Introduction

This chapter introduces the following chapters of the book after outlining its scholarly and political relevance. The book’s scholarly aim is to understand the political dynamics of the rise and fall of gender equality projects by focusing on the various configurations of oppositional dynamics in Europe. The chapter articulates opposition to gender equality as “any activity in which a perspective opposing feminist politics and gender+ equality policy is articulated in a way that can be expected to influence or is actually influencing politics or policymaking at any stage.” This chapter argues that there is a strong need to understand gender+ equality politics as intersectional and dynamic; driven by both actor- and structure-based dynamics, by both discursive and material power mechanisms; and as interventions in specific societies. Therefore, the chapter argues that social movement theories and social complexity theories are the most promising theoretical strands that can contribute to such a complex and multilayered understanding.