Gender Policy and (Anti)Gender Discourses - Between Progress and Regression. A Comparative Discourse and Policy Analysis in Four European Countries

The frequently stated crisis of Western democracies involves the rejection of the liberal-democratic canon of values in favor of an authoritarian-regressive value orientation, which strongly politicizes the value of gender equality in particular. Building on this theoretically, we turn to this value conflict by examining in four European countries (Germany, Ireland, Poland, Spain) why gender equality has become increasingly politicized and to what extent there is rising polarization within society. The aim is to analyze in-depth the intertwining and mutual influence of three discourse arenas - policy discourse, traditional media discourse and social media discourse - on debates about abortion (reproductive rights) and women's access to the labor market (productive rights). In doing so, the project aims to answer the questions of how democratic values are negotiated in the face of digitalization and discursive conflict, and what influence social media as well as national and transnational contexts have in this process.