2025/09/30 by Bonnie M. Meguid, Hilde Coffé, Ana Catalano Weeks +1 · 2 voices · 25 citations
Social Sciences · #Core (optical fiber) #Gender Politics and Representation #Gender, Feminism, and Media #Inclusion (mineral) #Populism #Populism, Right-Wing Movements #Position (finance) #Radical right #Representation (politics) #Salience (neuroscience)
paper · open access · doi:10.1177/00104140251381760
published in Comparative Political Studies (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2025/09/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Despite their Männerparteien reputation, populist radical right (PRR) parties have recently expanded their agendas to include women’s interests. When do they embrace these interests, and what shapes their stance? We propose a theory of strategic window dressing: electorally struggling PRR parties, seeking to gain voters, showcase women’s interests superficially without shifting core gender ideologies. Using original text analysis of PRR party manifestos across 30 European countries (1984–2022), we find that parties emphasize gender-related rights when electorally vulnerable—but avoid adopting more gender-egalitarian positions. Instead, they promote risk-averse, femonationalist stances. While having a woman leader increases attention to gender-based violence, a higher share of women MPs has no impact on either the salience of or position on women’s interests. These findings suggest that the PRR’s nod to women’s interests is largely a tactical move, not a genuine commitment to substantive representation of women’s interests.