Strategies of right populists in opposing gender equality in a polarized European Parliament

Published date01 November 2021
DOI10.1177/0192512120963953
AuthorEmanuela Lombardo,Johanna Kantola
Date01 November 2021
Subject MatterSymposium: Populism and feminist politics
https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512120963953
International Political Science Review
2021, Vol. 42(5) 565 –579
© The Author(s) 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0192512120963953
journals.sagepub.com/home/ips
Strategies of right populists in
opposing gender equality in a
polarized European Parliament
Johanna Kantola
Tampere University, Finland
Emanuela Lombardo
Madrid Complutense University, Spain
Abstract
An increasingly polarized European Parliament (EP) has become an important site of radical right populist
opposition to gender equality. Through a qualitative analysis of populist interventions in EP plenary debates
on gender equality in the 8th legislature (2014–2019), this article identifies the discursive strategies adopted by
right populists to oppose gender equality. It contributes to scholarly debates on populisms and on gender and
politics by respectively suggesting to the former the need to dedicate attention to gender equality as a central
aspect in populist ideologies, and to the latter the importance of considering a variety of strategies of radical right
opposition to gender equality. Radical right populist strategies include not only indirect but also direct opposition
to gender equality and draw on old and traditional gender imaginaries packaged in novel populist ways.
Keywords
Populism, gender equality, European Parliament, radical right populism, opposition strategies
Introduction
Populism has come under intense scholarly scrutiny over recent years as populist parties have had
sustained electoral victories in different parts of the world and entered national governments and
executive positions. In addition to theoretical work on populism (Laclau, 2005; Mudde and Rovira,
2013), empirical studies to date address: who votes for populists and why; the impact of populists
on party systems and democracy; the country and party specific characteristics of populism; as
well as the contents and the impact of populist claims (Norris and Inglehart, 2019). However, most
research on populism has paid little attention to research about the ways in which gender equality
and radical right populism (RRP) are intertwined and the role that opposing gender equality plays
for populist politics (Kantola and Lombardo 2019).
Corresponding author:
Johanna Kantola, Faculty of Social Science, Tampere University, Kalevankatu 4, Tampere, 33100, Finland.
Email: johanna.kantola@tuni.fi
963953IPS0010.1177/0192512120963953International Political Science ReviewKantola and Lombardo
research-article2020
Symposium: Populism and feminist politics

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT