French women voters swing sharply to far right

4 months ago 2

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Europe’s far-right voters have long been predominantly men, but French women are now bucking that trend ahead of a high-stakes election that could usher in France’s first far-right government in recent history.

Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally is tipped to win the most votes in a two-round snap election on June 30 and July 7 that could crush the liberal centrists of President Emmanuel Macron, and women are increasingly driving her party’s surging political fortunes as it seeks to position itself in the mainstream.

On EU election day this month, the National Rally came first with a stunning 31 percent of the French vote, up from 23 percent in the 2019 EU election.

The most eye-catching aspect of this swing to the far right concerned women voters, according to an election-day poll that OpinionWay carried out for the Les Echos newspaper.

In 2019, 25 percent of men and 21 percent of women voted for National Rally — in line with traditional patterns. This year, however, the poll found that 33 percent of women had voted for Le Pen’s far-right party, outpacing 30 percent of men. That’s a striking 12 percentage point increase from women voters over five years.

The closing of the gender gap sets the National Rally apart from anti-immigration parties in other big EU countries.

In Germany, the Alternative for Germany party received 19 percent of men’s votes and 12 percent of women’s votes, according to a June 9 exit poll. In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy received 30.5 percent of men’s votes compared to 27 percent of women’s votes, according to the Demopolis Institute.

This has not gone unnoticed among France’s far-right politicians. Indeed, for years the far right has sought to portray itself as a defender of women’s rights, partly by conflating the issue with its political campaigns against migrants and the dangers of Islamism.

Bristling at the suggestion his party would be bad for women’s rights, Jordan Bardella, the National Rally’s 28-year-old leader, took to social media this week to tell women he’d be a “prime minister who guarantees the rights and freedoms of every woman and girl in France.”

In a video Bardella argued that his party supported advances for women’s rights, from medical support to protection for women suffering domestic abuse. He also said he’d deport “foreign delinquents and criminals” and introduce stricter sentences for violence against women.

“No woman should ever have to fear going out into the streets of our country, whatever the time of day or night,” he said.

His video fits with the National Rally’s new political platform, which is tailored toward “protecting French citizens who are worried about their individual fragility,” said Erwan Lestrohan, research director for Odoxa, a French polling company.

For National Rally voters, security “is profoundly interpreted as threats linked to immigration,” he said. “In fact, these two themes are interlocked.”

But the party defines the notion of “protection” more broadly, applying it not only to security but also to health, employment and living conditions — a wider gamut of topics that resonate with female voters, he said.

Bardella has transformed the party from a group with a far-right voter base to a “catch-all party … with the support that goes with it,” he argued.

Since taking the reins of the party and representing it in presidential elections, Le Pen has also played a role, advancing to the run-off in two of her three presidential runs and making significant strides with women voters.

“What really drove Marine Le Pen’s electoral take-off was her success in attracting the female electorate,” said Nonna Mayer, a political scientist who specializes in the French far right.

Le Pen’s father, former party leader and five-time presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen, was “rejected” by women who were put off by his “sexist” and “boorish” attitude, Mayer said. “Once Marine Le Pen became the candidate, women started voting [for the National Rally] in the same proportions as men.”

Women’s rights used against migration

Bardella, the National Rally’s candidate for prime minister in the upcoming French elections, joined the party under Le Pen’s leadership and, like her, pushed for the party’s “de-demonization.” In his first speech as party president he promised a “renewed, feminized” leadership.

Bardella has also leveraged women’s rights to target some of the party’s bugbears: immigration and Islam. “Our European values will always be outstandingly superior to those which enslave women, imprison them behind headscarves,” he said in a speech before the European Parliament last year.

With the far right now in a position to grab power, feminist organizations are positioning themselves against Le Pen, Bardella and their allies.

In a statement, the Women’s Foundation, one of the largest French NGOs defending women’s rights, called on voters to “stop the far right” and “vote massively for a future of emancipation.”

Carlo Martuscelli contributed reporting

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