Dr Tsega Tefera presented From Consensus to Contestation: Backlash and the Politics of Care in Global Multilateral Governance at the Stellenbosch conference “Resisting Anti-Gender Ideology and Feminist Backlash”. The presentation examines how gender equality and care norms are being challenged within multilateral institutions.
Contesting gender equality norms
The analysis focuses on debates at the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) and a 2025 G20 Women’s Economic and Financial Empowerment working group meeting. Established language on gender, unpaid care, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and rights-based frameworks is being contested or reframed through approaches centred on sex-based equality, motherhood and family.
From resistance to counter-norm building
The backlash operates through resistance to established terms, reinterpretation of existing norms and the promotion of alternative frameworks. At CSW70, disputes over language extended into procedure, including proposed amendments to define gender strictly as male and female. An EU no-action motion blocked the proposal, and agreed conclusions were adopted following a vote for the first time.
Parallel family- and motherhood-focused forums have also provided platforms for anti-gender coalitions to advance competing understandings of gender, family and rights.
The politics of care
At the centre of these debates is whether care is a shared social responsibility or primarily a private or family obligation. A transformative approach to care recognises unpaid care work, improves conditions for paid care workers and distributes responsibility across individuals, households, states and institutions.
Conclusion
The presentation argues that multilateral institutions are not only places where gender equality norms are established but also arenas where their meaning is contested and reshaped. Care remains a central terrain of feminist political struggle, with implications for whose work is valued and who is responsible for providing it.