Feminist counteraction against radical right populists in the European Parliament

Lunch seminar

EMANUELA LOMBARDO, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

JOHANNA KANTOLA, Tampere University, Finland

Feminist counteraction against radical right populists in the European Parliament

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Abstract:
Parliaments have become sites of radical right populist opposition against gender equality. Addressing political struggles around gender equality thus becomes paramount. Whilst literature has mostly studied radical right anti-gender strategies, this article addresses feminist responses to such opposition. The identification of feminist counteraction to anti-gender opposition in parliaments is important for countering the destructive potential of radical right populist opposition to gender equality and let parliaments remain democratic sites of advancement in gender equality policies. Feminist counteraction is analyzed in the European Parliament’s legislative terms which witnessed a rise in radical right populism, 2014-2019 and 2019-2024, through the study of plenary debates on gender equality and interviews of Members of the European Parliament and political staff. The key contribution is to identify not only “discursive” and “coalition-building” counteraction, studied in feminist movement scholarship, but also new types of counteraction: “institutional” and “pragmatic” generated in the context of a political institution.