Gender and women in the Front National discourse and policy: from 'mothers of the nation' to 'working mothers'?

Abstract

This article explores the gendered dimensions of the populist radical right discourse and policy by considering the Front national in France. The article shows how the Front national has progressively moved from a 'traditional' to a 'modern traditional' approach to issues of gender, women's work, and the family. The core of the Front national policy and ideology has remained stable over time, with regard to the interconnected issues of gender and of immigration. However, there is a significant move from the celebration of women as 'mothers of the nation', prevalent in the party until the 1990s, to an emphasis on 'working mothers' in Marine Le Pen's discourse. The article also analyses the ambivalence of Marine Le Pen's party discourse on gender, as well as the discrepancies between the party discourse and its political programme. This ambivalence mirrors the internal conflicts between the leadership and the conservative Catholic faction. This evolution of the Front national discourse on gender is linked to the party history and internal politics as well as to broader long-term social changes in French society. The French populist radical right party 1 (henceforth PRR), the Front national (henceforth FN), is undergoing a major transition, as shown by intense media visibility and growing scholarly literature 2. Marine Le Pen, who took over from her father Jean-Marie Le Pen as FN president in 2011, has engaged in an enterprise of 'modernisation' and 'de-demonisation'

The body politic: Gender, the right wing and ‘identity category violations’

“…Yet, some traditional Front national themes remain strong in her language, including her critique of European integration, a strong nationalist stance, and finally a deep suspicion of Islam (but, notably, by adopting for the first time in FN rhetoric the language of "la laïcité" which has historically been a theme of the left). (See: Beauzamy, 2013: 182;Scrinzi, 2017. ) Yet, Le Pen's self-presentation and the cultural and media understanding of her extend, in a number of significant ways, the discourses around women on the far right articulated by Lesselier.…”

“…She is thus not fully allowed to be a self-defined individual, but limited by the language of biological female roles and playing on the stereotypical notion discussed by Lesselier that feminine political ambition is modelled on domestic/ family dynamics. In a recent article on the Front national's attitudes to women under Marine Le Pen, Francesca Scrinzi has argued persuasively that, while the association between woman and mother remains strong for the party, its female leader has attempted to nudge its members from seeing women as "mothers of the nation" to seeing them as "working mothers" (Scrinzi, 2017).…”

“…Marine Le Pen has insisted on marketing herself as ideologically more culturally liberal than the party’s previous official position with regard to issues including abortion, gay rights and the condemnation of anti-Semitism (albeit often by omission of comment on these issues, rather than by direct statements of support for them). Yet, some traditional Front national themes remain strong in her language, including her critique of European integration, a strong nationalist stance and a deep suspicion of Islam (but, notably, by adopting for the first time in FN rhetoric the language of ‘la laïcité’ which has historically been a theme of the left) (see Beauzamy, 2013: 182; Scrinzi, 2017).…”

When right meets left: on the progressive rhetoric of far-right populist parties in Europe

“…4 As to homosexuality, he called it a 'biological and social anomaly' and stated that 'there are no queens in the National Front' (Murdock, 2017). Well into the 1990s, the RN depicted women as 'mothers of the nation' with important family responsibilities (Scrinzi, 2017). Strong women in the political sphere could be admired, but then they should probably not be considered women.…”

Populism, ontological insecurity and Hindutva: Modi and the masculinization of Indian politics

“…Such cultural memorization can, in ontological security terms, securitize subjectivity by specifying the indeterminate nature of ontological security as a need that actors believe they have in order for them to experience a notion of (fictional) wholeness and mastery of self. But it can also offer a sense of risk, adventure, excitement and danger, as well as fulfilling a desire for vengeance, thereby contributing to specific masculine attachments (and a masculinization of politics [see Scrinzi 2017]) that provide bonds and comradeship, and an emotional pull to act in the face of injustice (Silke 2008).…”