Project Team: Siri Gloppen (PI), Adrian Jjuuko, Andrea Melberg, Clara Burbano Herrera, Frans Viljoen, Irene Maffi, Jayna Kothari, Juliana Cesario Alvim, Lise Rakner, Liv Tønnessen, Marta Machado, Ruth Rubio, Ole Frithjof Norheim, Satang Nabaneh and Yves Haeck
Timeframe: 02/01/2023 - 02/29/2024
Project Leader: Siri Gloppen
Funding: Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) RDF 2022, £10000
About the project
The project aims to to develop a collaborative, inter-disciplinary, and multi-sited research project investigating the growing politicization of gender across societies, and the consequences for public health and democracy. This addresses a major societal challenge and requires international collaboration. The politicization of gender is a profoundly ‘glocal’ phenomenon in that it has «simultaneous occurrence of both universalizing and particularizing tendencies” (Britannica) — in other words: developments in different parts of the world are interwoven, yet play out differently, with different effects in each context. To understand the driving forces and consequences, it is insufficient analyze local manifestations in isolation, we must also understand the ways in which local, transnational, and global dynamics are interlinked. This requires collaboration among scholars with deep contextual knowledge. Two types of consequences of the politicization of gender are emerging as particularly salient: the social implications in the domain of public health, and the political implications for democracy as politicization of “gender ideology” plays into autocratization processes. To understand these dynamics, we will examine a broad range of issues politicized as “gender ideology”, including sexual orientation, gender identity, abortion, sex education, domestic violence, access to contraception and ARTs/infertility treatment. We will analyze contexts that vary along different dimensions: region, religion; socio-economic development; and regime type. We will conduct desk research and preliminary analysis of seven case studies (South Africa, Uganda, Tunisia, Brazil, India, Norway and Spain) and convene a workshop to develop a joint research project. The WUN grant will position us to explore this topic with current and new partners and increase our chances of succeeding with grant proposals to national and international funding agencies.