Men’s parties with women leaders: A comparative study of the right-wing populist leaders Pia Kjærsgaard, Marine Le Pen and Siv Jensen

Based on a theoretical framework outlined by the role of women in politics and gendered constructions of female politicians, this chapter looks at: 1) how female populist leaders represent themselves; and 2) how mainstream media coverage represents them in politics. This dual emphasis creates the backdrop for a fruitful comparative analysis of right-wing populist women leaders’ representations and self-representations in Western Europe and allows us to address issues that refer to gendered representations and stereotypes of feminine and masculine nature and relationships to hegemonic masculinities in politics (e.g. Messerschmidt 2010).