Gender Equality and Radical Right Wing Populist Parties A comparative study between the Netherlands and Sweden

Abstract

Sweden has been known for its gender equality policies, and has been presented as an example within Europe (Borchorst and Siim, 2008; Hübinette and Lundström, 2011). They take part in the discourse on ‘women-friendliness’, where gender equality becomes part of the national identity (Mulinari and Neergaard, 2013; Kantola, 2014). In the Netherlands, the debate on gender equality is less directly public, and mostly comes up in political debates on integration and Dutch 'women's rights' (Celis, Outshoorn, Meier and Motmans, 2012). Currently, it is not known whether, and if so, how, gender equality plays a role in the growing support for right wing parties (Meret and Siim, 2013; Mudde, 2007)1. The aim of this study is to analyze what role gender equality plays in the policy of right wing parties, and, further, how this relates to the voters of these parties.