Are young women also shifting to the right across Europe?

Across platforms such as Instagram or TikTok, it is becoming increasingly common to come across videos featuring women asking to be supported financially. Others take refuge in an aesthetic and daily life associated with the traditions of the housewife, often labelled ‘trad wife’ — something feminism has sought to combat for years.

But, why has this become trendy? “The question is not why it exists, but rather why it is so successful,” says Javier Carbonell, a political analyst at the European Politics and Institutions programme.

According to Carbonell’s study for the European Policy Centre (EPC), “A Room of One’s Own is all you can afford: Why young women are moving to the far right”, far-right parties across Europe have seen a narrowing of the gender gap among their voters, as the proportion of women voters has increased. Whereas, in 2018, women accounted for 15% of far right supporters, by 2023 the figure had risen to 20%.

Carbonell says that “they are moving towards the far right at a slower pace”, a trend driven in recent years by socio-economic factors. “It stems from disillusionment with the unfulfilled promise of economic independence. Now that they have achieved it, the economic situation means they are not getting much out of it,” he explains.

Expectation versus reality

They see the promises of feminism as unfulfilled, with an economic system that prevents them from having everything they were promised. The difficulty of accessing the labour and housing markets, under increasingly precarious conditions for young people, also means the future fails to live up to expectation.

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Although some young women are drawn to these ideals, women continue to lead the vote for the left in Europe

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Data shows that only 37% of Spanish women say they feel confident about their own financial literacy and barely 33% feel financially supported in the workplace in terms of equal pay or access to a company pension scheme, according to Mastercard’s second Women and Finances study in 2023. This frustration, combined with social media messaging, has fostered support for a return to tradition and a spike in popularity of far-right values among young people.

Ultimately, it is not just about returning to the past but about reclaiming the aspirations and aesthetics of those times. Consider the rise of the divine in Rosalía’s LUX, the popularity of the Catholic youth movement Hakuna filling Madrid's Movistar Arena, or the fantastical appeal of lazy girl jobs — such as working on OnlyFans — as a fast track to achieving unattained prosperity. “It is built up to be an escape route from a challenging economic landscape,” explains Carbonell.

Although some young women are drawn to these ideals, women continue to lead the vote for the left in Europe. For example, in Croatia, the most voted-for party among 18- to 29-year-olds in the 2024 general election was the left-wing green coalition Možemo! (21.7%). However, the centre-right and right-wing bloc (comprising HDZ, DP and Most) managed to attract a larger share of the youth vote overall, according to Croatian media outlet H-Alter.org.

In terms of gender, according to Ipsos data, right-wing parties such as the Homeland Movement (DP) and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) have a predominantly male support base.

Meanwhile, left-wing parties rely more on votes from women: 59% of Možemo! voters and 51.9% of SDP voters are women, with a widening gap.

The other route to political disaffection

Ultimately, the situation is similar across Europe. Research published in the Journal of European Public Policy from Toni Rodon (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and experts from the London School of Economics and Humboldt University of Berlin, reveals that the success of these parties among younger voters continues to be driven by men, with 21% support among men in 2024 compared to 14% among women.

In a context where 80% of young Spaniards do not feel heard by the political class according to the España 2023 Report, political disaffection manifests itself in two main ways: abstention or the far right.

79% of young Spaniards under the age of 24 did not vote in the 2024 European Parliament elections, whilst those aged between 25 and 39 achieved a 65% turnout. This was a historic figure, according to Eurobarometer.

Furthermore, 43% of young Europeans distrusted democracy as an efficient political system, according to the TUI Foundation’s ‘Young Europe’ survey. Many experts observe that reaching the boiling point of questioning democracy is a response to a status quo defined by economic instability, job insecurity, a housing crisis and a turbulent geopolitical context. “It is normal to want to oppose the establishment and be part of a counter-narrative; what we used to call Podemos is now Vox,” states Carbonell.

This scenario is playing out elsewhere in Europe. This is the case in Bulgaria, which, in the run up to elections on Sunday 19 April, recalls past elections where the highest youth vote (21.5%) went to the MECh (Sword) party, led by Radostin Vassilev, a staunch defender of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s policies and an opponent of military aid to Ukraine.

"Traditionally, young people in Bulgaria are the least active age group on election day. Over the years, it has become clear that voters aged 18 to 29 tend to support insurgent political movements. Their vote is often a protest vote, directed against the established political order,” says Dimitar Ganev, political analyst and director of the Bulgarian polling agency Trend, when speaking to Mediapool.

Is it a mirage?

Ireland is also experiencing growing political disaffection, which recently manifested itself in a record number of spoiled ballots during the presidential elections last year. According to The Journal, almost 13% of ballots were spoiled, a figure that drastically exceeds the previous high set in 1945, driven by a social media campaign following the failure of conservative campaigner Maria Steen to get enough nominations to enter the ballot.

This discontent was particularly evident among young men aged 18 to 34, a group in which one in four voters chose to spoil their ballot as a form of protest. An exit poll conducted during the presidential election revealed that a significant number of these voters leaned to the right, and 68% of them stated they would have voted for Maria Steen. However, despite the growth in support for these movements among young people, the country does not appear to have shifted drastically to the right.

In previous polls, 83% of voters aged 18 to 34 supported Catherine Connolly and parties such as Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats continue to lead the polls among this group. Whilst right-wing parties such as Aontú and Independent Ireland register 7% and 5% support respectively, the majority of young people maintain their preference for left-wing and centre-left coalitions.

The same is true in Greece, where young people aged 17 to 34 are particularly critical of the functioning of their democracy, giving it an average score of just 3.23 out of 10, according to the study ‘Unmute Democracy’ by the Eteron Institute. Yet, in Greece, the right continues to receive lower levels of support from young people compared to the national average – around 28% in the 2023 elections.

Ultimately, it is all formed of the same ecosystem where politics is consumed as content and identity is shaped by algorithms, with the constant influence of a difficult socio-economic context. Even so, as fresh elections come along, the outcome remains uncertain and changeable. It remains to be seen whether this conservative shift is a fleeting trend born of discontent or the start of a new political cycle that is here to stay beyond one single parliamentary term.

👉 Original article in El Confidencial

🤝 This article is part of the PULSE project, a European initiative to promote transnational journalistic cooperation. Marina Kelava (H-Alter, Croatia), Krasen Nikolov (Mediapool, Bulgaria) and Lena Kyriakidi (Efsyn, Greece) have contributed to its production.