Panel details

Panel organiser(s) will be presenting	In-Person & Online
Number of paper presentations	5
Location	Bergen

Abstract

With the consolidation of conservative and anti-rights governments in historical donor countries, such as the United States and the Netherlands, the backlash against gender justice and feminist movements has intensified significantly. Anti-gender ideologies and opposition to women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights are bringing about funding cuts to gender-focused and women-centred programs, and even the dismantling of aid itself. International assistance has been hit especially hard, although in the humanitarian sector these politicized attacks are often being painted as renewed focus on immediate needs, ‘neutral’ and ‘impartial’ responses, and efficiency. While the old system was certainly rife with patriarchal and colonial dynamics, the new has yet to emerge, and meanwhile communities and civil society organisations in crises in the so-called Global South experience the direct consequences of this backlash in their everyday lives.

In response to these challenges, discussions within (and beyond the sector) emphasise the need to explore alternative forms of humanitarian action that move beyond traditional funding mechanisms. From the perspective of feminist approaches to humanitarian practice, this roundtable seeks to contribute to the collective construction of alternative strategies to address gender injustices and counteract the rise of anti-rights conservatism within the sector and beyond. We therefore seek to conduct a dialogue from a diverse range of voices and perspectives (Humanitarian Policy Group and The Hague Humanitarian Studies Center, among others) to foster an intersectional and context-specific dialogue on these pressing issues.

Paper presentations