Gender Equality and Radical Right Wing Populist Parties a Comparative Study Between the Netherlands and Sweden
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Gender Equality and Radical Right Wing Populist Parties A comparative study between the Netherlands and Sweden Clara Marlijn Meijer 3904067 RMA Gender and Ethnicity Utrecht University First supervisor prof. dr. Anne-Marie Korte Second supervisor dr. Mia Liinason February - July 2015 ! 2 Gender Equality and Radical Right Wing Populist Parties A comparison study between the Netherlands and Sweden Clara Marlijn Meijer student nr. 3904067 Final Thesis for the RMA Gender and Ethnicity Graduate Genderstudies Programme Department of Media and Culture Studies Faculty of the Humanities Utrecht University, the Netherlands First supervisor: prof. dr. Anne-Marie Korte Second supervisor: dr. Mia Liinason ! 3! ! 4 Preface Equality is a term that I have been raised with. As a woman, with two older brothers at my side, I have been encouraged to see, and have, the same opportunities. At the age of 17 I began travelling abroad during my bachelor in journalism. I learned to acknowledge that the gender equality, which I had experienced, was not standard for everyone. This was also not the case in my own home country the Netherlands. Fascinated and challenged by this, I began to read feminist books and articles and started following news about human and women’s rights. In my third year, I decided to do a minor in gender studies, in Istanbul. From there, I decided to specialize in gender studies as a research journalist. During the last two years of my research master, Gender and Ethnicity, I have been focusing, more and more, on the growing right-wing political parties in Northern Europe. During my research internship in Gothenburg, I read a lot on gender equality and the ways this was implemented in governmental policies. The combination of gender equality and right-wing political parties began to fascinate me. What kind of gender equality is promoted by right-wing political parties? Especially, when keeping in mind the growing debate on Islam and migrants. Of course, these questions have a lot to do with my own position. I am not neutral towards right-wing politics. Their campaigns against the Islam are not in line with my view of the world. However, I believe that negativity does not get someone any further. Therefore, I wanted to thoroughly analyze the SD and the PVV. Amongst other approaches, I wanted to work with transversal politics, challenging myself, and my own position as a researcher. I would like to thank everybody who have helped me during this process. In particular, I want to thank Mia Liinason for the inspiration, which led me to start this thesis. I want to thank both of my supervisors Anne-Marie Korte and Mia Liinason for their support and feedback. I want to thank both of my parents for the support during my whole masters and especially my father during the last stressful, though productive, days, finishing my thesis. Last but not least, I want to thank Pieter Vullers for his mental support during the whole process. ! 5! Table of contents PREFACE'............................................................................................................................................................'5! TABLE'OF'CONTENTS'....................................................................................................................................'6! INTRODUCTION'...............................................................................................................................................'9! RESEARCH!QUESTIONS!AND!HYPOTHESES!...................................................................................................................!10! METHODS'AND'METHODOLOGY'.............................................................................................................'12! CHAPTER'1:'THE'PROMOTION'OF'GENDER'EQUALITY'...................................................................'15! INTRODUCTION!TO!SWEDEN!DEMOCRATS!AND!PARTY!FOR!FREEDOM!................................................................!15! The$Sweden$Democrats$.............................................................................................................................................$17! The$Party$For$Freedom$.............................................................................................................................................$20! THE!NOTION!OF!NATIONALISM!......................................................................................................................................!23! THE!NOTION!OF!GENDER!EQUALITY!WITHIN!SWEDISH!AND!DUTCH!POLICIES!.....................................................!25! Gender$equality$in$Sweden$......................................................................................................................................$26! National!concept!of!gender!equality!..................................................................................................................................................!26! Decision!making!bodies!..........................................................................................................................................................................!27! Gender$equality$in$the$Netherlands$.....................................................................................................................$28! National!concept!of!gender!equality!..................................................................................................................................................!28! Decision!making!bodies!..........................................................................................................................................................................!28! THE!USE!OF!GENDER!EQUALITY!WITHIN!THE!PARTIES!..............................................................................................!30! Sweden$Democrats$......................................................................................................................................................$30! The$Party$For$Freedom$.............................................................................................................................................$36! CONCLUSION:!A!COMPARISON!OF!THE!ANALYSIS!........................................................................................................!40! CHAPTER'2:'THE'PROMOTION'OF'GENDER'EQUALITY'...................................................................'45! THE!NOTION!OF!TRANSVERSAL!POLITICS!....................................................................................................................!45! INVDEPTH!ANALYSIS!OF!THE!PROMOTION!OF!GENDER!EQUALITY:!PRODUCING!DISCOURSES!.............................!48! Sweden$Democrats$......................................................................................................................................................$49! The$Party$For$Freedom$.............................................................................................................................................$57! THE!GROWING!RIGHT!WINGS!WITHIN!NORTHERN!EUROPE!AND!‘THE!WAR!ON!TERROR’!..................................!65! CONCLUSION!.....................................................................................................................................................................!68! CHAPTER'3:'A'RELATION'TO'THE'VOTERS?'.......................................................................................'71! CATEGORICAL!COMPLEXITY!INTERSECTIONAL!ANALYSIS!.........................................................................................!71! Voters$For$the$Sweden$Democrats$........................................................................................................................$74! Datasets!on!population!............................................................................................................................................................................!77! Datasets!on!family!.....................................................................................................................................................................................!81! Datasets!on!education!..............................................................................................................................................................................!84! Datasets!on!occupation!...........................................................................................................................................................................!85! Voters$For$The$Party$For$Freedom$.......................................................................................................................$86! Datasets!on!population!............................................................................................................................................................................!86! Datasets!on!family!.....................................................................................................................................................................................!88! Datasets!on!education!..............................................................................................................................................................................!89! Datasets!on!occupation!...........................................................................................................................................................................!90! INTERSECTIONAL!CONTEXTUAL!ANALYSIS!..................................................................................................................!91!