Feminist responses to anti-gender politics in autocratizing contexts: the case of the Hungarian Parliament

Operating in an illiberal autocratizing context, the Hungarian Parliament defies procedural rules of democracy. Gender-equality legislation is blocked, anti-gender legislation is passed in expedited processes, and feminist civil society is excluded. In the absence of the possibility for genuine deliberation, feminist opposition members of Parliament (MPs) turn Parliament into a protest arena in which they use various protest strategies to confront the autocratizing regime and expose its anti-feminist aspects. Building on literature on feminist responses to anti-gender politics and literature on formal politics in autocratizing regimes, we show how feminist responses in the autocratizing context bridge formal and protest politics using confrontational strategies, radicalized framing, and coalition politics that integrates feminist voices from formal politics and civil society. We employ a qualitative analysis of opposition parliamentary interventions, complemented with interviews with opposition MPs. Findings contribute to understanding feminist parliamentary resistance to anti-gender politics in autocratizing regimes.