Ov Cristian Norocel
Associate Professor
Lund University
Sweden
As we approach the mid-2020s, right-wing populist parties have consolidated their presence in mainstream politics across the Nordic region; from the Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset/ Sannfinländarna) to the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna), and the Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti). Even though most of these parties still present themselves as political underdogs, they have become political actors that are no longer ignored by the mainstream parties and play a significant role in national parliaments. One means to achieve this influence has been to present the policies aimed at curbing (or even ending) migration as political solution to the challenge of preserving the world-renown Nordic model of welfare.
However, the ideal of committing to an agenda of achieving a level of gender equality and equal opportunity, which represents a cornerstone of the Nordic welfare, has proven much harder to live up to. The challenges faced by the right-wing populist parties on issues of gender can be grouped into two interrelated categories. The first challenge is the very ideological foundations that inspire right-wing populist policies. These foundations are anchored in traditional and conservative understandings of gender as a chromosomal binary (men, and women) that informs an unequal power dynamic between men and women. This power inequality is then consolidated in the traditional nuclear family formation (father; mother; children), which is proclaimed as the only desirable form of organizing personal life. However, as we well know, life is more complicated than this. Family constellations, include not only men and women and their direct offspring, but also children from previous relationships, mono-parental families, and those with different living arrangements. Besides, marriage equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other non-binary persons (in short, the LGBT+ community) is recognized by law in all these countries (in Sweden since 2009, in Denmark since 2012, and in Finland since 2017). These ideological foundations have determined how these parties have approached issues of gender equality and rights for the LGBT+ community, which materialized in their general opposition to enlarging abortion rights for women, providing in vitro fertility services on a need basis to all, or legislating for marriage equality, to name just a few. In this context, the discussion about migration manifests as a preoccupation with the defense of “our (Nordic) women” or “our LGBT+ community” from the attacks and advances of migrant men, and concern with the hierarchical distinction between “already gender equal” Nordics and the “backwardly patriarchal” migrants, which discloses a way of thinking inspired by ideas of racial hierarchies and white superiority.
The second challenge is represented by the type of voters and party members these ideological foundations have attracted. Electoral research in all these countries has come to a general conclusion: there is still a significant difference between men and women when it comes to voting preferences for right-wing populist parties. More clearly, although the differences have become less pronounced in recent elections, more men than women have voted for the right-wing parties across the Nordic countries. Several party leaders have admitted they are still struggling to package the policies, which their traditional and conservative ideological foundations inform, and make them more palatable to women voters. Another strategy to increase their share of the female vote has been to promote women party members to positions of visibility in the party, up to and including the role of party leader. The few women that have succeeded to become party leaders, may be regarded, in a very narrow sense, as pioneers of gender equality within the internal political structures, which are dominated by men who jealously guard their privileged positions. However, while in Denmark and more recently in Finland women have been elected at the helm of right-wing populist parties, they are still to break the infamous “glass ceiling” in Sweden. At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that the presence of women in key positions in right-wing populist parties does not mark an impetus for change in the ideological trajectory of these parties, towards a more inclusive or equal approach. If anything, the presence of women in these positions merely provides a less confrontational and more palatable front for the policies of these parties, which are still solidly anchored into the same old traditional and conservative understandings of gender.