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Female Charismatic Leaders for ‘Männerparteien’? A Comparative Case Study of Populist Right-wing Party Leaders Pia Kjærsgaard, Marine Le Pen and Siv Jensen

Extremism
Gender
Political Parties
Populism
Susi Meret
Aalborg Universitet
Susi Meret
Aalborg Universitet
Birte Siim
Aalborg Universitet

Abstract

Research about populist right wing parties’ leadership and support emphasizes that most of these parties are charismatic and male-dominated, both as regards their leadership and voters. However, while studies about the gender gap mainly focus on demand side factors, still sporadic is the research on the way populist parties deal with gender. Even less researched is how populist female leaders can influence the positions, rhetoric, discourse and image of these parties. The two Scandinavian populist right wing parties Dansk Folkeparti and the Norwegian Fremskrittpartiet offer interesting elements from where to look at female leadership and gender from the perspective of two well established and long lived populist parties. This paper will also refer to the case of Marine Le Pen and the Front National, to consider whether the Nordic cases shape a particular framework of female leadership, highly influenced by context, opportunity structure and role of gender equality and gender issues in the Scandinavian countries. The paper will focus on the role of female leaders Pia Kjærsgaard, Siv Jensen and Marine Le Pen to discuss and investigate whether their gender, style, rhetoric, discoursive strategies and positions have influenced party leadership, party ideology and their general approach to questions of gender.