Back to the Backlash

As we "celebrate" IWD, let's be clear that women are no longer just fighting for equality, but the preservation of fundamental rights.

Happy birthday Nina and Pinar!

Happy International Women’s Day? Unfortunately for women there’s not a whole lot to be happy about… If you’re in NYC next week for CSW, give a shout. I’ll be around the UN all week.

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1995: OJ was on trial. The DVD was invented. Michael Jordan came back from retirement. And representatives from 189 countries gathered for the UN’s Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. They adopted a declaration and “platform for action” to end violence against women, promote women’s economic empowerment, incorporate gender perspectives in policy, push for women’s full political participation and, finally, achieve gender equality. It stands as one of the most comprehensive efforts for advancing women’s rights worldwide.

This week, UN Women released a report that looks at how that platform has fared. It found that while women have made significant gains over three decades, “nearly a quarter of governments worldwide reported a backlash on women’s rights.” That’s one in four countries. ONE IN FOUR.

Susan Faludi made backlash synonymous with women and our efforts for equal rights and opportunities. In 1991, she published Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, outlining how the gains from the 1970s second-wave feminist movement were undercut during the conservative Reagan era. Faludi argued that each time women advance, a countercurrent tries to throw them back into more “traditional” roles.

Fast forward to today. Donald Trump rose to power riding on, among other things, the “manosphere” wave that he and other media personalities, including Joe Rogan and Curtis Yarvin, fomented. At his side was tech billionaire Elon Musk, a proponent of the pro-natalist movement—a movement grounded in the belief that a woman’s priority is human reproduction. (Here is my piece on this from a few weeks back.) Over the past few weeks, both Trump and Musk have attacked diversity, equity and inclusion efforts (DEI), shuttering programs and its very mention. The first female Coast Guard commandant, Linda Fagan and the chief of naval operations, Lisa Franchetti are two high profile victims of the policy. Both have been dismissed from their posts.

In this light, it was probably no coincidence that USAID was first on the DOGE chopping block. Women made up the majority of USAID’s workforce, working on health, climate change, and equality—issues that disproportionately impact women. Axing women, in every way.

The Economist also put out data about women this week. It published this index, based on 10 measures, that tracks the best places to work as a woman in the OECD. Those measures include labor force participation, pay, paid parental leave and political representation. The most dramatic drop was in Hungary, while Turkey—already near the bottom—came in last. Both countries are led by strongman figures.

Last fall, the National Endowment for Democracy published a study that examines gender balance in the media. It notes that the news plays “a critical role in shaping societal attitudes towards gender equality, whether by spotlighting persistent inequalities and pushing for change, or by reinforcing existing biases.” Right now, men are overrepresented in the media — as reporters, as editors, and as sources and guests. Interruptrr readers already know that on foreign policy and national security issues, men still dominate the op-ed page.

This month, the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology published a paper, “Women underrepresented or men overrepresented?” It reframes the gender gap as a matter of male overrepresentation rather than women’s underrepresentation—an approach that sparked more anger among women and led them to take action to address it.

As we “celebrate” International Women’s Day amid a rapidly shifting world order, there is reason to be angry but also an urgency to take action—not just to advance efforts toward gender equality, but to ensure that the progress women have already made isn’t lost. Ladies, we’re at war.

In 2017, shortly after Donald Trump took office for the first time, we saw what could happen when women stand up and push back. #MeToo ignited a renewed conversation about women, work, and equality. Building on the movement Tarana Burke started in 2006, it exposed abusive behavior, largely in the entertainment and media industry, and held its perpetrators to account. Louis CK, Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, and Mark Halperin fell from grace. Harvey Weinstein went to jail. We hailed this as progress, even as we recognized there was still much more to be done.

On #MeToo, Constance Grady writes,

“If we want real and lasting change, we have to do more than target two individual monsters (referring to Harvey Weinstein and Trump) and then go back to ignoring all our other problems. I don’t want to have to wait another 30 years before we get to make progress again. What will it take to break the backlash pattern once and for all?”

That’s the question we should all sit with—but not for too long. Thirty years after Beijing, the threats to women are both overt and insidious. The fight for equality isn’t confined to a single day, a month, or any one event. It’s no longer even a fight confined to equality but fundamental rights. Time to get busy. — Elmira

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Elsewhere in the World.....

On our radar...

The tariffs are back! Except for cars and more confusion….

ICYMI from a few weeks ago, I talked to former USTR official Heather Hurlburt about Trump’s tariffs and what we should know. It helps explain why Trump announced tariffs early in the week, then made exceptions and then paused them. Because of the global supply chain, goods made in the US require components from elsewhere. That would make any US good, which Trump wants to prioritize, as expensive as foreign ones.

• Trump has said that the tariffs on Canada and Mexico are necessary to stem the flow of fentanyl into the US. Mariel Ferragamo sheds light on that claim. (CFR)

• Channeling the country’s mood, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was MAD. Trump’s tariffs and his talk about making Canada the 51st state has gotten Canadians to rally around the flag, which is impacting the upcoming elections. The sizable lead the conservatives had has diminished. The liberals may just be able to hold on, writes Solange Márquez Espinoza. (Americas Quarterly)

Trump address to Congress

• Not the State of the Union, but SOTU adjacent, Donald Trump addressed Congress on Tuesday for a record hour and 40 minutes. He spoke about peace between Russia and Ukraine, but didn’t provide any details on how they’d get there. Acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal came up again. Kelly Beaucar Vlahos lays it out. (Responsible Statecraft)

Ukraine

• He said. She said. Among the many hot takes from last Friday’s White House meeting, I did notice a number of men decrying that Zelensky “shouldn’t have taken the bait.” It was a contrast to the number of women who pointed out that this is a man who didn’t leave Kyiv when Russia first invaded in February 2022. Elise Labott was one such person. Her take about how Zelensky has stood up for democracy for the past three years was one of the best I read last weekend. (Cosmopolitics)

• Something that has gone overlooked about the disastrous White House meeting last Friday is language. English is not Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s native language. Barbara Serra on what got lost in translation when speaking the “privileged language.” (News with a Foreign Accent)

• The comparison is not perfect, writes Laura Rozen, but how Trump approached Afghanistan is similar to how he’s approaching Ukraine. (The Diplomatic)

US

An invasion averted? …. A Hong Kong conglomerate is selling its stake in two Panama Canal ports, to the US-based BlackRock. Jennifer Jett reports. (NBC)

Africa

Rwandan rebels, known as M23, have invaded eastern Congo. This obviously violates territorial sovereignty, but it has not sparked Western concern or serious push back, writes Michela Wrong. It may exacerbate a regional war. (Foreign Affairs)

Is Africanness male? Minna Salami has written a new book, Can Feminism Be African? In this piece, she notes that the leaders in the African Union are largely male and laws and customs throughout the continent disadvantage women. (Guardian)

Also, we know that you, dear reader, have heard about Lesotho.

Asia

Who is filling the vacuum left in the shutdown of USAID? China, writes Anita Kellogg. (The Hill)

China has embraced a pro-growth model. The problem, writes Mary Gallagher, is that without reforms, including redistributing government and corporate income to households, growth will stall. (World Politics Review)

The Americas

Mexico is suing US gun manufacturers, arguing that these manufacturers are responsible for the pipeline of weapons that reach Mexican cartels. The case is before the US Supreme Court. Nina Totenberg reports that early indications don’t look positive for Mexico. (NPR)

STILL, GOOD FOR THEM.

The Middle East

Arab leaders met in Cairo this week to hash out a counter proposal for the future of Gaza—counter to Trump’s idea of purging the Palestinians and turning it into a “Riviera.” Soumaya Ghannoushi has her doubts, as Saudi Arabia and the UAE didn’t turn up and the White House outright rejected the plan. (Middle East Eye)

Who is Syria’s new leader Ahmad al-Sharaa? Lalia Alrefaai and Ahmad Abazeid provide an extensive profile. (New Lines)

Europe

The debt brake is off in Germany. The incoming Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has worked out a €500 billion spending package on defense and infrastructure. And the markets have gone wild, writes Johanna Treeck. (Politico)

It was quite the scene in Serbia’s parliament this week, when opposition lawmakers set off smoke bombs after the majority rejected their proposal to amend the parliamentary agenda. Sanja Kljajić on whether this helps the student-led protests against the ruling government, or turns against them. (DW)

Last week, a Bosnian court convicted the president of the Republika Srpska (RS) for defying the orders of the international high representative in the country. The RS is a state in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The RS legislature passed a law that stipulates that Bosnian court decisions don’t apply in the RS. That’s like Florida saying it won’t abide by the US Constitution. Anyway… Marija Stojanović has all the details. (European Western Balkans)

Science & Climate Change

The growing Trump-Putin bromance is not only a threat to Europe and Ukraine, but the Arctic and environment, write Caroline Kennedy-Pipe and Duncan Depledge. Rich in minerals, a US-Russia rapprochement threatens the regional primacy of the Arctic Council, made up of 8 countries. (The Conversation)

Look at all the things you learn here.

Technology

Gulf of Mexico or Gulf of America? Viola Zhou and Khadija Alam on how mapping companies navigate political tensions. (Rest of World)

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Opportunities

The Annenberg Innovation Lab is taking application for its Civic Media Fellowship.

In DC, The Center for European Policy Analysis is hiring for Program Officer/Senior Program Officer, Tech Policy.

The Milken Institute has a slew of jobs in DC, CA, and NYC.

Democracy 2076 has an opening for a Program Director.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is hiring a Director of Policy, North America.

Journalists! The Heinrich Boll Stiftung is taking applications for its Transatlantic Media Fellowship through March 24.

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Editorial Team

Elmira Bayrasli - Editor-in-Chief