Women increasingly drawn to right-wing populist parties, study shows | Germany| News and in-depth reporting from Berlin and beyond | DW

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  • Right-wing populists are often depicted as angry white men. A new study, however, has found that women are increasingly supporting right-wing populist parties, and they are often more radical than their male peers.

    Women increasingly drawn to right-wing populist parties, study shows | Germany| News and in-depth reporting from Berlin and beyond | DW | 30.08.2018
    https://www.dw.com/en/women-increasingly-drawn-to-right-wing-populist-parties-study-shows/a-45284465?maca=en-Twitter-sharing

    Aggressive far-right protesters took to the streets of Chemnitz this week demanding authorities take a tougher stance on migrants in Germany. Most of those in attendance were male, but a few women could occasionally be spotted in the crowd.

    Indeed, most people tend to picture the prototypical supporter of Germany’s far-right PEGIDA movement and right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as angry white men. But that’s not entirely accurate, according to a new study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), which is affiliated with Germany’s center-left Social Democratic Party. The report, which examines right-wing populist voters in Germany, France, Greece, Poland, Sweden and Hungary, found that women are increasingly drawn to right-wing populist parties.

    What makes these parties appealing to women?

    Right-wing populist parties tend to propagate an anachronistic image of femininity. However, that did not stop some 17 percent of women in eastern Germany from casting their ballot in favor of the AfD during the country’s 2017 parliamentary election; 8 percent of women in western Germany did likewise. And in Poland, more women than men voted for the ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party in the country’s 2015 election.