Progressive or Not? How Authoritarian Left-Wing Incumbents Attack Women’s Rights

• In Event: The Political Dynamics of Progress and Backlash on Women’s and LGBT+ Rights

Abstract

In recent years, it has been noted that leaders who seek to erode democracy tend to undermine women’s rights. While research has been successful in examining this trend across the radical-right, less attention has been devoted to analyzing how left-wing leaders who seek to erode democracy can also adopt an anti-gender stance. In this paper, I argue that left-wing leaders who are attempting to consolidate power can also be detrimental to women’s rights. First, I present evidence that left-wing leaders are detrimental to women’s rights when attempting to consolidate power, as they will attempt to vilify feminist activism and undermine women’s rights organizations. This is done using text-analysis techniques in Mexico and Brazil. Second, I examine how voters respond to these actions using a survey experiment across Mexico. I show that voters do not punish these incumbents, providing them with leverage to continue with their attacks on democracy and women’s rights. I make an important contribution to the democratic backsliding literature by examining its gender dynamics. Additionally, I provide an important insight into why left-wing leaders may be detrimental to the advancement of women's rights under specific contexts.

Author

• Alejandra Lopez Villegas