Travelling notions of gender (in)equality in populist radical right discourse

Gender equality has become a widely accepted political goal in European democracies but questions of gender (in)equality in relation to the populist radical right in Europe remain puzzling. Especially earlier studies find that radical right parties support traditional views on gender relations by promoting the ‘natural unequal order’ between men and women. More recent studies show that these parties increasingly endorse gender equality in their programmes and manifestos, especially in countries with relatively strong gender equality narratives (Meret & Siim 2013). This paper traces back the inclusion of the notion of ‘gender equality’ in radical right discourse and studies the different forms the concept takes. How is the concept understood? Do different meanings of gender (in)equality co-exist and/or have meanings evolved? And how does support for gender equality link to parties’ positions towards other issues such as traditional family values, nativism and anti-multiculturalism? Critical frame analysis is used to study the party programmes and manifestos of three successful radical right parties in Western Europe: the French party Front National, the Flemish party Vlaams Belang and the Dutch party PVV. In particular, the paper formulates the hypothesis that support for gender equality by these parties will be minimal (endorsing ‘thin’ rather than ‘thick’ notions of equality) and conditional (with support being limited to very specific policy areas). If the hypothesis is confirmed, the study generates empirical proof for the thesis that the current attention for gender equality in radical right discourse does not so much reflect an ideological commitment to gender equality as it echoes an instrumentalization of gender equality on behalf of the parties’ nationalist agendas (Akkerman & Hagelund 2007).