Protecting Women, Saving Europe: Polish Populist Radical Right Parties, Women MEPs and the Rise of Eastern Femonationalism

Despite the increasing political salience of migration and anti-gender backlash in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, femonationalism – the use of gender equality and feminist rhetoric by populist radical right parties (PRRPs) to advance anti-immigration and nationalist politics (Farris 2017) – has not been yet studied in the context of the region. Against this background, I conduct critical frame analysis of European Parliament (EP) plenary debates to examine the ways in which women MEPs from two Polish PRRPs, Law and Justice and the Confederation, use femonationalist rhetoric and construct meanings behind the notions of gender equality and women’s interests. On this basis, I propose the concept of Eastern femonationalism. It is grounded in claims of moral and religious superiority of CEE over both the Muslim world and Western Europe. The West and the EU are portrayed as imposing secular values and moral depravity, and EU migration policies as threatening women’s safety.