PROTECTING ‘EUROPA’

Abstract

This thesis explores how far-right populist parties use gender equality discourse to justify an exclusionary European identity. By examining the cases of Rassemblement National and Law and Justice, the thesis examines the extent to which these parties employ Femonationalism at the European level and whether they use European identity. The thesis employs Critical Discourse Analysis and expert interviews, with a theoretical framework of Femonationalism and Gender Regimes. The results show that Rassemblement National and Law and Justice frame gender equality through a narrow, protectionist lens, reducing it to the safeguarding of women, particularly from migrant-related violence, while rejecting broader feminist and structural perspectives. At the same time, they construct European identity as civilisational, moral, and exclusionary, positioning Europe as inherently gender-equal in contrast to ‘threatening others’, especially Muslim migrants. This discourse links gender equality to Europeanness, using it as a symbolic boundary that justifies restrictive migration policies, reinforces cultural hierarchies, and legitimises far-right political authority. The results show that, for far-right populist parties, gender equality has become a political instrument for creating boundaries of belonging in Europe.