Women’s Support for UKIP: Exploring Gender, Nativism, and the Populist Radical Right (PRR)

Abstract

In her chapter on the UK Independence Party (UKIP), Erin Sanders-McDonagh explores the views of female UKIP supporters and adds to existing literature on the importance of nativism within the populist radical right (PRR). Nativism has often been seen as a key factor in determining electoral support for PRR parties, and women in this sample are clearly attracted to UKIP as a result of their adherence to nativist ideas. Drawing on in-depth interview data, she argues that women who support UKIP interpolate nativism in highly gendered ways—with Muslim women specifically seen to be a threat to ‘British’ culture and values. She looks at the shift from the 2014 UKIP Manifesto to the 2017 Manifesto, drawing attention to the ways in which Islamophobic sentiments creep in. Sanders-McDonagh highlights the consonance in the official discourses of UKIP and the anti-Muslim expressions in the interview data and argues that examining these shifts in political ideologies can reveal important aspects of the nature of gendered political dynamics.