Dr. Tajali’s research at RJI adopts a research justice framework to examine the tensions between women’s political agency and entrenched power structures. Focusing on women’s leadership in pro-democracy movements in various Muslim-majority contexts, it analyzes the gendered backlash they face in their organizing, rooted largely in a conservative gender ideology. This analysis foregrounds feminist resistance in some of the world’s most authoritarian contexts, while also underscoring a recurring political pattern: during moments of rupture—uprisings, transitions, or other crises—women’s demands are often sidelined institutionally, with long-term consequences for democracy, social justice, and equality. Drawing on research on grassroots struggles and feminist policy work in countries such as Iran and Bangladesh, this talk uses feminist institutionalism to show how pro-egalitarian actors are reimagining—and at times prefiguring through informal practices—the institutions needed to anchor gender justice, from constitutional blueprints to durable mechanisms for feminist policymaking.