Women's Platform for Action International

{{bronze}}{{gender}}
{{cquote|Did [[Freemason|Freemasonry]] have a role in the roots of the trans movement?|||A lecture by WoPAI board member Anna Kerr to [[Women's Declaration International|WDI]], WoPAI founding member (and [[SPLC]]-designated hate group)<ref name=WDIFeministLegalClinic/>}}
{{cquote|A reminder that, the world over, [[Transgender ideology|trans ideology]] has been a pernicious threat to women's safety and freedom. No woman should have to flee her home because she [[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|knows what a man is]]!|||An official statement of WoPAI<ref name=WoPAIA2025/>}}
'''Women's Platform for Action International''' (WoPAI) is a Sweden-based [[far-right]],<ref name=Crimaldi>{{cite news |last1=Crimaldi |first1=Elena |title=The fracturing of European feminism: How TERF ideology threatens decades of progress |url=https://feministeerium.ee/en/the-fracturing-of-european-feminism-how-terf-ideology-threatens-decades-of-progress/ |date=2 December 2025 |work=Feministeerium|quote=Sweden, previously highlighted as a pioneer of feminist and LGBTIQ rights policies, has seen the rise of TERF-aligned groups. The Swedish Women’s Lobby (SWL), established in 1997 as an umbrella organisation uniting 57 associations representing over 130,000 women and girls, now actively opposes the ‘pro-gender movement’. The SWL, which participated in the 2010 Krafttag mot våldtäkter campaign, this year launched the Women’s Platform for Action International, a far-right, anti-transgender association promoting “sex-based rights”.|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20251203093202/https://feministeerium.ee/en/the-fracturing-of-european-feminism-how-terf-ideology-threatens-decades-of-progress/|archivedate=2025-12-03}}</ref> [[Transphobia|anti-transgender]] hate group that serves as an international umbrella group for the [[TERF|TERF movement]] and that is part of the wider transnational [[anti-gender]] movement. Bringing together some of the world's main anti-trans groups, including [[SPLC]]-designated hate groups,<ref name=SPLC-Timeline/><ref name=SPLC-Network/> it describes itself as a promoter of "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]," an anti-trans [[Pseudolaw|pseudolegal]] concept, and campaigns against what it calls the "[[queer agenda]]," a "pro-gender movement" in academia and NGOs, and "non-legal and not agreed upon by the international community concepts of '[[gender identity]]'."<ref name=why/> It also calls trans people the "[[Transgender ideology|trans ideology]]."<ref name=WoPAIA2025>Women's Platform for Action International (2025): [https://x.com/WomensActionInt/status/1963150786193412532 "A reminder that, the world over, trans ideology has been a pernicious threat to women's safety and freedom. No woman should have to flee her home because she knows what a man is!"] ([https://archive.ph/cYtKa Archive.ph]; [https://bsky.app/profile/phindus.bsky.social/post/3lxwzrfoe2c2f Screenshot])</ref> WoPAI is an anti-trans extremist group that mimics the structure and rhetoric of real feminist institutions to undermine trans rights and propagate a reactionary, pseudofeminist vision of womanhood rooted in biological essentialism. Its activities, rhetoric and alliances place it firmly outside [[TERF#How feminists resist TERFs|the global consensus]] of real feminist and human rights movements. It has repeatedly [[#Twitter activity|identified itself]] as a [[TERF]] organization on Twitter.

WoPAI was founded in 2025 as the brainchild of the [[Swedish Women's Lobby]], an organization that is situated by scholars within the {{wpl|Anti-gender movement in Sweden|anti-gender landscape in Sweden}}.<ref name=Karlberg/> Mathias Wåg, a Swedish journalist who covers the far right, said that "it is important to highlight the role the Swedish Women's Lobby plays in international anti-trans organizing."<ref name=Wåg/> WoPAI is deeply embedded within a transnational [[far-right]] [[TERF#TERFs in the anti-gender movement|anti-trans ecosystem]], with member organizations that are closely aligned with [[Trump]]ist, [[alt-right]], and [[fascist]] movements. WoPAI uses [[Populism|populist]], [[Conspiracy theory|conspiratorial]] rhetoric to portray trans rights as a threat to women, fuel [[moral panic]] and resentment, and advance outdated, exclusionary [[Biological determinism|biologically essentialist]] ideas of womanhood. WoPAI distorts frameworks like CEDAW to oppose trans rights, mirroring a broader anti-gender tactic of mimicking feminist and human rights discourse to undermine progressive gender norms. It claims to put "women and girls first,"<ref name=womensplatformforaction/> in language notably reminiscent of [[MAGA]]-style populism. Its website also features other anti-trans slogans such as "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|adult human female]]," "[[TERF glossary#Gamete Size/Gamete Potential|large gametes]]" and "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|ordinary meaning]]."<ref name=court/> WoPAI is hostile to [[TERF#How feminists resist TERFs|mainstream feminist]] organizations, scholarship, and movements. It denounces "large civil society organizations that claim to be feminist," which it accuses of driving resistance to the [[anti-gender]] movement. It portrays these groups as controlled by "corporate and special interest lobby groups," and insists that "[[Left wing|left-labeled agendas]]" are being institutionalised and that "these actors have codified postmodern identity based ideologies (...). They claim that [[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|being a woman is a matter of opinion]] and search to [[TERF#Conspiracy theories, disinformation, and moral panics|eradicate women]] in [[TERF#Attacks on inclusive language|terminology and language]]. (...) They say that a floating gender replaces sex."<ref name=why/> WoPAI also amplifies content from [[Reduxx]], a far-right conspiracy website run by a white supremacist that focuses on demonizing trans people as "pedophiles."

Among WoPAI's founding members are far-right groups such as [[Women's Declaration International]] (WDI), an [[SPLC]]-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group<ref name=SPLC-Timeline/><ref name=SPLC-Network/> that has publicly endorsed [[Donald Trump]]'s anti-trans policies and claimed credit for influencing his administration's attacks on trans rights. WDI boasted about its influence on {{wpl|May Mailman}}, a far-right [[anti-abortion]] activist and Trump appointee who co-wrote Trump's executive order "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government" with [[Stephen Miller]].<ref name=Dansky/> WoPAI shares its secretary-general (Susannah Sjöberg), address,{{efn|name=Addr|According to Swedish official records, the address of Women's Platform for Action International is: "SVERIGES KVINNOORGANISATIONER [Swedish Women's Lobby], Karlbergsvägen 86 a, 113 35 Stockholm." See [https://www.allabolag.se/foretag/women%C2%B4s-platform-for-action-international/-/f%C3%B6reningar/3OQ67GBI63IGG Allabolag] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20250702210608/https://www.allabolag.se/foretag/women%C2%B4s-platform-for-action-international/-/f%C3%B6reningar/3OQ67GBI63IGG Internet Archive], [https://archive.ph/SDjdF Archive.ph]). This information is also published on WoPAI's "Who we are" page, which lists WoPAI's address as "Karlbergsvägen 86A, 3 tr, 113 35 Stockholm" (which is SWL's address). WoPAI's "Who we are" page also listed SWL's secretary-general Susannah Sjöberg as secretary-general of WoPAI and SWL's former chair Gertrud Åström as chair of WoPAI from its establishment. Archived versions of WoPAI's "Who we are" page: [https://web.archive.org/web/20250223085805/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/who-we-are/ Internet Archive], [https://archive.ph/eqHnf Archive.ph]. Their "Legal Notice" also lists WoPAI's address as "Karlbergsvägen 86A, 3 tr, 113 35 Stockholm" and its legal representatives and "responsible for editorial" content as Gertrud Åström, Anna Zobnina, Susannah Sjöberg. Archived versions of their "Legal Notice": [https://web.archive.org/web/20250704172258/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/legal-notice/ Internet Archive], [https://archive.ph/BMNXJ Archive.ph]. On their own [https://www.instagram.com/kvinnoorganisationerna/ Instagram account], SWL specifically said that "we [SWL] have launched the new global movement Women's Platform for Action International" [''Vi har lanserat den nya globala rörelsen Women's Platform for Action International'']. On their own website, SWL said they had "initiated" WoPAI ([https://web.archive.org/web/20250726015257/https://sverigeskvinnoorganisationer.se/om-sveriges-kvinnolobby/internationellt/ Internet Archive], [https://archive.ph/DVKvG Archive.ph]). Despite this well-documented relationship, and the fact that WoPAI was created by SWL to spread anti-trans ideology globally, representatives of SWL have, oddly, [https://bsky.app/profile/phindus.bsky.social/post/3lsy4dmv6u22e tried to deny the relationship].}} and infrastructure with the Swedish Women's Lobby, which has become a central hub for exporting anti-trans ideology internationally.

WoPAI also promotes {{wpl|Masonic conspiracy theories}} with [[Antisemitism|Anti-Semitic]] undertones. In 2025, WoPAI board member Anna Kerr gave a lecture to WDI, positing that trans people were invented by the [[Freemason|Freemasons]].<ref name=WDIFeministLegalClinic/> Prone to conspiracy theories involving "global elites," especially [[George Soros]], WoPAI also accuses "powerful foundations such as Gates, [[George Soros|Open Society]] and Ford" of orchestrating trans-inclusive feminist organizing and specifically of backing the hundreds of feminist groups that have criticized anti-trans activist [[Reem Alsalem]],<ref name=Launch/> and has enthusiastically supported Alsalem's demand that states "ensure that the terms 'women' and 'girls' are only used to describe biological females." WoPAI and SWL referred to trans women as "males who do not wish to be treated in law and practice as men" and opposed their inclusion in analyses of violence against women.<ref name=JointStatement/> WoPAI also [[#Twitter activity|derides]] {{wpl|UN Women}} as a "men's rights organization," and has [[#Twitter activity|mocked and misgendered]] trans women and gender-diverse people seeking help from domestic violence shelters.

In August 2025, SWL launched its second transnational anti-gender network, "[[MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls]]." Bearing an [[Orwellian]] name, the group shares the same core leadership, address, and membership as SWL and WoPAI, and campaigns for "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]." Created after research identified SWL as a key actor in Sweden's anti-gender campaigns, MOTERIS focuses on discrediting such scholarship while mimicking feminist and human rights language to advance reactionary aims and hostility to LGBTQ+ people. It reflects a wider trend where anti-gender and far-right groups invoke "[[free speech]]" and "civic space" to intimidate researchers and undermine feminist and queer scholarship. The EU-funded ''Report on Violence and Pathways to Violence in Anti-Gender Campaigns'' likewise identified several SWL member groups as part of Sweden's anti-gender landscape and noted that those "self-described 'gender-critical feminists'" engage in attacks against gender studies and scholars.<ref name=ReportViolence/> The network's propaganda uses children as visual props to reinforce anti-trans [[dogwhistle]]s such as "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]" and "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|talking about what a woman is]],"<ref name=insta>[https://www.instagram.com/reel/DP6NwSJCHAy/ MOTERIS Instagram post]</ref> an exploitative tactic common in anti-gender and far-right movements.

==Background==

<div style="background:#e6f2ff; border-left: 5px solid #3399cc; padding: 15px; margin: 10px 0; font-size: 95%; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.1); line-height: 1.6;"> <span style="font-weight:bold; font-size:110%;">🔍 Key takeaways</span> <ul style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 20px; margin: 10px 0;"> <li><b>[[TERF|TERF ideology]] is a form of organized transphobia and a key faction of the transnational anti-gender movement.</b> It is a type of pseudofeminism, falsely presenting itself as feminism while promoting far-right gender policing, anti-trans bigotry, and moral panic about gender diversity.</li> <li><b>The [[Swedish Women's Lobby]] radicalized into a global anti-trans force.</b> Once part of Sweden's gender equality infrastructure, SWL now collaborates with far-right networks and hate groups to amplify anti-trans rhetoric and attack trans rights in Sweden and internationally.</li></ul></div>

===TERF ideology and far-right convergence===
{{main|TERF}}
In the 2010s and 2020s, [[trans-exclusionary radical feminism]] (TERFism) evolved from a fringe current within [[second-wave feminism]] into a key faction of the transnational [[anti-gender]] movement, increasingly aligned with [[far-right]] politics. As mainstream feminism embraced [[intersectionality]] and trans inclusion, TERFs presented themselves as defenders of "real women," portraying trans rights as an elite-driven project imposed by institutions like universities, progressive NGOs, and international bodies. This [[Populism|populist]] rhetoric taps into broader [[Conspiracy theory|conspiratorial]] narratives common in far-right spaces, where self-proclaimed "grassroots" actors portray themselves as resisting a "corrupt," top-down establishment. Drawing from the [[TERF#How TERFs follow the far-right playbook|far-right playbook]], TERFs fuel [[moral panic]], [[scapegoat]] trans people as threats to women and children, and wrap anti-trans hostility in appeals to so-called "[[TERF#How TERFs follow the far-right playbook|common sense]]" and in a [[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|distorted imitation]] of feminist language. TERF campaigns target [[TERF#Attacks on healthcare access|healthcare]], [[TERF#Attacks on education|education]], legal recognition, and [[TERF#Attacks on inclusive language|inclusive language]], manufacturing panics over [[TERF#Bathroom panic|bathroom access]], [[TERF#Attacks on inclusive sports|sports participation]], and "women-only" spaces, and framing trans existence not as a human rights issue but as [[TERF#Trans people are not a debate|something to be debated]]. Their views stand in stark opposition to [[TERF#How feminists resist TERFs|the overwhelming consensus]] in mainstream feminist scholarship and organizing, which rejects trans-exclusionary ideology as regressive and harmful. In the 2020s scholars have increasingly described TERF ideology both as a pathway to broader [[TERF#Harassment, radicalization, and violent extremism|extremist worldviews]] and as a [[TERF#TERF ideology as a form of fascism|form of neofascism]], highlighting its fixation on social purity, scapegoating of a marginalized group, authoritarian populism, rejection of pluralism, and broader alignment with [[White nationalism|white nationalist]] and ultra-conservative movements.<ref>{{cite journal
 |editor-last1=Bassi
 |editor-first1=Serena
 |editor-last2=LaFleur
 |editor-first2=Greta
 |title=Trans-Exclusionary Feminisms and the Global New Right
 |journal=Transgender Studies Quarterly
 |volume=9
 |issue=3
 |date=2022
 |type=Special issue
 |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/tsq/issue/9/3
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
 |editor-last1=Cabral Grinspan
 |editor-first1=Mauro
 |editor-last2=Eloit
 |editor-first2=Ilana
 |editor-last3=Paternotte
 |editor-first3=David
 |editor-last4=Verloo
 |editor-first4=Mieke
 |title=Varieties of TERFness
 |journal=Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies
 |volume=10
 |issue=2
 |date=2023
 |type=Special issue
 |url=https://www.digest.ugent.be/issue/25700/info/
}}</ref>

===The anti-trans radicalization of the Swedish Women's Lobby===
{{main|Swedish Women's Lobby}}
{{cquote|Sweden, previously highlighted as a pioneer of feminist and LGBTIQ rights policies, has seen the rise of TERF-aligned groups. The Swedish Women’s Lobby (SWL), established in 1997 as an umbrella organisation uniting 57 associations representing over 130,000 women and girls, now actively opposes the "pro-gender movement." The SWL [...] this year launched the Women's Platform for Action International, a [[far-right]], anti-transgender association promoting "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]."|||Elena Crimaldi, 2025<ref name=Crimaldi/>}}

By the late 2010s, feminists and gender studies scholars in Sweden, a country long regarded as a global leader on gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights, had begun to raise alarm over the [[Swedish Women's Lobby]]'s (SWL) shift toward trans-exclusionary ideology.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ortiz |first1=Joel Mauricio Isabel |title=Hur ska vi förstå transfobin? |url=https://www.ottar.se/hur-ska-vi-f-rst-transfobin/ |work=Ottar |date=9 June 2019}}</ref> Just a few years earlier, in 2015, SWL had publicly positioned itself against [[transphobia]], but this stance soon gave way to a pattern of trans-exclusionary arguments and advocacy. In 2018, thirteen Swedish gender studies scholars criticized the organization's trans-hostile stance, its promotion of misinformation about gender recognition reforms, its reliance on outdated and binary understandings of gender, and its dismissal of trans people's rights and lived realities. They called on the organization to adopt a more informed and solidaristic approach grounded in up-to-date research and trans-inclusive feminism.<ref name=Schmitt>Schmitt, Irina; Bremer, Signe; Nord, Iwo; Holmqvist, Sam; Alm, Erika; Linander, Ida; Wurm, Matilda; Lundberg, Tove; Lindqvist, Anna; Wagner, Anthony; Bäck, Emma; Olovsdotter Lööv, Anna; Rydström, Jens (9 June 2018). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20250601162545/https://feministisktperspektiv.se/2018/06/09/vi-kan-battre-sa-kvinnolobbyn/ Vi kan bättre än så, Kvinnolobbyn!]". ''Feministiskt Perspektiv''.</ref>

In 2019, SWL was publicly condemned for its transphobic views by the {{wpl|National Council of Swedish Children and Youth Organisations}}, a major civil society body representing the majority of the country's children's and youth groups.<ref name=lsu>{{Cite web|url=https://lsu.se/nyhet/oppet-brev-till-sveriges-kvinnolobby/|title=Öppet brev till Sveriges Kvinnolobby|first=Joakim|last=Lindgren|date=8 April 2019|publisher=National Council of Swedish Children and Youth Organisations}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lsu.se/nyhet/fragor-om-vart-oppna-brev-till-sveriges-kvinnolobby/|title=Förtydliganden om vårt öppna brev till Sveriges Kvinnolobby|first=Emelie|last=Nilsson|date=13 April 2019|publisher=National Council of Swedish Children and Youth Organisations}}</ref> In 2020, gender studies scholars Alm and Engebretsen observed SWL's promotion of "gender-critical" arguments, situating this within a wider pattern and noting that "a key issue in the current political and scholarly landscape is the growing convergence, and sometimes conscious alliances, between 'gender-critical' feminists (sometimes known as TERFs – Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists), religious and social conservatives, as well as right-wing politics and even [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] and [[Fascist|fascist]] movements."<ref>{{cite journal
 |last1=Alm
 |first1=E.
 |last2=Engebretsen
 |first2=E. L.
 |title=Gender Self-identification
 |journal=Lambda Nordica
 |volume=25
 |issue=1
 |pages=48–56
 |year=2020
 |doi=10.34041/ln.v25.613
 |url=https://doi.org/10.34041/ln.v25.613
}}</ref> In 2020, the Swedish magazine ''Ottar'' published an exposé on what it described as an "unholy alliance" of right-wing Christians and radical feminists working to undermine trans rights. The article reported that in 2018, the Swedish Women's Lobby invited the anti-trans group Genid to an internal training session, and it identified 2020 as the point when organized anti-trans mobilization gained momentum in Sweden.<ref>{{cite news |title=Antitrans-allians |url=https://www.ottar.se/antitrans-allians/ |date=2020-06-11 |work=Ottar}}</ref> In a talk to [[Women's Declaration International]] (WDI) in 2020, WDI's Swedish country contact Fanny Knyphausen said WDI and the Swedish Women's Lobby were the main organizations opposing gender self-determination in Sweden, and that "the Swedish Women's Lobby had a really big loss of organizations" that left the organization as a result of its anti-trans policies.<ref>{{cite web |title=Who opposes gender identity politics in Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Sweden? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SblCQ605Jw|publisher=Women's Declaration International |date=14 July 2020}}</ref> Amid growing criticism of SWL for its anti-trans stance, 943 priests and other employees of the {{wpl|Church of Sweden}} in 2021 condemned "trans-exclusionary feminism [that] uses rhetoric we recognize from radical right-wing Christian groups and right-wing populists." They added: "We mourn a rights movement that punches down. You, me, we, all of us, need a broad, solidarity-based feminism that fights restrictive gender norms."<ref>{{cite web
 |author=943 Church of Sweden employees
 |title=Personligt brev till dig som är trans
 |trans-title=A personal letter to you who are transgender
 |url=https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/vasterasstift/personligt-brev-till-dig-som-ar-trans
 |publisher=Church of Sweden
 |date=2021
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519133707/https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/vasterasstift/personligt-brev-till-dig-som-ar-trans
 |archive-date=2021-05-19
}}</ref> Sofia Magnusson and Emmeli Nybom argued that the trans-exclusionary position adopted by SWL reflects a broader ideological shift within segments of Swedish feminism, a shift they linked to the influence of international anti-trans campaigns and rhetoric promoted by right-wing actors and high-profile anti-trans activists such as [[J.K. Rowling]].<ref>[https://www.dagensarena.se/opinion/vi-oroas-over-s-kvinnors-transexkluderande-feminism/ Vi oroas över S-kvinnors transexkluderande feminism]</ref> This shift aligns with what Claire House has identified as a broader international trend beginning in the mid-2010s, where (radical) feminist actors increasingly participate in anti-gender and regressive politics, often with particularly harmful consequences for trans rights, a trend she illustrates, in part, by referencing Alm and Engebretsen's discussion of developments in Sweden.<ref>House, C. C., (2023) "[https://www.digest.ugent.be/article/id/85755/ 'I'm Real, Not You': Roles and Discourses of Trans Exclusionary Women's and Feminist Movements in Anti-gender and Right-wing Populist Politics]", ''DiGeSt: Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies'', Special Issue: ''Varieties of TERFness'', 10(2), 14-32. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/digest.85755</ref>

In the years that followed, SWL doubled down on anti-trans politics both domestically and internationally, becoming one of the most influential hubs of anti-transgender activism, while increasingly positioning itself in opposition to the left. {{wpl|Daniel Poohl}}, publisher of Swedish anti-racist magazine ''{{wpl|Expo (magazine)|Expo}}'', pointed out that "radical feminists, right-wing Christians, conspiracy theorists, and far-right extremists have found each other in an unholy alliance that has made transgender people the new target of the far right's hatred,"<ref>{{cite news |last1=Poohl |first1=Daniel|author-link= Daniel Poohl |title=Transpersoner – extremhögerns nya hatobjekt |url=https://expo.se/analys/analys-transpersoner-extremhogerns-nya-hatobjekt/|work=Expo}}</ref> while Mathias Wåg, a Swedish journalist who covers the far right, said that "it is important to highlight the role the Swedish Women's Lobby plays in international anti-trans organizing."<ref name=Wåg>Mathias Wåg (2025): [https://bsky.app/profile/guldfiske.bsky.social/post/3m22kfvrqqk2v Viktigt lyfta fram Sveriges kvinnoorganisationers (SKO) roll för den internationella antitransorganiseringen]</ref> In 2024, SWL accused "progressive parties and movements" of working against women.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.svd.se/a/yE3dQe/kvinnoorganisationer-vi-efterlyser-politiker-som-star-upp-for-kvinnors-rattigheter|title=Vilka står upp för kvinnors rättigheter?|work=Svenska Dagbladet|date=18 May 2024}}</ref> Gender studies scholars Michal Grahn and Malin Holm observed that SWL's claims—that the Gender Recognition Act would endanger "women's rights" and allow "men" to access "women-only spaces"—closely mirror the "threat to women" narratives commonly employed in anti-trans rhetoric across other national contexts.<ref name=Grahn>Grahn, M., & Holm, M. (2025). Trans inclusive no more? Allies and adversaries of gender self-identification in Sweden. ''European Journal of Politics and Gender'', 8(1), 234–241. https://doi.org/10.1332/25151088Y2024D000000052</ref> Karlberg, Korolczuk, and Sältenberg situate SWL within the broader landscape of anti-gender politics in Sweden, arguing that the rise of gender-critical and anti-trans rhetoric, including that promoted by SWL, is part of a wider process of "insidious {{wpl|Democratic backsliding|de-democratization}}," which they describe as a set of discourses and practices that erode liberal democracy by marginalizing already vulnerable groups.<ref name=Karlberg>{{cite journal
 |last1=Karlberg
 |first1=E.
 |last2=Korolczuk
 |first2=E.
 |last3=Sältenberg
 |first3=H.
 |title=Insidious de-democratization: Conceptualizing anti-gender politics in Sweden
 |journal=Journal of Gender Studies
 |volume=34
 |issue=1
 |year=2025
 |doi=10.1080/09589236.2024.2446345
 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2024.2446345
}}</ref>

Since the 2020s, SWL has worked with far-right groups like [[Women's Declaration International]] (WDI), an [[SPLC]]-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group<ref name=SPLC-Timeline/><ref name=SPLC-Network/> that is described by established feminist organizations as "an extreme anti-trans group."<ref name=awid2>"[https://awid.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/Final%20EN%20Web%20-%20Gender%20Ideology%20Brief%20-%20July%202022.pdf 'Gender ideology' narratives: A threat to human rights]". {{wpl|Association for Women's Rights in Development}}. 2022. [https://web.archive.org/web/20230203233735/https://awid.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/Final%20EN%20Web%20-%20Gender%20Ideology%20Brief%20-%20July%202022.pdf Archived] (PDF) from the original on 3 February 2023.</ref> In 2024 Edward Summanen, a trans health expert and writer, criticized SWL for legitimizing transphobia by accepting extremist member groups like XXantippas Vrede (WDI). He warned that their tactics, such as misgendering and public shaming, amount to harassment in the name of feminism and pose a threat to democracy by silencing trans people.<ref>{{cite web
 |last=Summanen
 |first=Edward
 |title=Var går gränsen för trakasserier i feminismens namn?
 |url=https://www.qx.se/samhalle/opinion/261203/var-gar-gransen-for-trakasserier-i-feminismens-namn/
 |website=QX
 |date=2024-03-08
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250613181230/https://www.qx.se/samhalle/opinion/261203/var-gar-gransen-for-trakasserier-i-feminismens-namn/
 |archive-date=2025-06-13
 |quote=Vilken feminism välkomnas av Sveriges Kvinnoorganisationer? Om feministiska föreningar som kränker och hånar transpersoner.
}}</ref>

Anti-trans activist Dianna Kenny lists the Swedish Women's Lobby as a group opposing trans healthcare alongside [[Moms for Liberty]], {{w|Gays Against Groomers||,}} [[LGB Alliance]], [[Genspect]], Sex Matters, Transgender Trend, WDI, and other well-known anti-trans hate groups.<ref>Dianna Kenny (2024), [https://books.google.com/books?id=V3QzEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA295 Gender Ideology, Social Contagion, and the Making of a Transgender Generation], Appendix B</ref>

Together with WDI and other anti-trans actors, SWL co-founded Women's Platform for Action International (WoPAI) in 2025 as an international umbrella organization for the TERF movement to oppose the "[[queer agenda]]."<ref name=why/> From the onset WoPAI shared its secretary-general (Susannah Sjöberg), infrastructure and office at Karlbergsvägen 86A in Stockholm with SWL. Additionally, WoPAI's inaugural chair was former SWL president Gertrud Åström, highlighting how WoPAI is a project created by SWL.<ref name=whowe/> SWL is now a key player in the global spread of anti-trans ideology.

The ''Report on Violence and Pathways to Violence in Anti-Gender Campaigns'', published by the European Commission, discussed several of SWL's member organizations as part of an [[anti-gender]] landscape in Sweden, noting that Sweden has seen "a gradual rise in anti-gender discourses between 2015 and 2023," and that also "self-described 'gender-critical feminists'" such as WDI and Women's Rights Watch challenge feminist expertise and engage in attacks on gender studies and scholars.<ref name=ReportViolence>{{cite web |title=Report on violence and pathways to violence in anti-gender campaigns |url=https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101061256/results |publisher=European Commission |date=2024}}</ref> In 2025, feminist lawyer Hanna Gunnarsson wrote in ''Feministiskt Perspektiv'' that SWL's trans-exclusionary rhetoric echoed "the right-wing movement that is currently driving a global offensive against trans people's rights" and asked whether all of SWL's member organizations supported SWL's "transphobic line."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gunnarsson |first1=Hanna |title=Sveriges Kvinnoorganisationer visar sitt sanna ansikte |url=https://fempers.se/2025/11/sveriges-kvinnoorganisationer-visar-sitt-sanna-ansikte/ |access-date=26 September 2025 |work=Feministiskt Perspektiv |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250318231455/https://fempers.se/2025/11/sveriges-kvinnoorganisationer-visar-sitt-sanna-ansikte/ |archive-date=2025-03-18}}</ref> Jon Voss argued in Swedish LGBT+ magazine ''QX'' in 2023 that "the [[Sweden Democrats]] and the Swedish Women's Lobby sound frighteningly similar to [[Vladimir Putin|Putin]], [[Viktor Orbán|Orbán]], [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan|Erdoğan]], [[Donald Trump|Trump]], and [[Ron DeSantis|DeSantis]] in their ways of arguing by belittling transgender people."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Voss |first1=Jon |title=Upprörande smutskastning av transpersoner |url=https://www.qx.se/samhalle/opinion/245698/qx-ledarstick-upprorande-smutskastning-av-transpersoner/ |date=2023-04-06 |work=QX}}</ref>

==Opposing the "queer agenda"==
<div style="background:#e6f2ff; border-left: 5px solid #3399cc; padding: 15px; margin: 10px 0; font-size: 95%; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.1); line-height: 1.6;"> <span style="font-weight:bold; font-size:110%;">🔍 Key takeaways</span> <ul style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 20px; margin: 10px 0;"> <li><b>WoPAI pushes anti-trans politics under a fake feminist banner.</b> It attacks gender diversity, inclusive feminism, and human rights groups by framing them as part of a "queer agenda" imposed by elites, while promoting pseudolegal slogans like "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]" to justify stripping trans people of recognition and protection.</li> <li><b>Its messaging is built on conspiracy thinking and far-right alignment.</b> WoPAI portrays feminist and LGBTQ+ organizations as corrupt puppets of "globalist" funders, echoes anti-UN rhetoric, and claims that gender-inclusive policies are a plot to "[[TERF#"Erasure of women" conspiracy theory|erase women]]."</li> <li><b>WoPAI works closely with hate groups and authoritarian actors.</b> Founding members include SPLC-designated hate group [[Women's Declaration International|WDI]], which supports [[Trump]]. WoPAI's network overlaps with Christian nationalists, anti-abortion extremists, and groups linked to fascist movements.</li> <li><b>It mimics international institutions to gain fake legitimacy.</b> WoPAI copies the language and formatting of UN bodies while attacking them, using this strategy to launder anti-trans propaganda into policy spaces and undermine actual human rights frameworks.</li> <li><b>WoPAI targets trans-inclusive spaces with intimidation tactics.</b> From backing [[Reem Alsalem]]'s anti-trans agenda to trying to pressure UN Women into censoring inclusive events, WoPAI aims to silence feminist organizing that supports trans people.</li></ul></div>

{{cquote|The UK Supreme Court [[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|knows what a woman is]]|||Women's Platform for Action International<ref name=court/>}}

WoPAI was launched in 2025 to promote "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]"<ref name=why/>—a [[Pseudolaw|pseudolegal]] slogan TERFs weaponize against the legal recognition of trans people—and to put "women and girls first."<ref name=womensplatformforaction>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250221093209/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/ Women's Platform for Action International]</ref> It rejects what it calls "non-legal and not agreed upon by the international community concepts of '[[gender identity]].'" It positions itself against what it calls the "pro-gender movement" in academia and NGOs, and opposes "[[Queer agenda|queer]], [[postmodern]], or [[neoliberal]] agendas of [[liberal]] and [[leftist]] origin." It condemns what it calls "large civil society organizations that claim to be feminist," which it accuses of driving resistance to the [[anti-gender]] movement. It portrays these groups as illegitimate, claiming they lack grassroots support and are controlled by "corporate and special interest lobby groups." WoPAI further claims that "the very concept of sex is being [[TERF#Attacks on inclusive language|annihilated in language]] and legislation, and women as a legal class of right holders are being erased." Despite claiming to be politically neutral, WoPAI's rhetoric obsessively targets the left: progressive feminist NGOs, academic institutions, and international [[human rights]] groups that support trans people. It claims that "neoliberal, relativist, left-labeled agendas" are being institutionalised and that "these actors have codified postmodern identity based ideologies and theories which harm women's rights. They claim that being a woman is a matter of opinion and search to eradicate women in terminology and language. (...) They say that a floating gender replaces sex."<ref name=why>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250219090601/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/why-wopai-is-needed/ Why Wopai is needed] ([https://archive.ph/qqxVL archived])</ref>

WoPAI's rhetoric reflects a broader [[Conspiracy theory|conspiratorial]] narrative common in anti-gender discourse, which treats established feminist and human rights institutions as corrupt or co-opted enemies of "real" women. WoPAI repeats the standard talking points of the broader anti-gender movement, blaming social change on shadowy elites, presenting trans rights as a threat to women, and portraying gender diversity as a dangerous "gender ideology." A central part of this narrative is the baseless claim that [[TERF#Attacks on inclusive language|inclusive language]] and the recognition of gender diversity "erase" women from law or society. This is often packaged in pseudolegal slogans like "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]." WoPAI's actual agenda mirrors that of the [[far-right]]: dismantling legal protections for trans people and pushing an exclusionary, biologically essentialist definition of womanhood.

[[File:Official Presidential Portrait of President Donald J. Trump (2025) (3x4 close cropped).jpg|thumb|right|180px|Some of WoPAI's founding members, like [[Women's Declaration International]] (WDI), are enthusiastic supporters of [[Donald Trump]] and even claimed credit for influencing his first anti-trans executive order, written by [[Stephen Miller]].<ref name="Dansky" />]]
WoPAI's founding members include [[Women's Declaration International]] (WDI), a far-right, anti-trans organization designated as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the [[SPLC]],<ref name=SPLC-Timeline>{{cite web
 |title=Timeline: Building a Pseudoscience Network
 |url=https://www.splcenter.org/captain/timeline-building-pseudoscience-network
 |website=Combating Anti-LGBTQ+ Pseudoscience
 |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center
 |date=2023
}}</ref><ref name=SPLC-Network>{{cite web
 |title=Group dynamics and division of labor within the anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience network
 |url=https://www.splcenter.org/captain/defining-pseudoscience-network
 |website=Combating Anti-LGBTQ+ Pseudoscience
 |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center
 |date=2023
 |quote=Table 5.2: Networked Groups by Typology [...] Narrative Manipulation: [...] Women's Declaration International}}</ref> and closely associated with [[Trumpism|Trumpist]], [[alt-right]], and [[Fascism|fascist]] politics. WDI has publicly endorsed [[Donald Trump]]'s anti-trans policies and claimed credit for influencing his administration's attacks on trans rights. WDI USA president Kara Dansky boasted about WDI's influence on {{wpl|May Mailman}}, a far-right [[anti-abortion]] activist and Trump appointee who co-wrote Trump's executive order "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government" with [[Stephen Miller]].<ref name=Dansky>Kara Dansky: [https://karadansky.substack.com/p/ffs-friday-may-mailman FFS Friday: May Mailman]</ref> WDI appears to have heavily influenced WoPAI, especially in its strategy of mimicking official UN-style language and frameworks to create a false sense of legitimacy. Both groups use superficially feminist terminology to frame their anti-trans activism and present themselves as authoritative global actors despite lacking institutional recognition. One of WoPAI's two initiators, the Brussels-based TERF group [[European Network of Migrant Women]],<ref>[https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/we-are-launching-wopai/ We are launching Wopai]</ref> is also listed as a supporting organization of WDI.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250412054018/https://www.womensdeclaration.com/en/organizations/ Supporting organizations]</ref> WDI's Swedish arm, XXantippas Vrede, is also a member of the Swedish Women's Lobby, underscoring the close alignment within anti-trans networks.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250210234619/https://sverigeskvinnoorganisationer.se/medlemsorganisationer-2/ Medlemsorganisationer]</ref>

As WoPAI was being launched, WoPAI's and SWL's secretary-general Susannah Sjöberg appeared in a video with Sharon Byrne, the head of the far-right anti-trans astroturf group [[Women's Liberation Front]], known for its ties to anti-abortion extremist, evangelical Christian hate group [[Focus on the Family]]. According to Byrne, they talked about how "her team at the Swedish Women's Lobby had worked to kill" the gender recognition act in Sweden, and how she loved meeting "TERFs in the wild."<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIG5Y8-BEYk Sharon Byrne, WoLF, USA, Report from the Commission on the Status of Women Beijing]</ref><ref>[https://bsky.app/profile/phindus.bsky.social/post/3lmk452kewc2a Äntligen har WDI släppt en video om CSW69 via Sharon Byrne från Women's Liberation Front (WoLF). Hon berättar att hon mötte SKOs generalsekreterare och ska ha pratat om "trans-lagen" och hur SKO hade "worked to kill it" och hur kul det är att träffa "TERFs in the wild".]</ref>

WoPAI's first public act was a declaration of support<ref>[https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf5H6nWKjJd34n7zdtE9bn0syTIcfpqKxw1BH1bSz63KN-QMg/viewform CALL FOR A GLOBAL ACTION OF SUPPORT FOR UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, Ms Reem Alsalem]</ref> for [[Reem Alsalem]], a prominent anti-trans voice and supporter of WDI.<ref name=Report>{{cite web|url=https://allornone.world/2023/05/26/rights-for-me-not-for-thee-how-anti-trans-feminists-took-their-advocacy-to-the-united-nations/|title=Rights For Me, Not For Thee: How Anti-Trans Feminists Took Their Advocacy to the United Nations|quote=While their past attempts had failed, WDI and their supporters saw their biggest success in late 2022: getting the ear of Reem Alsalem}}</ref> The statement was framed as a counter-declaration to a 2025 open letter signed by over 230 women's rights organizations, including [[Planned Parenthood]] and Women Deliver, which condemned Alsalem's record of transphobia. This includes her appearances at anti-trans events hosted by [[Alliance Defending Freedom]], an [[SPLC]]-designated far-right, anti-LGBT+ hate group.<ref>[https://womendeliver.org/press/joint-statement-concerning-the-call-for-input-by-the-special-rapporteur-on-violence-against-women-and-girls/ Joint Statement Concerning the Call for Input by the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls]</ref> WoPAI claimed the criticism of Alsalem for her anti-trans views was a "campaign [...] supported by powerful foundations such as Gates, [[George Soros|Open Society]] and Ford."<ref name=Launch>{{cite web |title=Launch of WoPAI |url=https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/press-release-launch-of-wopai/ |publisher=Women's Platform for Action International |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250308010254/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/press-release-launch-of-wopai/ |archive-date=2025-03-08}}</ref>

In June 2025 Tanja Olsson-Blandy, a board member of both SWL and WoPAI, supported<ref>[https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/wopai-intervenes-at-human-rights-council-session/ WoPAI Intervenes at Human Rights Council Session] ([https://archive.ph/1QaYe Archive.ph])</ref><ref>[https://bsky.app/profile/phindus.bsky.social/post/3lst5y4lank2r WoPAIs (och SKO-medlemmen Östersjöfreds) Tanja Olsson-Blandy backade upp Reem Alsalems presentation, om bl a art kön enbart får ses som biologiskt och från födseln, på FNs Human Rights Council.]</ref> Alsalem's report "Sex-based violence against women and girls", that called for a ban on legal and social gender transition for children and that called on states to "ensure that the terms 'women' and 'girls' are only used to describe biological females and that such a meaning is recognised in law," while insisting trans women are "males." The report also promoted the "[[TERF#"Erasure of women" conspiracy theory|erasure of women]]" conspiracy theory.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Alsalem |first1=Reem |title=Sex-based violence against women and girls |url=https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session59/advance-version/a-hrc-59-47-aev.pdf |date=2025}}</ref> Alsalem was praised by [[Alliance Defending Freedom]] for resisting "[[gender ideology]]".<ref>{{cite news |title=UN reports calls on governments to prohibit ‘gender transition’ for children |url=https://thecatholicherald.com/un-reports-calls-on-governments-to-prohibit-gender-transition-for-children/ |date=2025 |work=The Catholic Herald}}</ref> In July 2025, WoPAI together with SWL and the European Network of Migrant Women, also issued a joint statement in support of Alsalem and this report. They referred to trans women as "males who do not wish to be treated in law and practice as men," opposed their inclusion in analyses of violence against women, accused states and UN agencies of "redefining [women] out of legal existence," called women a "[[TERF#The roots of TERF ideology|sex class]]," and denounced "exclusion, harassment, and professional retaliation" faced by those "who advocate for [...] [[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]," whom they said are met with "institutional power and public vilification."<ref name=JointStatement>{{cite web |title=Joint Statement in Support of Reem Alsalem’s Renewed Mandate |url=https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/joint-statement-in-support-of-reem-alsalems-renewed-mandate/ |publisher= Women's Platform for Action International |date=8 July 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250708134746/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/joint-statement-in-support-of-reem-alsalems-renewed-mandate/|archive-date=8 July 2025}}</ref> 

WoPAI has endorsed the escalating rollback of transgender rights in the United Kingdom, applauding a court ruling that defines women exclusively as "biological" women. In a statement echoing established anti-trans rhetoric, the group declared that "the UK Supreme Court [[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|knows what a woman is]]" and called on other countries to adopt comparable positions.<ref name=court>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250417123443/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/the-uk-supreme-court-knows-what-a-woman-is-now-the-rest-of-the-world-must-follow/ The UK Supreme court knows what a woman is – now the rest of the world must follow], Women's Platform for Action International (WoPAI)</ref>

In June 2025 activists noticed that WoPAI had removed any mention of SWL's secretary-general Susannah Sjöberg also being WoPAI's secretary-general.<ref>[https://bsky.app/profile/phindus.bsky.social/post/3lrnm35u3gs2w Av oklar anledning har WOPAIS hemsida tagit bort vem deras generalsekreterare är (samma som SKO har)]</ref> By August 2025, Susannah Sjöberg was still signing letters as secretary-general of WoPAI, calling for the exclusion of trans women from women's groups in Australia, of all places. This highlighted the deceptive tactics of SWL, which, while continuing to share the same secretary-general with WoPAI, attempted to obscure the connection by removing her name from WoPAI's website, likely in an effort to downplay their association with WoPAI's extreme anti-trans agenda to the Swedish audience, while WoPAI persisted in its global far-right, anti-trans crusade.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250803165758/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Australia.pdf WoPAI letter by Susannah Sjöberg], August 2025 ([https://archive.ph/8oShf Archive.ph])</ref>

In July 2025, WoPAI sent a letter to UN Women—an organization [[#Twitter activity|they had mocked]] as a "men's rights organization" only days earlier—complaining that an independently organized feminist forum taking place during an upcoming UN conference stated that inclusive feminists were welcome to participate, and specifically that participants in their forum were required to be inclusive of transgender people. WoPAI demanded that UN Women, "as funders or sponsors of the feminist forum space," force the forum to remove the inclusiveness requirement — an attempt at intimidating, censoring, silencing, or cancelling the event for being trans-inclusive.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250709135100/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Letter-to-UN-Women-and-CEPAL_English.pdf WoPAI letter], July 2025</ref>

Observing the launch of Women's Platform for Action International in 2025, Andrea Cornwall discusses the launch as dedicated to promoting "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]" and as part of a broader anti-gender discourse coalition. She notes that self-described grassroots women's liberation movement activists find common cause with Christian anti-abortion activists in fighting "gender", stating that one activist at the WoPAI launch told her that it "was the power of shared anti-gender antipathy that enabled her to organise across political faultlines that might have sundered potential alliances in any other context."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cornwall |first1=Andrea |title=Troubling gender in international development |journal=Third World Quarterly|date=2026 |doi=10.1080/01436597.2025.2600552}}</ref>

==Member organizations==
The founding member organizations are a who's who of TERFism and include [[Women's Declaration International]] (an [[SPLC]]-designated hate group, that openly supports [[Donald Trump]]), [[FiLiA]], For Women Scotland, LAZ reloaded e.V., Feminist Legal Clinic, and other well-known TERF groups, in addition to the initiators, the [[Swedish Women's Lobby]] and the [[European Network of Migrant Women]].<ref name=whowe>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250223085805/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/who-we-are/ Who we are] (2025-02-23)</ref>

;Meet the members
One of WoPAI's board members is Anna Kerr,<ref name=whowe/> an ardent promoter of {{wpl|Masonic conspiracy theories}} with [[Antisemitism|Anti-Semitic]] undertones. Shortly after WoPAI was established, Kerr gave a lecture to WoPAI's founding member organization (and [[SPLC]]-designated hate group) [[Women's Declaration International|WDI]] on how trans people were invented by the Freemasons.<ref name=WDIFeministLegalClinic>Anna Kerr (board member, Women's Platform for Action International): "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foi7fFKx-kI Did Freemasonry have a role in the roots of the trans movement?]." Published by [[Women's Declaration International]] (WDI). ([https://archive.ph/0XRY9 Archived version of description])</ref>

Another WoPAI board member is Susan Smith, a co-author of the transphobic book ''The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht'', a co-director of British TERF group For Women Scotland and an active collaborator with [[J.K. Rowling]] on her transphobic projects.<ref>[https://liberalvoiceforwomen.telltix.com/events/liberalvoiceforwomen/1724107 The Supreme Court ruling: What does it mean for women?]</ref>

Other people listed on the board page include their inaugural chair Gertrud Åström and their inaugural secretary-general Susannah Sjöberg,<ref name=whowe/> and Tanja Olsson-Blandy,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250709174859/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/who-we-are/ Who we are] (2025-07-09)</ref> all representing the Swedish Women's Lobby. One board member, Blessing Okoedion, is frequently mentioned on Vatican-aligned conservative websites, and even accepted an award from the [[Trump]] administration, which was personally handed out by Ivanka Trump.

==Twitter activity==
[[Elon Musk]] has become a hero to TERFs, so it was hardly surprising when WoPAI, in July 2025, eagerly joined [[Twitter|his far-right platform]] – even as virtually everyone except neo-Nazis, trolls, and transphobes has abandoned the platform – and expressed their excitement about being on "X". They quickly drew attention as the latest anti-trans group to post transphobic "sex realist" content and complain about how TERFs are supposedly being "silenced." The account retweets well-known anti-trans hate groups such as [[Women's Declaration International|WDI]] and "[[Posie Parker|Let Women Speak]]," and exclusively follows anti-trans activists and groups, including many [[SPLC]]-designated hate groups, such as WDI, [[Genspect]], and [[SEGM]], and [[Reduxx]], a far-right anti-transgender hate website run by a white supremacist that is described by SPLC as "nothing but rabid transphobia."<ref name=splcenter>{{Cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2023/04/18/male-supremacy-core-hard-rights-agenda|title=Male Supremacy Is at the Core of the Hard Right's Agenda|last=Miller|first=Cassie|date=April 18, 2023|publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]]}}</ref>

Examples:
*WoPAI tweets in September 2025: "A reminder that, the world over, [[Transgender ideology|trans ideology]] has been a pernicious threat to women's safety and freedom. No woman should have to flee her home because she [[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|knows what a man is]]!"<ref name=WoPAIA2025/>
*WoPAI claims transgender healthcare is an "industry" that harms women, tweeting: "Prostitution, Pornography, Surrogacy, Sex-Reassignment are industries that discriminate based on our sex. They promote stereotypes that systematically disadvantage women, reinforcing power imbalances that favour men." They bizarrely connect this transphobic and conspiratorial statement to 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence and the CEDAW.<ref>[https://bsky.app/profile/phindus.bsky.social/post/3m6rouxzt2c2q On tweet]</ref><ref>[https://x.com/WomensActionInt/status/1994356114163368069/photo/1 Tweet]</ref>
*WoPAI retweets a post by Initiative Lasst Frauen Sprechen! [Let Women Speak], a German [[far-right]] anti-trans group aligned with [[Posie Parker]]'s "Let Women Speak" campaign, that derides {{wpl|UN Women}} as a "men's rights organization."<ref>[https://archive.ph/8spCf Initiative Lasst Frauen Sprechen!]</ref>
*WoPAI is mocking [[Amnesty International|Amnesty]], calling it an "anti-women org," a conspiratorial narrative pushed by TERF groups<ref>WoPai: [https://x.com/WomensActionInt/status/1961395348351353318 Not surprised to see anti-women orgs like @amnesty supporting this from @WomenDeliver], Aug 29, 2025</ref>
*WoPAI retweets posts by far-right website [[Reduxx]] and anti-trans activist [[Reem Alsalem]]<ref>[https://x.com/UNSRVAW/status/1953495090577670550 Posts by Reduxx and Reem Alsalem]</ref> promoting conspiracy-laden narratives that frame pushback against TERFs' harassment of trans people as "persecution" for exercising a supposed "right" to misgender. This fixation on misgendering as a protected entitlement is a recurring trope in anti-trans circles, used to recast consequences for targeted harassment as censorship or victimization.
*WoPAI celebrates a report by anti-trans activist [[Reem Alsalem]] that calls on states to "ensure that the terms 'women' and 'girls' are only used to describe biological females" and calls for a ban on legal and social gender transition for children<ref>[https://archive.ph/g6qL9 WoPAI celebrates a report by anti-trans activist Reem Alsalem that calls on states to "ensure that the terms 'women' and 'girls' are only used to describe biological females"]</ref>
*WoPAI retweets a post promoting anti-trans activist Alice Sullivan's attacks on universities for "selling out gender critics" and allegedly silencing transphobes<ref>[https://archive.ph/MfNjk Alice Sullivan claims universities are "selling out gender critics"]</ref>
*WoPAI retweets a post by German anti-trans account "Was ist eine Frau?" ("[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|What is a woman?]]," an anti-trans dogwhistle), which cruelly attacks and misgenders trans women and gender-diverse people seeking help from domestic violence shelters.<ref>[https://archive.ph/5C9Ew WoPAI retweets a post by German anti-trans account Was ist eine Frau?, which attacks and misgenders trans women and gender-diverse people seeking help from domestic violence shelters]</ref>
*WoPAI mocks the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for the Taliban leader, ridiculing its reference to the "Taliban's policy on gender, gender identity, or expression," and remarking that they were "not aware he was a disciple of Judith Butler!" (Butler is a frequent target of hate among conspiratorial anti-trans activists).<ref>[https://archive.ph/3H4TR WoPAI mocks the International Criminal Court]</ref>
*WoPAI extensively retweets well-known anti-trans actors such as [[FiLiA]] and [[J. K. Rowling]]
*Despite TERFs often [[TERF#Why "TERF" is not a slur|pretending "TERF is a slur,"]]  WoPAI retweets posts calling ''themselves'' TERFs, talking about "hundreds of TERFS [...] [[TERF glossary#XX|#XX]]"
*WoPAI retweets posts by anti-trans activist Vaishnavi Sundar about "trans ideology" and "trans-identified men," promoting her anti-trans film<ref>[https://x.com/Vaishax/status/1973404258788667468 Vaishnavi Sundar on  "trans ideology" and "trans-identified men"]</ref>
*WoPAI retweets a post by Brazilian anti-trans group "Matria" about "Trans identified males", also declaring themselves to be "gender-critical" ([[TERF]]s) and acknowledging their ties to anti-trans hate group [[LGB Alliance]]<ref>[https://x.com/MATRIAoficial/status/1973098213453472070 Post by Matria]</ref>
*WoPAI retweets "More brilliant women at the [[TERF Island|#TerfIsland]] book launch" by British anti-trans Twitter troll Helen Saxby<ref>[https://x.com/helensaxby11/status/1970966248566685789 Helen Saxby]</ref>
*WoPAI retweets fringe anti-trans group Athena Forum attacking LGBT+ organizations, as well as a British anti-trans Twitter troll and self-styled comedian (there is no evidence of him ever saying anything funny) Andrew Doyle's post claiming that "violence has become normalised within trans activism."

==Panel about a "queer war on women" at anti-trans FiLiA conference==
A panel organized by WoPAI at the [[FiLiA]] conference, a notorious TERF gathering, promotes the anti-queer [[conspiracy theory]] that "queer activists" are waging a "war on women," with "the direct participation of powerful industries, [[United Nations|UN]] bodies, global governments and philanthropic corporations." Speakers include Susan Smith and other prominent anti-trans activists.<ref>WoPAI: [https://web.archive.org/web/20250921201540/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/wopai-is-coming-to-filia/ WoPAI Is Coming to FiLiA!] ([https://archive.ph/9jkrP Archive.ph])</ref>

==Who funds Women's Platform for Action International?==
The Women's Platform for Action International (WoPAI) appears to have been entirely established by the [[Swedish Women's Lobby]] (SWL), sharing its address and initially staffed by key SWL officials in all major roles. According to Swedish records, WoPAI has no employees. Its own website states that "The annual membership fee is 10 EUR per year."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250703204202/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/join-us/ Join us] ([https://archive.ph/Laosh Archive.ph])</ref> Despite having the same secretary-general as SWL and being registered at SWL's office—its address in official Swedish records even includes SWL's name and WoPAI's own "Legal Notice" lists SWL's secretary-general Susannah Sjöberg and former chair Gertrud Åström as its legal representatives—SWL has, oddly, attempted to deny having any special relationship with WoPAI beyond being a member.{{efn|name=Addr}} However, it appears evident that WoPAI is entirely run using SWL resources, functioning as an international extension of SWL.

==Analysis==
<div style="background:#e6f2ff; border-left: 5px solid #3399cc; padding: 15px; margin: 10px 0; font-size: 95%; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.1); line-height: 1.6;"> <span style="font-weight:bold; font-size:110%;">🔍 Key takeaways</span> <ul style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 20px; margin: 10px 0;"> <li><b>Women's Platform for Action International (WoPAI) is not a legitimate human rights or feminist organization.</b> It is part of a broader transnational anti-gender, far-right, and anti-LGBTQ+ network. Its reputation among serious human rights defenders, scholars, and feminist activists is widely discredited, and its activities are generally understood to be reactionary and harmful to marginalized communities, especially trans people.</li> </ul> </div>

WoPAI is a reactionary, anti-trans organization that appropriates the language of "women's rights" to promote a [[Biological determinism|biologically essentialist]] and politically regressive agenda. Rather than continuing the legacy of inclusive and intersectional feminism, it [[TERF#What TERFs say and mean|distorts feminist language]] to push positions that directly oppose core feminist principles. Through its name, messaging, and branding, WoPAI co-opts the rhetoric of women's liberation while promoting exclusionary slogans such as "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]"<ref name=why/> and "women and girls first," phrases rooted not in feminism, but in anti-trans ideology, populism, and far-right narratives.

In doing so, WoPAI empties feminist rhetoric of its intersectional and liberatory content, weaponizing it to justify rigid gender binaries and target trans and queer communities. WoPAI's promotion of [[Pseudolaw|pseudolegal]] and [[pseudoscientific]] claims situate it firmly within the global anti-gender movement, a transnational alliance of far-right actors, religious fundamentalists, and illiberal populists seeking to roll back human rights under the guise of "protecting women."

From a psychological standpoint, WoPAI's rhetoric reflects a marked collapse of cognitive and emotional empathy, especially toward trans and gender-diverse individuals.

WoPAI is not viewed as a legitimate feminist organization by the broader international feminist and human rights communities. Instead, it is broadly condemned as a transphobic and far-right extremist group using pseudofeminist rhetoric as a cover for reactionary politics and anti-trans bigotry. Despite mimicking the structure and language of United Nations initiatives to feign credibility, its actions and alliances with hate groups and authoritarian political forces expose it as a backlash-driven vehicle for undermining hard-won feminist and LGBTQ+ progress.

WoPAI's campaigns do not protect women; rather, they endanger the very people feminism is meant to empower. By advancing a regressive, fringe agenda under the veneer of women's advocacy, WoPAI contributes to the erosion of democratic values, human rights norms, and the inclusive future that [[TERF#How feminists resist TERFs|global feminism continues to fight for]].

==Another international TERF hub: "MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls"==
{{Main|MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls}}
Not satisfied with only having one international TERF organization to fight what they call the "[[queer agenda]],"<ref name=why/> the Swedish Women's Lobby only a few months later, in August 2025, created ''yet another'' anti-trans group, this time with the Orwellian name "[[MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls]]." Its stated purpose is to campaign for "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]," i.e. against transgender rights.<ref name=swl-MOTERIS>[https://archive.ph/TLjub SWL on MOTERIS]</ref><ref>[[European Network of Migrant Women]]: [https://www.migrantwomennetwork.org/2025/08/12/moteris-protectiong-the-civic-space-of-women-and-girls/ MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls]</ref><ref>Feminist Legal Clinic: [https://feministlegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Moteris-Launch-PR-August-11-Moteris-Launch-PR-August-11.pdf MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls]</ref> It has the same address as both SWL and WoPAI, and the same leadership and members. According to press releases published on the websites of both SWL and anti-trans groups "Feminist Legal Clinic" (associated with [[Women's Declaration International|WDI]]) and "[[European Network of Migrant Women]]" (an anti-trans organization posing as a "migrants' rights" organization), the organization is led by the Swedish Women's Lobby.<ref name=swl-MOTERIS/><ref>[[European Network of Migrant Women]]: [https://www.migrantwomennetwork.org/2025/08/12/moteris-protectiong-the-civic-space-of-women-and-girls/ MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls]</ref><ref>Feminist Legal Clinic: [https://feministlegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Moteris-Launch-PR-August-11-Moteris-Launch-PR-August-11.pdf MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls]</ref>

The organization's primary aim appears to be targeting academic, NGO and feminist critics of the [[anti-gender]] and [[TERF]] movements, portraying such criticism as an attack on "the Civic Space" of [[TERF]] activists. This reflects a broader pattern, documented by scholars, in which reactionary actors mimic human rights language to delegitimize opponents, thereby undermining academic freedom, human rights advocacy, and [[TERF#How feminists resist TERFs|feminist resistance]] to anti-gender campaigns. The leadership behind MOTERIS, WoPAI, and the Swedish Women's Lobby has, under their other organizational banners, recently pushed claims that opposition to anti-gender activism is driven by [[George Soros]], major foundations, or other so-called "[[globalist]]" forces, using this to paint critics as part of an "elite"-run agenda, and WoPAI even claims trans people were invented by the [[Freemason|Freemasons]].<ref name=WDIFeministLegalClinic/>

The organization's name, Moteris, a Lithuanian word for "woman," invokes an explicitly biological essentialist definition of womanhood and draws on Eastern European cultural signifiers that have become prominent within contemporary anti-gender and anti-LGBTQ+ mobilizations. The choice of name thus aligns the group with both the exclusionary "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based]]" framing characteristic of trans-exclusionary discourse and the symbolic repertoire of the broader transnational anti-gender movement, in which Eastern European actors have played an increasingly visible role.

==WoPAI's response==
{{cquote|WoPAI is not formally part of any far-right network|||Women's Platform for Action International<ref name=wopai-response/>}}

In an unusually earnest response to [[RationalWiki]]'s article about WoPAI, the organization objected only to the encyclopedia's description of the group's rhetoric as [[Populism|populist]] and [[Conspiracy theory|conspiratorial]], and the characterization of the group as part of a wider [[far-right]] anti-trans landscape, unironically and pedantically insisting that "WoPAI is not formally part of any far-right network." The response did not object to any of the article's factual statements, and, to its credit, acknowledged the encyclopedia's right to provide critical analysis. The group instead suggested that RationalWiki describe them as promoting "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based analysis]]" and note that they have "been subject to criticism regarding its positions on self-determination of gender identity." The letter was, curiously, also signed by the chairperson of the [[Swedish Women's Lobby]], despite SWL having previously pretended they have no special relationship with WoPAI.<ref name=wopai-response>[https://web.archive.org/web/20251104231021/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Letter-from-WoPAI-to-RationalWiki.pdf WoPAI's response]</ref>

In reality, WoPAI, an organization that states that it opposes the "[[queer agenda]],"<ref name=why/> promotes anti-transgender narratives and strategies characteristic of the far-right. These include portraying trans rights as an elite-driven threat to women and children, employing conspiratorial claims about "gender ideology" or "trans ideology," and weaponizing pseudofeminist language to oppose equality and human rights frameworks. The organization also includes members with open far-right affiliations. Several of its founding organizations publicly endorse [[Donald Trump]] and other far-right politicians, collaborate with alt-right and fascist movements, and promote conspiracy theories. Its own board member Anna Kerr gave a lecture to [[Women's Declaration International|WDI]], a WoPAI founding member and [[SPLC]]-designated hate group that openly supports Donald Trump, alleging that [[Freemasons]] created "the trans movement."<ref name=WDIFeministLegalClinic/> [[#Twitter activity|WoPAI's Twitter account]] offers a steady stream of anti-trans disinformation and hate, including retweets of websites like [[Reduxx]], that specializes in portraying trans people as pedophiles and that is run by a white supremacist who used to work for alt-right website {{wpl|Rebel News}} alongside [[Proud Boys]] founder [[Gavin McInnes]], and who has been criticized even by fellow transphobes for her "off the Richter scale racism."

==See also==
*[[MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls]]
*[[Swedish Women's Lobby]]
*[[Women's Declaration International]]
*"[[Queer agenda]]"
*"[[Gender ideology]]"
*"[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|Sex-based rights]]"

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

==External links==
*Archived versions of WoPAI's mission statement "Why Wopai is needed", explaining its goal to fight "the queer agenda," a "pro-gender movement" in academia and NGOs, and "non-legal and not agreed upon by the international community concepts of 'gender identity'": [https://web.archive.org/web/20250219090601/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/why-wopai-is-needed/ Internet Archive], [https://archive.ph/qqxVL Archive.ph], [https://archive.is/qqxVL Archive.is]
*Archived versions of WoPAI's "Who we are" page as of 2025-02-23: [https://web.archive.org/web/20250223085805/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/who-we-are/ Internet Archive], [https://archive.ph/eqHnf Archive.ph], [https://archive.is/eqHnf Archive.is]; as of 2025-07-09: [https://web.archive.org/web/20250709174859/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/who-we-are/ Internet Archive], [https://archive.ph/AcILc Archive.ph]
*Archived versions of their "Legal Notice", which lists their legal representatives and "responsible for editorial" content as Gertrud Åström, Anna Zobnina, Susannah Sjöberg: [https://web.archive.org/web/20250704172258/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/legal-notice/ Internet Archive], [https://archive.ph/BMNXJ Archive.ph].
*Archived versions of the Swedish Women's Lobby's website stating that SWL initiated WoPAI: [https://web.archive.org/web/20250726015257/https://sverigeskvinnoorganisationer.se/om-sveriges-kvinnolobby/internationellt/ Internet Archive], [https://archive.ph/DVKvG Archive.ph]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIG5Y8-BEYk Video] published by [[Women's Declaration International|WDI]] featuring WoPAI's/SWL's secretary-general Susannah Sjöberg with Sharon Byrne of the far-right anti-trans astroturf group [[Women's Liberation Front]] (closely associated with anti-abortion extremist, evangelical Christian hate group [[Focus on the Family]]). Byrne says they talked about how "her team at the Swedish Women's Lobby had worked to kill" the gender recognition act in Sweden, and how she loved meeting "TERFs in the wild." Archived screenshot (Sjöberg, left; Byrne, right): [https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:fibaxvnhjjygfhyay7ii7cej/bafkreid2abpjoxtipi4fhobjrt54dtccax223sx3paekdfivzliyf4vx3e@jpeg Bsky], [https://web.archive.org/web/20250616064556/https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:fibaxvnhjjygfhyay7ii7cej/bafkreid2abpjoxtipi4fhobjrt54dtccax223sx3paekdfivzliyf4vx3e@jpeg Internet Archive], [https://archive.ph/g7dcX Archive.ph], [https://archive.is/g7dcX Archive.is]
*[https://bsky.app/profile/phindus.bsky.social/post/3m4scy7pj5226 Overview of the anti-trans network in Sweden] ([https://archive.ph/TW5hv Archived])

==Further reading==
*{{cite news |last1=Crimaldi |first1=Elena |title=The fracturing of European feminism: How TERF ideology threatens decades of progress |url=https://feministeerium.ee/en/the-fracturing-of-european-feminism-how-terf-ideology-threatens-decades-of-progress/ |date=2 December 2025 |work=Feministeerium|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20251203093202/https://feministeerium.ee/en/the-fracturing-of-european-feminism-how-terf-ideology-threatens-decades-of-progress/|archivedate=2025-12-03}}

[[Category:Denialist organizations]]
[[Category:Hate groups]]
[[Category:Misnomers]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoting organizations]]
[[Category:Sweden]]
[[Category:TERFs]]
[[Category:Transphobia]]
[[Category:Pissed at us]]

Categories: Denialist organizations, Hate groups, Misnomers, Pseudoscience promoting organizations, Sweden, TERFs, Transphobia, Pissed at us