FERBOPO ERA ChairAt the International Economic Conference of Sibiu (IECS) 2025, Professor Lavinia Stan, ERA Chair Holder for the FERBOPO project at Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (ULBS), delivered a keynote address titled “Women’s Disempowerment and Democratic Backsliding.”
Professor Stan’s lecture explored a critical and timely issue: the hastening attrition of democratic safeguards across the globe and its disproportionate impact on women’s rights and political agency.
Professor Lavinia Stan mentioned: “Democratic backsliding is happening in rich countries that previously appeared economically secure against an erosion of democratic safeguards. These findings echo previous reports which showed that the number of liberal democracies has decreased, whereas autocrats have taken control of some electoral democracies during the past 15 years.”
Her keynote address explored how executive aggrandizing, plebiscitary override, elite collusion, or autogolpe (self-coup) can weaken democracies. She argues that the consequences are particularly severe for women. From restrictions on abortion in Poland and the United States to Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, women have been disempowered by this recent democratic backsliding.
As part of the FERBOPO project’s mission to advance gender equality, Professor Stan’s participation at IECS 2025 offered a novel perspective on how global political trends are affecting women’s empowerment.
