Contested Alliances: A Contrapuntal Reading of European (Global) Gender Agendas

In and beyond Europe, pro‐gender and anti‐gender causes are gaining momentum. This article asks the following: How do (anti‐)gender agendas emerge within the European Union (EU), and how are they projected beyond the Union's borders? These questions are addressed via a contrapuntal approach, which, we argue, can help to foster multi‐directional learning in (gender) policy debates. Analytically, the method entails listening to plural voices in – and across – macro, meso and micro levels of analysis. Normatively, the method supports engagement of lesser heard voices. Applying the approach at the EU scale and vis‐à‐vis two case studies (Hungary and the Netherlands), we identify several, counter‐intuitive patterns with implications for gender‐based mobilisation: namely, that emphasis on inclusion in EU gender equality promotion, paradoxically, can lead to exclusion of a wider range of gender perspectives and that anti‐gender mobilisation entails forms of co‐option as well as exclusion.