Strategic Inclusion Without Transformation: How Populist Radical Right Parties Engage with Women’s Interests

Bonnie M. Meguid; Hilde Coffe; Ana Catalano Weeks; Miki Kittilson

doi:10.1177/00104140251381760

Strategic Inclusion Without Transformation: How Populist Radical Right Parties Engage with Women’s Interests

Bonnie M. Meguid
, Hilde Coffe
, Ana Catalano Weeks
, Miki Kittilson

Politics, Languages & International Studies

University of Rochester
Arizona State University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (SciVal)

323 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Despite their Männerparteien reputation, populist radical right (PRR) parties have recently expanded their agendas to include women’s interests. When do they embrace these interests, and what shapes their stance? We propose a theory of strategic window dressing: electorally struggling PRR parties, seeking to gain voters, showcase women’s interests superficially without shifting core gender ideologies. Using original text analysis of PRR party manifestos across 30 European countries (1984–2022), we find that parties emphasize gender-related rights when electorally vulnerable—but avoid adopting more gender-egalitarian positions. Instead, they promote risk-averse, femonationalist stances. While having a woman leader increases attention to gender-based violence, a higher share of women MPs has no impact on either the salience of or position on women’s interests. These findings suggest that the PRR’s nod to women’s interests is largely a tactical move, not a genuine commitment to substantive representation of women’s interests.

Original language	English
Number of pages	41
Journal	Comparative Political Studies
Early online date	30 Sept 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140251381760
Publication status	Published - 30 Sept 2025

Data Availability Statement

The dataset, replication files and codebook are available at Weeks et al. (2025)

Acknowledgements

We thank Elin Bjarnegård, Michal Gulczynski, Lotte Hargrave, Alexandra Hartman, Jonathan Homola, Lucy Kinski, Didac Queralt, Dawn Teele, Resul Umit, and three anonymous reviewers for their useful feedback on previous versions of this manuscript. We also thank participants at the 2021 APSA annual meeting, 2022 MPSA annual meeting, 2022 European Conference on Politics and Gender, and the Re:Presentations online seminar series, for their helpful comments on previous versions. We thank Sami Gul and YeonKyung Jeong for their excellent research assistance.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 5 Gender Equality
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Keywords

elections
European politics
gender
party manifestos
political parties
populist radical right
sexuality and politics
voting behavior

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Sociology and Political Science

Access to Document

10.1177/00104140251381760

StrategicInclusionWithout_CPS_Final
Accepted for publication - Meguid, B. M., Coffé, H., Weeks, A. C., & Kittilson, M. C. (2025). Strategic Inclusion Without Transformation: How Populist Radical Right Parties Engage With Women’s Interests. Comparative Political Studies, 0(0). © The Author(s) 2025. posted). Manuscript is restricted to non-commercial and no derivative uses. https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140251381760
Accepted author manuscript, 538 KB

Cite this

@article{56552fc5855a4e2f887876ae686e9abf,

title = "Strategic Inclusion Without Transformation: How Populist Radical Right Parties Engage with Women{\textquoteright}s Interests",

abstract = "Despite their M{\"a}nnerparteien reputation, populist radical right (PRR) parties have recently expanded their agendas to include women{\textquoteright}s interests. When do they embrace these interests, and what shapes their stance? We propose a theory of strategic window dressing: electorally struggling PRR parties, seeking to gain voters, showcase women{\textquoteright}s interests superficially without shifting core gender ideologies. Using original text analysis of PRR party manifestos across 30 European countries (1984–2022), we find that parties emphasize gender-related rights when electorally vulnerable—but avoid adopting more gender-egalitarian positions. Instead, they promote risk-averse, femonationalist stances. While having a woman leader increases attention to gender-based violence, a higher share of women MPs has no impact on either the salience of or position on women{\textquoteright}s interests. These findings suggest that the PRR{\textquoteright}s nod to women{\textquoteright}s interests is largely a tactical move, not a genuine commitment to substantive representation of women{\textquoteright}s interests.",

keywords = "elections, European politics, gender, party manifestos, political parties, populist radical right, sexuality and politics, voting behavior",

author = "Meguid, \{Bonnie M.\} and Hilde Coffe and Weeks, \{Ana Catalano\} and Miki Kittilson",

year = "2025",

month = sep,

day = "30",

doi = "10.1177/00104140251381760",

language = "English",

journal = "Comparative Political Studies",

issn = "0010-4140",

publisher = "Sage Publications",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Strategic Inclusion Without Transformation

T2 - How Populist Radical Right Parties Engage with Women’s Interests

AU - Meguid, Bonnie M.

AU - Coffe, Hilde

AU - Weeks, Ana Catalano

AU - Kittilson, Miki

PY - 2025/9/30

Y1 - 2025/9/30

N2 - Despite their Männerparteien reputation, populist radical right (PRR) parties have recently expanded their agendas to include women’s interests. When do they embrace these interests, and what shapes their stance? We propose a theory of strategic window dressing: electorally struggling PRR parties, seeking to gain voters, showcase women’s interests superficially without shifting core gender ideologies. Using original text analysis of PRR party manifestos across 30 European countries (1984–2022), we find that parties emphasize gender-related rights when electorally vulnerable—but avoid adopting more gender-egalitarian positions. Instead, they promote risk-averse, femonationalist stances. While having a woman leader increases attention to gender-based violence, a higher share of women MPs has no impact on either the salience of or position on women’s interests. These findings suggest that the PRR’s nod to women’s interests is largely a tactical move, not a genuine commitment to substantive representation of women’s interests.

AB - Despite their Männerparteien reputation, populist radical right (PRR) parties have recently expanded their agendas to include women’s interests. When do they embrace these interests, and what shapes their stance? We propose a theory of strategic window dressing: electorally struggling PRR parties, seeking to gain voters, showcase women’s interests superficially without shifting core gender ideologies. Using original text analysis of PRR party manifestos across 30 European countries (1984–2022), we find that parties emphasize gender-related rights when electorally vulnerable—but avoid adopting more gender-egalitarian positions. Instead, they promote risk-averse, femonationalist stances. While having a woman leader increases attention to gender-based violence, a higher share of women MPs has no impact on either the salience of or position on women’s interests. These findings suggest that the PRR’s nod to women’s interests is largely a tactical move, not a genuine commitment to substantive representation of women’s interests.

KW - elections

KW - European politics

KW - gender

KW - party manifestos

KW - political parties

KW - populist radical right

KW - sexuality and politics

KW - voting behavior

U2 - 10.1177/00104140251381760

DO - 10.1177/00104140251381760

M3 - Article

SN - 0010-4140

JO - Comparative Political Studies

JF - Comparative Political Studies

ER -

Strategic Inclusion Without Transformation: How Populist Radical Right Parties Engage with Women’s Interests

Abstract

Data Availability Statement

Acknowledgements

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this