About this episode
James L. Nuzzo discusses the 2026 feminist playbook and its strategies against the backlash to gender equality.
On January 20, 2026, I published an essay titled, “ Backlash Against the Backlash: Feminists Reveal Their 2026 Playbook .” In the essay, I commented on two items written by feminist authors. The first item was an article published in Foreign Affairs , titled, “ How to Save the Fight for Women’s Rights: The Backlash Against Democracy Calls for New Strategies .” The second item was a report published by UN Women and the UN Research Institute for Social Development titled, “ Understanding Backlash Against Gender Equality: Evidence, Trends and Policy Responses .” The aims of the UN’s report and the article in Foreign Affairs were to communicate with activist readers the feminist playbook for 2026. The components of that playbook were listed in my previous essay , and they included platitudes like “strengthen[ing] democratic institutions” and “strengthen[ing] broad-based coalitions.” But they also include things like investing in initiatives that include boys and men, and recommendations to use words like “family,” “life,” and “care” in new lights. Overall, the aim of the 2026 feminist playbook is to pushback against the growing “backlash” against feminism and “gender equality”…
People in this episode
Host: James L. Nuzzo
Topics covered
- feminism
- gender equality
- backlash
- activism
- social movements
Keywords
- feminism
- gender equality
- backlash
- activism
- 2026 playbook
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Foreign Affairs, UN Women, UN Research Institute for Social Development
Books & works: Backlash Against the Backlash: Feminists Reveal Their 2026 Playbook, How to Save the Fight for Women’s Rights: The Backlash Against Democracy Calls for New Strategies, Understanding Backlash Against Gender Equality: Evidence, Trends and Policy Responses, The limits of ‘backlash’ masculinity: on the value of reframing gendered resistance as ‘countermovement’
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- Australian Research Council Funds Biased Project on “Anti-Women” Movements · March 4, 2026 · 8 min
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