Symbolic representation, gender equality policies and antigender speeches. An interview with Dr. Emanuela Lombardo.

Abstract

Emanuela Lombardo is a Political Science Professor at the Complutense University of Madrid. Her research interests are based on feminism, democracy and equality policies, especially on the adoption and implementation of them, in the European Union and Spain. She leads the research group Gender and Politics with María Bustelo and is the PI of the team in the Complutense University of Madrid and in a WP (work package) in the European project CCINDLE based on feminist responses given to the challenges that represent anti-gender forces in European democracies.  In this interview she firstly refers to the recent advances present in the research and about the symbolic dimension of political representation interpreted as something relevant in itself. Secondly, she mentions how the rise of conservative and anti-gender discourses is affecting the approval and implementation of gender equality policies, so much so, as a “socially-accepted symbolic dimension”. Finally, she considers old and new resistances to gender equality policies within universities.