Amid rising illiberalism, Romanian democratic institutions face growing pressure. Gabriela-Elena Plăpămaru reveals how the traditional right tried to undermine Romania’s education sector — and how progressives responded with institutional resilience
The division on sex education and gender in Romania reveals much about illiberal actors' modus operandi. Illiberalism is deeply bound up with gender dynamics. Illiberal regimes seek to redefine human rights, women's rights, and equality. They put family rights and normative family needs before the advancement of women's individual rights.
Quality education improves a country's productivity and economic growth. For individuals, it fosters critical thinking and improved self-esteem. A better educated population enjoys enhanced career opportunities, stronger values of equality and acceptance, and more active citizenship.
But giving citizens the power to question, resist, and participate in society threatens authoritarian control. Illiberal regimes thus target and reshape education systems to suppress critical thinking. They strive to dismantle democratic values in the hope of producing a docile, obedient populace.
An educated population threatens authoritarian control. Illiberal leaders thus reshape education systems to suppress critical thinking
The politicisation of education can take the form of restricting curricula to emphasise traditional, nationalist ideals. It could be the limiting of academic institutions' autonomy, to control what is researched and taught. And it might be eroding the quality of education to mere rote memorisation and conformity.
One close-to-home example of such politicisaion is the education policies of Moldova and Transnistria during the early 2000s. These regions aimed to reshape national identity by incorporating Russian as the official state language, integrating a new history syllabus, and closing Romanian-language schools in Transnistria.
Romania’s education sector conforms to a traditionalist illiberal agenda that is strongly influenced by religion. It promotes patriarchal norms and limits academic freedom and open inquiry. Over the past decade, however, frequent leadership changes, legislative shifts, and the growing role of NGOs have reshaped the system. This offers challenges and opportunities for institutional resilience, much like in a polypore state. These dynamics have dramatically eroded academic autonomy and the space for critical thinking.
In 2015, sex education in schools sparked intense debate in the NGO sector. It all began with a petition signed by 60 progressive NGOs, who proposed alignment with the World Health Organization's definition of human rights. The progressives emphasised Romania's commitment to providing comprehensive sex education and family planning services, as set out in the UN’s Programme of Action from the International Conference on Population and Development. Indeed, national legislation reinforces this obligation, notably Law 272 / 2004 (republished 2014), which mandates sex education in schools.
Romania’s education sector conforms to a traditionalist, illiberal agenda which promotes patriarchal norms, while limiting academic freedom
But 86 NGOs with a traditional, religious and pro-life mission pushed back. They associated the solutions proposed by the initial petition with communism. 'We want', they said, 'education for the family, not the creation of sexual pioneers for the communist-style gender ideology'. These traditional NGOs recognised the problem but attacked the progressives' suggested solution. They proposed packaging sex education as 'education for family and society', and recommended it take place only with parents' permission.
None of these petitions received a response from Ministry of Education representatives. Both parties continued public debate through the media, further polarising public opinion on the issue. One side advocates for basic health education, covering sexually transmitted diseases, consent, and menstruation. The opposition, however, maintains such content constitutes harmful sexualisation of children.
In 2020, Romania's parliament adopted a law banning references to gender identity in schools and universities. During Covid lockdown, senators Lungu Vasile-Cristian and Pașcan Emil-Marius — members of the People's Movement Party, which advocates conservatism, nationalism, and Christian democracy — introduced the law by stealth, adding the proposal to the parliamentary agenda just 30 minutes before the session began.
The law passed the parliamentary vote, but faced strong opposition from the academic community and civil society. Romania's president appealed to the Constitutional Court (CCR). He enjoyed support from several major universities that publicly criticised the Law, calling it an intrusion into academic autonomy. Over 800 professors and researchers then signed an amicus curiae condemning it.
The academic community and civil society activists pushed back hard against a proposed new law banning references to gender identity in schools and universities
The CCR declared the Law unconstitutional. At the time of writing, Romanian universities continue to teach gender studies. Strong opposition from academia and civil society stressed the importance of such studies for understanding complex gender identities and relations in society.
The attack on gender studies — and right-wing actors' attempt to ban them by amending the National Education Law — demonstrates how anti-gender campaigns are all part of the illiberal political agenda.
Amid rising illiberalism, Romania’s education system has become an ideological battleground in which conservative political forces challenge gender equality and academic freedom. Legislative efforts to ban gender studies and reshape sex education reveal a strategy to institutionalise patriarchal values and restrict democratic discourse. The Romanian case shows how illiberal regimes use gender to consolidate power and suppress rights under the rhetoric of protecting tradition.
Yet, despite these pressures, powerful civic resilience emerged. The failure of the proposed gender identity ban was not the result of institutional safeguards alone, but the mobilisation of scholars, activists, and citizens, who united to defend democratic principles and educational autonomy. In a broader European context, the Romanian case shows how community solidarity is not just reactive, but essential to resist illiberal drift and sustain democratic institutions.
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This blog piece was written for the course 'Gendering Illiberalism', co-designed and co-taught by Andrea Pető (with TA Irfana Khatoon) and Alina Dragolea (with TA Oana Dervis) sponsored by CIVICA alliance universities Central European University (CEU) and the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA).
