Politics on Women under Populism and Autocratization

This analysis investigates the relationship between right-wing populism and women through illustrative examples from Turkey and Poland. The paper examines the transformative impact of the two ruling right-wing populist parties’ discourses on reproducing ‘us’ versus ‘them’ polarization through conservative, nationalist and patriarchal codes. It also looks into how the intersection of populism and autocratization seek to reverse women’s legal and constitutional rights and feminism’s emancipatory agenda, and the emergence of strong grassroots civic opposition by women in both countries.