Deliverable 11.7 of the UNTWIST project: UNTWIST Toolkit and Policy Recommendation Handbook

This document represents the first version of the deliverable and is subject to review and approval by the European Commission. Following this process, and once any revisions deemed necessary have been duly incorporated, an updated version of the deliverable will be submitted and made available accordingly.

Across Europe, backlash against gender equality is increasingly mainstream, shaping political competition and sometimes policy. It is closely tied to the rise of rightwing populist parties, which mobilise voters through opposition to gender and sexual equality. For EU actors, the challenge is both defending equality and addressing the conditions that make these narratives persuasive.

How to use this Handbook
This Handbook is designed as a practical policy tool:

Part I develops the analytical framework to understand the drivers of political dissatisfaction.

Part II operationalises this framework by establishing the methodological approach through which these insights are translated into policy-relevant analysis across key domains.

Part III presents the resulting policy recommendations, derived from the application of this approach to each domain.

Readers seeking immediate guidance may focus on Part III, while Parts I and II provide the conceptual and empirical foundations underpinning the recommendations. More detailed domain analysis and supporting material are available in the supplementary material available online (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19604243).

This Handbook provides a clear answer: backlash is not primarily driven by ideological rejection of gender equality, but by unmet material needs and perceived failures of political responsiveness. Gender matters—but not in the way often assumed.

Based on extensive evidence from the UNTWIST project—including a large-scale survey, focus groups with Right Wing Populist Parties (RWPP) switcher voters, and participatory workshops across multiple Member States—the findings show that citizens’ dissatisfaction is rooted in everyday experiences of economic insecurity, pressure on care systems, limited access to services, and declining trust in institutions. These grievances are structured by gender, but they are not initially expressed as opposition to gender equality.

To capture this dynamic, the Handbook introduces two key concepts:

Gendered positional deprivation: how material insecurity and social change are experienced differently by women and men across their life course.

Losers of feminism: a contingent political outcome in which these experiences are later interpreted—often through political narratives—as losses attributed to gender equality.

The evidence identifies a clear sequence:

Material insecurity and institutional gaps generate dissatisfaction;

Gendered positional deprivation shapes how this dissatisfaction is lived;

Political narratives may then redirect grievances against gender equality. 

This means that backlash is not the starting point—it is the result of unresolved social and economic tensions.

Five policy domains emerge as critical across countries:

Access to quality healthcare.

Access to affordable housing and social services.

Work–family balance.

Care systems for children, older people, and dependents.

Labour market integration and security.

These are the areas where citizens most directly experience fairness—or its absence. Persistent shortcomings in these domains create the conditions under which dissatisfaction can be politicised.

A central finding is a representation gap: while political agendas address welfare issues, they often fail to reflect the gendered realities of citizens’ everyday lives. This weakens democratic responsiveness and opens space for actors who offer simplified or symbolic explanations.

What this means for policymakers:

Do not treat backlash as primarily ideological. It is rooted in material conditions and institutional performance.

Strengthen policy delivery in core welfare domains. Visible improvements in healthcare, housing, care, and employment are key to rebuilding trust.

Integrate gender into mainstream policy design. Not as an add-on, but as a lens to understand how needs differ across populations.

Address life-course inequalities. Care burdens, labour precarity, and work–family tensions are central drivers of dissatisfaction.

Close the gap between policy outputs and lived experience. Responsiveness must be tangible and felt in everyday life.

The strategic implication is clear: the most effective way to counter backlash against gender equality is to deliver better policies. By addressing the material roots of dissatisfaction—and their gendered dimensions—the EU can reduce the appeal of divisive narratives, strengthen democratic legitimacy, and reinforce its foundational commitment to equality.