L'extrême droite contre les femmes, by Jo de Leeuw and H. Peemans-Poulet (eds.)

by Maxime Durand · International Viewpoint No. 278, June 1996 · p 33 · 196 words

Where this article begins and ends was corrected by hand; the text itself is still machine-read: on 4 November 2026 the Book Notes page of no.278 was split into 4 records, one per review or notice, cut from the machine reading at the scan's headings; signed 'Reviewed by Maxime Durand'; the others are Roberto Montoya's (reprinted from El Viejo Topo), an unsigned note on Neil Simpson's Macedonia and Jan Malewski's review of Daniel Künzi's film

L'extrême droite contre les femmes, Jo de Leeuw and H. Peemans-

Poulet (Eds.), Editions Luc Pire,

Brussels, 1995

This collection of papers presented at a recent seminar on Women and the Extreme Right organised in Brussels is an exhaustive analysis of the rôle of "the woman question" in far-right ideology (Hugo Gijsels) and the attraction of a number of women to these extremist views (Ann Carton on Belgium's Vlaams Blok, Fiammetta Venner on the far-right electorate in France).

How to unravel this paradox? Colette Guillaumin demonstrates the negative side to naturalism, the "common religion' of a left-wing which has ignored women's viewpoint. Magda Michelsens argues that a culturalist approach can challenge the traditionalist ideology of the far right. While Bérengère Marques-Pereira shows the slide from nationalism to anti-feminism as a key pole of right-extremist ideology.

Back on more familiar, but no less important ground, Michel Husson outlines the economic and social crisis which underlies the growth in extremist views. Hedwige Peemans-Poulet looks in detail at the fiscal and social reforms which, in the context of this crisis, have helped cultivate a familycentred ideology, aiming to persuade women to remain in the kitchen.

Reviewed by Maxime Durand