Gender Relations in Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe and East Germany

The social and political developments of recent years have once again brought questions of gender, sexuality, and intersectional inequality in Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe, as well as in East Germany, to the forefront of public and academic debates. This development has been accompanied by growing attention to the diversity of gender-related lived realities, to processes of social transformation, and to new theoretical and empirical approaches within gender studies.

Across Europe, increasingly strong authoritarian tendencies can be observed, and Eastern Europe is no exception. In recent years, women’s and gender studies in particular, as well as achievements in gender equality, policy, and law, have become targets of political attacks. A prominent example is Hungary, where the accreditations of gender studies degree programs were revoked by a government decree in 2018, and the Central European University moved its main campus from Budapest to Vienna. The delegitimization of gender-related research is often merely the entry point for a broader delegitimization of critical knowledge production. Gender equality policies, women’s rights, and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, intersex*, and queer (LGBTQI*) individuals are also under considerable pressure to justify their legitimacy in various countries. In Hungary, adoption by same-sex couples was banned in 2020. In Poland, some municipalities and local politicians have called for LGBTQI-free zones, and a far-reaching abortion ban has been implemented. In Slovakia, the government has decided to recognize only two genders. 

While gender and sexual diversity are being resisted and opposed in this way, antifeminist positions, traditional family models, and masculinist ideas are simultaneously gaining strength. In East Germany, public debates in recent years have therefore focused less on women and more on men. On the one hand, men are portrayed as losers of the post-socialist transformation process, and on the other hand, in light of the success of far-right parties, they are described as a problem for democracy. Such broad generalizations not only demonstrate how societal diagnoses of crisis become gendered but also raise questions about the origins of these attributions, what important distinctions are lost in the process, and how these narratives are connected to social transformation, regional identities, political orientations, and diverse constructions of gender.

Against the backdrop of these diverse developments and thematic priorities, the issue of feministische studien 2/2027 seeks to strengthen transnational exchange within gender studies, to make regional perspectives more visible, and to promote comparative as well as intersectional-transnational approaches. The issue will center both, the shared trajectories of development and the differences between post-socialist and post-Soviet contexts as well as East Germany. We are particularly interested in identifying the current transformations taking place in these regions and exploring the theoretical impulses they generate for gender studies at large.

We welcome not only scholarly analyses but also reports on local developments and insights into ongoing research projects that address the following questions—or related issues beyond them—from a feminist perspective:

• Which developments are currently emerging with regard to gender relations, gender studies, and feminist movements in the various regions of Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe, as well as in East Germany?
• What assumptions are embedded in the cultural-historical concepts of “gender” and “the East,” and to what extent are these concepts discursively reproduced in academia, politics, and the media as a supposedly unquestioned and naturally given connection?
• Is it analytically meaningful to speak of gender relations in Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe and East Germany as a whole? If so, what are their defining structural characteristics?
• In what ways do gender norms and practices differ across, and where do they resemble one another within, Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe and East Germany?
• What is the current state of gender studies in Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe and East Germany, and what lessons can be learned from these contexts regarding the defense of academic freedom?
• What forms do feminist movements take in Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe and East Germany, and what potentially specific challenges do they face? Where are alliances emerging with other movements (such as labor movements, movements defending academic freedom, democracy movements, migration-related initiatives, and queer movements), and where do forms of transnational solidarity develop?
• From an intersectional perspective, which forms of marginalization and discrimination, but also which forms of political mobilization, become visible in Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe and East Germany?
• What new configurations of gender, work, and care can be observed in Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe and in East Germany, and how can they be theorized within the tensions and interrelations of migration, welfare-state arrangements, and global structures of inequality?

Extended abstracts (1,000–1,500 words) should be submitted no later than August 30, 2026 to the following three email addresses: Julia Gruhlich (Julia.gruhlich@uni-goettingen.de), Stine Eckert (stine.eckert@wayne.edu) and Regine Othmer (manuskripte@feministische-studien.de). 

Abstracts may be submitted for the following sections:

• Research Article: 6.000–8.000 words (max. 9.000)
• Discussion/Debate Article: 2.000–3.000 words

In addition, proposals are welcome for:

• Conference reports and reviews of monographs or edited volumes: up to 1.200 words
• Artistic works for the section Images and Signs (Bilder und Zeichen).

All word counts exclude footnotes and references. Authors will be notified regarding their abstract submissions in early September 2026. Full manuscripts must be submitted by February 28, 2027. Feedback following the double-blind peer-review process will be provided by mid-May 2027. If a manuscript is accepted, revisions need to be submitted by July 30, 2027.