Mémoire
| Résumé : | In the current context of the rise of populist radical-right (PRR) parties all across Europe, this master thesis intends to explore how is the relationship of these organisations with women. Most analyses of the topic do not take gender into account as a factor to examine and, therefore, erase certain characteristics that are essential in order to fully grasp the specificities of these parties, that are commonly characterised as “masculine”. We will take as a starting point for this research a detailed analysis of the theoretical feminist conceptions of gender, femininityand masculinity and all of the idealised features and symbolic meanings attached, as well as a clear definition of the populist radical right. What we seek to discover is the impact that the former has on the latter; and, specifically, whether the fact of having female leaders in PRR parties changes their strategies, their programme, as well as their election results, and if they do, in what manner. The hypotheses mobilised are that feminisation of leadership in populist radical-right parties is an attempt to soften public opinion on this type of organisations, that are commonly perceived as violent and aggressive. We also theorise that this feminisation will entail a change in the provisions concerning women’s issues and gender equality on the programmes of PRR parties, as well as on the electorate. Then, we move on to apply this theoretical knowledge and hypothesising to the specific case of Marine Le Pen and her party, the Rassemblement National (RN), former Front National, from France. We discover that the RN has undergone a strong process of normalisation and trivialisation. Through different gendered strategies and by instrumentalising her gender and her private life, Marine Le Pen has managed to improve the image of the party, making it non-threatening and mainstreamed. The effect that this has is that the vote for the RN among women has increased greatly, and the traditional and typical gender gap of PRR parties has disappeared in France. However, it has not entailed a real change in the political discourse or programme of the RN, that is still anchored in traditional family and gender roles and is used as a vector of nativism and xenophobia. |
