Women and Politics in Populist Times. A Case Study: the 2018 Electoral Campaign

Modern political cultures are rapidly reshaping themselves along with globalized social and economic change. In many countries the economic crisis seems to have also challenged political and institutional authority as well as their decisional capacity, creating a climate of uncertainty and distrust that seems to represent a threat for the democratic fiber of these nations. Social and political scientists are registering a shift in the role of political parties, and new actors and “milieus” appear on the decision-making scene. A populist tide has arisen worldwide affecting political cultures and praxes as well as models of political leadership and keywords of the political debate. If we look at the cross-national data, we find that populism does not necessarily exclude women from political leadership or participation. From Evita Peron’s call for women’s vote and activism back in 1947’s Argentina to Sarah Palin in the U.S. 2008 Republican’s presidential campaign to the Italian 5 Star Movements women mayor in two major cities such as Rome and Turin, populisms do not seem to disdain women in leading political position. What we do find is that, nonetheless, populism can and usually does entail a return to traits of macho culture, legitimating and re-proposing traditional feminine or even motherly roles for women. A cultural topos that is partially affecting even non- populist, progressive parties. In this work we analyze how women in politics and women’s issues are being addressed in the political debate during the latest Italian Electoral Campaign (2018) when, in spite of the fact that more women have been candidate as members of parliament -and more women have won- compared to any previous Italian election, there has been a drawback in the targeting of feminist and feminine issues during the whole campaign