Breathe
By Lourdes Encinas
In today's political landscape, one trend is challenging traditional patterns of power and gender: the rise of female leaders in far-right movements, especially in Europe.
Figures such as Giorgia Meloni in Italy, Marine Le Pen in France and Alice Weidel in Germany are the new faces of political currents historically dominated by men. Paradoxically, these movements defend patriarchal and conservative values, relegating women to the role of mother and wife.
However, their leadership is not just a symbolic issue. With them at the helm, their parties have grown exponentially, positioning themselves among the main political forces in France and Germany, and achieving power in Italy.
The rise of these women poses an apparent contradiction. On the one hand, they present themselves as symbols of female empowerment, challenging male-dominated structures and breaking glass ceilings. On the other, they promote traditional values, a rigid national identity and restrictive immigration policies.
Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy and leader of Brothers of Italy, has capitalized on her image as a single working mother, presenting herself as a Catholic, a defender of the traditional family and a staunch opponent of immigration. Although she rejects links with fascism, she has taken up the slogan used by Mussolini: "God, country, family".
In France, Marine Le Pen has softened the extremist image of the National Front, inherited from her father, and renamed it National Rally, presenting it as a respectable political option. However, her discourse remains markedly nationalist and anti-immigration.
Alice Weidel, in Germany, is perhaps the most paradoxical case. As leader of Alternative for Germany (AfD), she defends ultra-conservative positions despite being a homosexual woman in a relationship with an immigrant, with whom she has adopted two children. Her personal life directly contradicts the traditionalist ideology of her movement.
The question is inevitable: how do they reconcile their womanhood with ideologies that limit the female role in society?
Part of the answer lies in political strategy. Her feminine image softens public perception of parties with troubled pasts. Leadership like hers projects modernity and helps to disassociate herself from the aggressive stereotypes associated with historical fascism.
Italian historian Enzo Traverso uses the term post-fascism to describe today's ultra-right movements, which share the anti-feminist, xenophobic and homophobic matrix of the old fascism, but adapt their discourse to the modern era to broaden their electoral appeal.
For her part, British academic Sara R. Farris coined the term femininationalism to describe the strategy of nationalist organizations that hide behind some of the postulates of the feminist movement to conceal their misogyny and xenophobic positions.
Meloni, Le Pen and Weidel challenge traditional gender roles, but their rise does not represent a feminist victory. Rather, it is a demonstration of how their gender status has been instrumentalized to broaden the reach of the far right and connect with a diverse electorate.
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