminist contestations and the re-imagination of political representation in Brazil Ina Kerner (Koblenz, GER): Towards a postsecular feminist critique of religion Moderation: Julia Roth |