The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Populisms and Gender Equality (original) (raw)
Related papers
Populism and Feminism: Odd Bedfellows
Society, 2017
In this era of populist insurgency breaking the mold of democratic politics, two movements clashed.They represented opposite sides of the political spectrum, one emancipatory, the other exclusionary. One may be identified as feminism, the other as populism. This essay analyzes both concepts and explores their connection.
Since 2012, several European countries have seen the rise of conservative and, in part, fundamentalist social movements against the perceived threat of what they call (depending on the context) 'gender ideology', 'gender theory', or 'genderism'. The movements mobilizing against 'gender ideology' are frequently understood as a conservative backlash against achieved levels of equality between women and men and/or LGBTQ rights. This perspective of 'the patriarchy/heteronormativity fighting back' seems as tempting as it is simplifying. I discuss the transnational movements against 'gender ideology' in the context of the rise of right-wing populism and on the basis of considerations seeking to explain their demand side. On one hand, I argue that the study of this phenomenon provides important clues for understanding the reasons behind the rise of populist forces in Europe and beyond. On the other hand, I propose that 'gender' is not the final target for these movements and that they should not be understood primarily as mobilizations against equality. Rather, I see the emergence of these movements as a symptom of a larger systemic crisis. 'Gender ideology' in this sense embodies numerous deficits of the so-called progressive actors, and the movements or parties that mobilize against the perceived threat of 'gender ideology' react to these deficits by re-politicizing certain issues in a polarized language. Based on Chantal Mouffe's critique of the established hegemonic idea of consensus in liberal democracy, I discuss two consensuses that are characteristic of the so-called progressive actors (including the feminist and LGBTQ actors), namely, the neoliberal consensus and the human rights consensus, and their contribution to the rise of the movements against 'gender ideology'.
Feminism and Populism with No Guarantee
Etica e Politica, 2023
From different latitudes across the globe, the study of the link between feminism and populism has been entangled in approaches that not only mistrust the possibility of the relationship itself, but also constantly reveal incompatibilities in their findings that shadow the reflection on their productive coexistence. Against this background, Paula Biglieri and Luciana Cadahia's book, Seven essays on populism, represents a breath of fresh air. The joint work of these Latin American political theorists opens up a line of research which proposes a new form of theorizing populism alongside feminism. In the following sections we focus on this dismantling process that underpins Biglieri and Cadahia's effort to open up and imagine a possible articulation between these phenomena, but alongside this analysis, we will also polemicize with their ideas, by bringing out the temptation of closure that eventually lurks in their analytical endeavours.
Anti-Gender Politics in the Populist Moment
Anti-Gender Politics in the Populist Moment, 2021
This book charts the new phase of global struggles around gender equality and sexual democracy: the ultraconservative mobilization against "gender ideology" and feminist efforts to counteract it. It argues that anti-gender campaigns, which emerged around 2010 in Europe, are not a simple continuation of the anti-feminist backlash dating back to the 1970s, but part of a new political configuration. Opposition to "gender" has become a key element of the rise of right-wing populism, which successfully harnesses the anxiety, shame and anger caused by neoliberalism and threatens to destroy liberal democracy. Anti-Gender Politics in the Populist Moment offers a novel conceptualization of the relationship between the ultraconservative anti-gender movement and right-wing populist parties, examining the opportunistic synergy between these actors. The authors map the anti-gender campaigns as a global movement, putting the Polish case in a comparative perspective. They show that the anti-gender rhetoric is best understood as a reactionary critique of neoliberalism as a socio-cultural formation. The book also studies the recent wave of feminist mass mobilizations, viewing the transnational revolt of women as a left populist movement. This is an important study for those doing research in politics, cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies and sociology. It will also be useful for activists and policy makers.
Feminist responses to populist politics
European Journal of English Studies, 2021
Given our situatedness as political subjects of knowledge — as activists and scholars from Southern Europe — we have mapped out in this issue some feminist responses to populism. This issue discusses diverse transfeminist and feminist political groups and ideas, and talks about feminisms as a constellation of accounts of politics, practices, knowledges, and experiences. Although it is beyond the scope of this issue to discuss the idea of populism, the plurality of definitions and their political implications, this collection of essays reflects our need to analyse modes of self-determination that, within feminism, are taking place in the name of the people and for the people. This Introduction sketches the situatedness of the essays in Southern Europe, the antifeminist backlash and the feminist responses that we have been witnessing in the past few years, and the appropriation of feminism by certain conservative groups.
Populism and Public Choice: Constructing Women as a "Special Interest" ∗
2004
Populism has been reshaping public discourse in the 1990s. Australia and Canada exemplify both the longevity of rural populism and the impact of new variants of the ‘us and them’ frame. Thanks in part to the addition of new class theory and the public choice-inspired concept of ‘special interests’, today’s populism is directed less against the banks and international financiers and more against the welfare state and its supporters. The divide around which political emotion is mobilised is not between labour and capital, but between taxpayers and business on one side and regulators and redistributors on the other. In both Australia and Canada market populism constructs feminists as on the wrong side of this divide, among the elite that does well out of equality. Feminists and femocrats promote victimhood and dependency while shoring up their own privileged public sector positions. In public choice terms they are classical rent seekers, trying to achieve better returns through the sta...
Deterioration of Women’s Position with Rising Populism
The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems
This article aims to discuss the implications of right-wing populism for gender relations and women's rights by summarizing the debates on the common gender aspects of current populist discourses in different countries, and by demonstrating the populist elements in contemporary Turkey, especially in the discourses of its populist President Tayyip Erdoğan. The chapter first summarizes the contemporary debates on populism, by pointing out its main distinguishing aspects according to scholars who write on populism. Next, there is a discussion on what right-wing populist discourses suggest in terms of gender, women's position in society, and family. By focusing on the case of Turkey, the article demonstrates the trajectory of populism in the country and its recent rise during the period of AKP (Justice and Development Party/Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) governments, and discusses the gendered impacts of right-wing populism in Turkey, especially during the period of AKP governments. Finally, there is an analysis of three of President Erdoğan's speeches on women's rights, with a reflection on how his populist discourses position women. The article concludes with a discussion of
2021
Given our situatedness as political subjects of knowledge —as activists and scholars from Southern Europe — we have mapped out in this issue some feminist responses to populism. This issue discusses diverse transfeminist and feminist political groups and ideas, and talks about feminisms as a constellation of accounts of politics, practices, knowledges, and experiences. Although it is beyond the scope of this issue to discuss the idea of populism, the plurality of definitions and their political implications, this collection of essays reflects our need to analyse modes of self-determination that, within feminism, are taking place in the name of the people and for the people. This Introduction sketches the situatedness of the essays in Southern Europe, the antifeminist backlash and the feminist responses that we have been witnessing in the past few years, and the appropriation of feminism by certain conservative groups.