Twenty-Five Years after Beijing: Backlash against Women's Rights and the Decline of the Liberal International Order

Professor Jacqui True from Monash University, Melbourne will be giving this guest lecture as a University of Bath Global Chair

Gender intersects as a major fault line in increasingly polarized, contemporary global politics. The rise of hyper-masculine political leaders who are ‘anti-elitist’ as well as misogynistic and racist threatens the liberal international order. They seek to a return to “natural” political order based on male domination and gender segregation. This public lecture will assess the opportunities of women’s frontline participation in peacebuilding and the feminist foreign policy movement as well as the threats of resurgent patriarchies for world order.

Guest Speaker Profile

Jacqui True is a renowned international scholar and an expert on gender-based violence. She is Professor of International Relations at the School of Social Sciences at Monash University, and Director of the Monash Centre for Gender, Peace and Security, which is a leading global, policy-oriented research centre on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) in the Asia-Pacific region.

Professor True’s research focuses on understanding the political economy of violence against women globally. Her work examines the gender dimensions of violent extremism and women's roles in conflict, and analyses how gender-sensitive peace processes impact on women’s participation in post-conflict societies. She is also a prominent public advocate for the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and gender-inclusive peace building.

The Women Global Chair Scheme highlights women in academia through distinguished international visiting professorships to enrich the celebration of women academics across all disciplines at the University of Bath. Professor True’s Global Chair is hosted by Dr Jennifer Thomson in the Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies.