Transnational Tactics and National Pushback

The Two-Level Strategy of Anti-Gender Movements in Latin America

Abstract

This paper examines the strategic two-level approach employed by anti-gender movements in Latin America to counter progressive legislation and human rights frameworks. At the national level, these movements target gender equality initiatives through discursive attacks on the so-called “gender ideology,” while at the international level, they work to undermine the very human rights bodies that guarantee these protections. Through comparative case studies of Guatemala and Paraguay, the research analyzes how these movements mobilize religious and secular arguments to frame gender equality as a foreign imposition, threatening national sovereignty and traditional values. The paper demonstrates how these movements have evolved from religious opposition to strategic secularism, allowing them to broaden their appeal beyond reproductive rights to oppose diverse gender equality initiatives. The findings reveal coordinated transnational networks that simultaneously dismantle progressive policies domestically while strategically infiltrating international organizations to weaken human rights protections from within.