State feminism, global feminist waves and democratic backsliding: global and cross-national perspectives

This essay explores cross-national patterns in state feminism, or women’s policy agencies, in relation to broader trends in autonomous feminist organizing. The role and effectiveness of such agencies in the context of resistance to feminist initiatives, democratic backsliding and backlash against progress towards gender justice are considered. The essay contends that connections and relations of solidarity between autonomous and state feminism, across borders, and across class and identity-groups in a variety of contexts is important for maintaining and/or continuing progress towards gender justice. Some promising new directions for future research are identified.