MEN4DEM is leading a section at the 2026 European Conference on Politics and Gender!
What's the Conference?
The European Conference on Politics and Gender (ECPG) is a biennial event that facilitates critical debate about:
- Gender
- Sexuality
- Intersectionality in politics
- Academia
- Public life
ECPG aims to advance the study of gender and sexuality in politics, strengthen ties among gender scholars at all career stages and engage with research on race and intersectionality, sexuality, on men and the masculine and those who identify as non-binary, genderqueer, or intersex.
The next ECPG is coming up on 15 – 17 June 2026, and will be hosted by Newcastle University in the UK.
What’s MEN4DEM doing at the ECPG?
For the 2026 ECPG, MEN4DEM is leading a section of the conference called Men and Masculinities in Politics.
This section aims to bring together and expand research on political masculinities across political science and related fields. While politics in Europe has long been dominated by men, and political institutions historically built for them, critical engagement with masculinity itself has lagged behind. This section responds to that gap, offering a timely intervention into how masculinities shape political systems, practices, and norms today.
Recent global shifts make this work especially urgent. The rise of far-right movements, anti-gender campaigns, and leaders who lean on authoritarian rhetoric highlight how masculinities are mobilised in politics, with consequences for democracy, international relations, and gender equality. By facilitating cross-field debates, this section will explore the diverse ways political masculinities are performed, challenged, and reshaped, offering new perspectives on power, gender, and democracy.
The section will be chaired by the following team members:
- Malin Holm, Researcher at Uppsala University
- Nik Linders, Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Amsterdam
- Tomasz Besta, Associate Professor at University of Gdańsk
Have a proposal idea for our section?
For this session, we’re looking for paper and panel proposals on a broad range of themes that critically examine this theme. Paper and panel proposals can be submitted for MEN4DEM’s section until November 7 2025.
These submissions can be from all subfields of political science and adjacent fields on topics including, but not limited to:
- The role of men and masculinities in structuring politics, including political systems, institutions, customs, and norms.
- The role of men and masculinities in political decision making, from LGBTQIA+ rights to housing, immigration, and climate change.
- The role of men and masculinities in political parties, political communication, (social) media, campaigns, and elections.
- The role of men and masculinities in international relations, diplomacy, war and peace(building), and conflict.
- The mobilisation of men and masculinities in (counter)radicalisation, political movements, and grass roots organizing.
- Intersectional political masculinities, (re)constructing political masculinity.
- Designing interventions.
To submit a proposal or learn more about the conference, click the below link!