Join the Othering & Belonging Institute and Over Zero for the launch of (En)Gendering Authoritarianism: A Six-Strategy Framework Examining How Political and Cultural Leaders Weaponize Gender in Ways that Advance Authoritarianism.
This report explores how political and cultural leaders weaponize gender to advance authoritarianism. It illustrates that attacks on women's rights, feminism, and LGBTQ communities are neither random nor organic, but part of a larger strategy to manufacture division, distract from policy failures and corruption, and create a permission structure for power consolidation and violence.
(En)Gendering Authoritarianism identifies six interrelated strategies through which gender is weaponized across politics and culture. It shows how authoritarian movements exploit gendered anxieties to divide society and opposition movements, launder and normalize social hierarchies, reshape cultural norms, and lay the groundwork for authoritarian power consolidation and violence. Efforts to weaponize gender not only directly endanger women's rights, feminism, and LGBTQ groups, but also democracy itself.
Join us on Wednesday, September 10, 2024 (8:00 AM - 9:00 AM PT / 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET). This event will bring together the report's three authors, Míriam Juan-Torres, Head of Research at the Democracy & Belonging Forum, a program of the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, Laura Livingston, the Senior Director of Field Support and Strategy at Over Zero, and Tara Chandra, PhD, Independent Researcher and Consultant who will share insights, and chart ways forward for those committed to defending pluralism, equality, and democratic freedoms. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A.
Questions or accessibility requests? Please email lara.habboub@berkeley.edu
Speakers:
- Míriam Juan-Torres is a multidisciplinary researcher, writer, and public speaker with expertise on authoritarian populism, polarization, and human rights. Míriam is the Head of Research at OBI's Democracy & Belonging Forum at UC Berkeley. In the past, she worked as a senior researcher for More in Common, where she was the co-author of “Hidden Tribes: A Study of America's Polarized Landscape” and the lead author of “Britain's Choice: Common Ground and Division in 2020s Britain”. Míriam has taught courses on human rights and international criminal law as an associate professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and has also contributed as a consultant to a variety of projects across the globe. Míriam has fieldwork experience in Ghana and Colombia, where she worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and interned at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She holds a master's in Global Affairs from Yale University and a law degree from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.
- Laura Livingston is the Senior Director of Field Support at Over Zero, an organization dedicated to building societal resilience to political and identity-based violence. Since joining the organization in 2017, her role has focused on bridging research and practice to develop strategies, tools, and frameworks for addressing risks of violence and democratic backsliding. Laura received her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.
- Dr. Tara Chandra is currently working as an independent researcher and consultant. Tara received her PhD in Political Science with a Designated Emphasis in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed her Master's degree in Global Affairs at Yale University, and her undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago. Professionally, she has worked in a number of research roles, including at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she served as the lead researcher for a book on U.S. foreign policy and national security. She also has experience in government, both at the federal level and on Capitol Hill.
