Women's rights activists in Kathmandu, Nepal, in August 2025, calling for the implementation of implementation of women's rights guaranteed by the constitution (Safal Prakash Shrestha/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“Autocrats fear women” – Australia’s foreign policy should act on that

The same forces attacking women’s rights are undermining the rules-based order that Australia depends on.

Alice Ridge,Joanna Pradela

6 March 20264 min read

Authoritarian and far-right political forces are gaining power across many parts of the world, targeting human rights, sowing seeds of division and polarisation, and targeting gender equality and social justice as both a means to power and an end in itself. The rights and bodily autonomy of women and gender diverse people are under attack, leading broader efforts to undermine human rights, democracy and freedom – all of which are fundamental to Australia’s national and economic security and that of the broader region.

Australia’s national security relies on adherence to a set of common and inviolable rules that protect sovereign decision-making regardless of a nation’s size or standing. Common rules establish and uphold the trading system we rely on for economic prosperity, as well as security. Upholding a rules-based system through constructive multilateralism is therefore a foundational interest for Australia's national and economic security.

The greatest threats to the rules-based multilateral system are rising authoritarian and illiberal regimes that view these rules not as critical guardrails of global common interests as a family of nations but as impediments to the unfettered application of their power for their singular interests.

Gender equality and women’s political activity are innately threatening to autocratic and illiberal regimes and leaders, because gender equality is more significant than wealth, democratic or religious status in predicting peaceful and flourishing societies. Put simply: autocrats fear women.

Ground-breaking 2012 research by Mala Htun and S. Laurel Weldon spanning 70 countries over 40 years illustrated that the strength of a country’s autonomous feminist movement was the most predictive factor of progressive gender policies – more so than a nation’s wealth, political ideology or the number of women in parliament. Erica Chenoweth and Zoe Marks, writing in Foreign Affairs, noted that women’s involvement is one of the most predictive factors of a mass movement’s success, and its ability to turn successes into democratic gains, stating that “[w]omen’s political activism has clearly expanded and fortified democracy – a fact that autocrats and illiberal democrats intuitively understand” and therefore seek to control, curtail or reverse. Local women’s rights organisations and movements understand the nuances of gender norms in their own context, and provide a bulwark against the argument that gender equality is an imported, Western concept.

Gender equality is more significant than wealth, democratic or religious status in predicting peaceful and flourishing societies.

Critically, these authoritarian and illiberal regimes are in a symbiotic relationship with anti-rights and anti-gender actors and ideologies – presenting two sides to the same coin that are both self-reinforcing and mutually beneficial. Whether they are working together in coordination, or simply operating concurrently, autocratic and illiberal regimes benefit from, and are strengthened by, the presence and success of anti-rights and anti-gender actors who build social momentum for derogatory, discriminatory and oppressive gender ideologies and policy influence toward outcomes that subdue, control or punish people on the basis of their gender or sexual identity. At the same time, anti-rights and anti-gender activists benefit from autocratic and illiberal regimes who are more amenable to these interests and which open space and access for the actors, and their agendas, to be brought into the mainstream.

The pursuit of these ideologies in tandem has been accelerating due to the nature of our hyper-connected online world characterised by rapid and high-volume transmission of ideas across borders. This environment is already being super-charged by the ungoverned use of artificial intelligence tools and an information ecosystem rife with mis- and dis-information. The “manosphere” – an umbrella term for a loose network of content creators and online communities which promote regressive ideas of masculinity and misogynistic attitudes under the guise of empowerment for men – has blossomed under these conditions, creating harmful new avenues for peddling misogyny and shifting social norms around gender equality. Research shows that “misogynistic beliefs were a significant predictor of most forms of violent extremism … [and] if authorities recognised anti-feminist beliefs as a separate form of violent extremism, it would represent the most prevalent form of violent extremism in Australia today.”

Given that the pursuit of a rules-based order is a foundational interest for Australia’s national and economic security, offering a credible and enticing alternative to those who seek to undermine ordered multilateralism is a high-value strategy for securing Australia’s national and economic interests. That makes the defence and pursuit of gender equality – embedded in a human rights and democratic framework – one of Australia’s highest national priorities.

About the authors

Alice Ridge

Alice Ridge is the Senior Research, Policy & Advocacy Advisor at the International Women’s Development Agency.

Joanna Pradela

Joanna Pradela is the Director of Knowledge Translation and Equality Insights at the International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA).

Topics

Defence & security Gender & equality