Representing Women in Right-Wing Party Politics – Case of the Serbian Movement Dveri

Abstract

The objective of this article is to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the representation of women in the political right-wing Serbian Movement Dveri. The aim is to examine how women politicians advocate for women’s issues and gender equality within their public discourses. A further objective is to assess how women members of this party espouse anti-feminist and anti-gender attitudes in their public discourses, as a result of the impact of nationalist, conservative and patriarchal political ideology. This case study employs critical discourse analysis of party documents, speeches and interviews with women members and officeholders published on the official website of Dveri. The findings confirm that women politicians associated with this party utilize a range of strategies with the objective of attaining respectability and authority. One strategy involves the instrumentalization of family politics and motherhood, while another prioritizes issues such as national unity, national identity, and traditional values. The anti-gender and anti-feminist orientation is evident in all speeches and public statements. The primary conclusion of this study asserts that the utilization of women's political representation serves to legitimize right-wing populist political values and to reinforce the fundamental concepts of gender backsliding and de-democratization processes in Serbia.