”It feels good to clean” – Performing femininity in Hungarian politics

The current Hungarian government, led by prime minister Viktor Orbán, has 3 ministers out 16, who are women. This can be considered a shift, as the governments prior – similarly led by Viktor Orbán had zero (2014-2018), or 1 female minister (2010-2014). Politics is often regarded as a gender-neutral arena guided by rationality, but hegemonic masculinity arises as a factor that not only structures society, but politics as well (Löffler et al., 2020). This can be especially true for populist movements and political entities – such as the Hungarian government today. The government consists of the Christian conservative Fidesz party, which promotes heteronormativity and traditional gender roles. In such environment female politicians can find themselves in a double bind – having to act professional, while still adhering to the narrative of their party. The question arises then, what does feminine populist performance look like? Through the cases of Judit Varga and Katalin Novák - ministers in the current Hungarian government - we explore the rhetorical-performative measures, that their Instagram uses to (1) perform femininity, while still projecting professionalism, and (2) how these visuals convey the messages of the government, about stereotypical gender roles. Varga and Novák are one the most followed Hungarian politicians currently, so studying their platforms can provide us with valuable insight on how baking with your children on a Sunday can be used in political messaging.