Patriarchal Populism: The Politics of Authoritarian Anti-feminism

• In Event: Populism and Right-Wing Politics with a Gender Lens

Abstract

In recent years, populist movements and regimes have proliferated around the world. Populists pledge to uphold the interests of the “pure people” against corrupt “globalist elites”. More often than not, feminists are cast in the latter role, framed as dangerous threats to the restoration of national greatness. Meanwhile, alleged “gender ideology” is rebuked, while women’s reproductive and LGBTQI+ equality rights are legally curtailed. In this paper, we examine the convergence of populism and anti-feminism within the framework of "patriarchal populism." We analyze differences and similarities between patriarchal populist and traditional conservative and religious hostility to women’s rights and how these forces increasingly cooperate to achieve shared goals. To illustrate these trends, we focus on the case of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a large and influential gathering of the US right that is rapidly internationalizing. We then explore how attention to anti-feminism highlights important aspects of populism including its “retrotopian” desire to undo contemporary human rights commitments, its nativist and pro-natalist policy agenda, and its embrace of masculinist political violence and strongman leadership. The dynamics of patriarchal populism reveal that democratic decline presents a significant challenge to women’s rights in the US and elsewhere.

Authors

• Rebecca Sanders, University of Cincinnati

• Laura Dudley Jenkins, University of Cincinnati