Female Nationalism? Women’s Voice in Radical Nationalist Organizations in Poland

Analysis of the declarations and programs of Polish radical right organizations and political parties shows that women are to some extent invisible in the radical right discourses. They show up in the case of family issues – as wives and mothers. At the same time, women have been more visible among radical right movements in the last few years and it is very crucial to find out how do women understand their involvement in those organizations/parties and how do they find themselves there and what roles do they have. Based on the analysis of interviews with female nationalist activists and articles published by them on nationalist websites, the presentation will focus on the main ways, in which they present their own involvement and women’s role in society. On the one hand, it can be said that female nationalists and their women’s organizations are more focused on such issues as family, tradition, anti-abortion activity, patriotic education of new generations, emotional work and taking care of people who need support. They are seen as tradition and family keepers and reproducers. On the other hand, it is noticeable that it is not general consent about the (accepted) level of their political involvement and radicalism – according to some statements in their interviews and articles, female nationalists have been looking for the agency as well and for recognition of their equal position and power. The presentation states that participation in nationalist circles can be perceived as a kind of cultural/conservative backlash (Norris, Inglehart 2019), which is based on conservatism, tradition, religion, and history and constitutes a kind of counter-postmodern revolution, but does not necessarily involve sharing similar economic views. It is rather a way of dealing with the fear of losing national identity, destroying traditional families and the Catholic church.