‘Gender(ed) nationalism’ of the populist radical right

Abstract

Conservative, anti-egalitarian gender policy positions are a core feature of many populist radical right (PRR) parties. Recently, though, references to gender equality have become an important element in the rhetoric of these parties. This chapter discusses this paradoxical phenomenon, focusing on the Austrian Freedom Party, one of the most successful PRR parties in Europe. It detects the co-existence of different variants of gender(ed) nationalisms, and argues that references to gender equality and women´s rights have become a core element of boundary making in the discourses of the PRR, establishing ‘Europeanised’ nationalist narratives of the ‘self’ and the ‘other’.