#Thebestwoman(s). Religion, Secularization and Conservatism in the Femininities of the Spanish Radical Populist Right

During the celebration of International Women's Day (8M) in 2021, Carla Toscano, a member of the far-right Spanish party Vox, supported a campaign promoted by the Catholic Association of Propagandists (ACdP) on social media and in the streets. The campaign presented the Virgin Mary as #TheBestWoman: “devoted, attentive, sweet, generous, strong, helpful, modest, faithful, prayerful, guide, companion, wife, mother, queen”. Billboards in over 30 Spanish municipalities displayed the beginning of the Hail Mary with "8M" as the headline, a purple background, with the words "women" and "mother" underlined.

This campaign was part of the far-right party’s anti-feminist agenda during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has become central to its ideology and political strategy. Vox has positioned itself as one of the main opponents of feminism and legislative advances in gender equality, consistently rejecting all laws and measures that stem from what they call “gender ideology.”

However, the femininities and other gender roles promoted by Vox—and especially represented by its voters—are not limited to the religious and traditional forms characteristic of ultra-conservative Catholicism. Alongside these, other models of femininity have emerged, shaped by processes of secularization, modernization, and innovation, which align with the party’s nativist and traditionalist ultranationalism. This diversification in the forms of femininity accepted within the party has simultaneously allowed for a more complex opposition to public policies promoted by feminism in areas such as work, sexuality, and education.

In this study, we will explore the party's diverse opposition to equality policies, drawing on digital ethnography, 16 in-depth interviews, and 3 focus groups with young Vox voters. First, we will review the literature on Vox’s conceptions of gender and its politics. Then, we will demonstrate, through empirical material, how their electorate reinterprets and re-elaborates certain religious and traditional assumptions.