The Far Right and Women’s Rights: Independent

Voters select candidates for many reasons including economic and security issues. Women make up the majority of registered voters in many nations, yet large numbers support candidates who display misogynistic streaks. Far-right candidates are gaining traction. “From the parliamentary gains of far-right populist parties in Europe to those authoritarian demagogues that have gained power at the national level – such as in Brazil, Hungary, Poland, Turkey, the Philippines and the US – it is neither hyperbolic nor fearmongering to say the far right is growing,” explains Maya Oppenheim in an essay for the Independent. “But these far-right leaders and the movements which are becoming increasingly emboldened – and legitimised – by their electoral success subscribe to a dangerously conspiratorial view of feminism, plagued by needless paranoia and mistrust that paints all feminists as misandrists, and sees feminism as an intrinsically toxic ideology vying for world domination at the expense of men’s needs, desires and goals.” Governments that depend on population growth for economic growth impose policies that curtail reproductive rights as well as labor protections for women. Men in power worry about women’s gains in education and the quest by some for equal distribution of power. – YaleGlobal