Populist Female MPs and the Discourse around Gender and Gender-based Violence in the Italian Twittersphere during the Pandemic

Recent research exploring the relationships between gender and populism has shown that populist parties, mainly right-wing, usually do not advance a womenfriendly agenda and do not provide women-favorable environments. Nevertheless, concerns about women’s rights and combating violence against women are gaining space within populist discourse. In this contribution, we analyze the tweets of populist female MPs in the Italian Parliament to explore their discourse on gender issues, paying particular attention to gender-based violence and the internal differences in the discourse of populist female MPs. The results show how right-wing female MPs promote a “right-wing” version of women’s rights, especially when dealing with gender-based violence. The results also point out the differences in populist discourse on gender and gender-based violence in different varieties of populism.