Prof. Gila Stopler

Full Professor of Law and former Dean of Law School, College of Law and Business, Israel; 23-24 Senior Emile Noel Fellow, Jean Monnet Center, NYU School of Law; Editor in Chief, Law and Ethics of Human Rights; Head of Human Rights Division and Head of Law and Society MA, College of Law and Business, Israel

Forthcoming Book

The book explores how right-wing populists and religious conservatives successfully exploit patriarchy to attack women’s rights in liberal democracies. It argues that this strategy’s effectiveness, as seen in the USA Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, is rooted in the patriarchal foundations of liberalism and liberal societies. Engaging with political theories such as feminism, liberalism, and populism, and examining concepts such as patriarchy, culture, religion, and the public–private distinction, the book uncovers the deep entrenchment of patriarchy in legal structures, social and cultural systems, and mainstream religions within liberal democracies. It analyzes global cases and legal frameworks, focusing on liberal democracies and especially the USA, demonstrating how patriarchy fuels right-wing populism, accelerates the erosion of women’s rights, and threatens the future of liberal democracy. The book provides three key insights: the fallibility of women’s rights in liberal democracies, the structural and theoretical links between this fallibility and the rise of right-wing populism, and the need for structural changes to weaken patriarchy and patriarchal religion, strengthen women’s rights, and combat the rise of illiberalism.

Gila Stopler, Women's Rights in Liberal States: Patriarchy, Liberalism, Religion and the Chimera of Rights (Cambridge University Press, July 2025)

Selected Academic Publications

Selected Blog Posts and other Media