The Hunger Games trilogy is well-known for its feminist protagonist Katniss Everdeen. However, one character stands out as her opposite, an embodiment of the oppression that can be perpetrated by extremist right-wing women in power – President Alma Coin.
She is the leader of District 13 who leads the rebellion against the authoritarian Capitol. But once the dust settles, she seizes power for herself and rules with equally repressive autocratic power. In this role, President Coin reinforces the status quo instead of overthrowing it; she climbs to the top of the ladder only to kick it out from under her.
This also bleeds over into our increasingly dystopian world, where President Coin is no longer just a fictional construct. The influence of women within modern right-wing movements – from grassroots activists to elected officials – is undeniable.
In her 1983 book Right-Wing Women, radical feminist Andrea Dworkin ponders: “Why do right-wing women agitate for their own subordination?”
With the recent global wave of success for conservatives and right-wing populists, this question is more prescient than ever, even 40 years later.
Their agendas have put women’s rights in the firing line, from the US Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 to Argentina scrapping their Ministry for Women last year. And in many countries, women are increasingly at the centre of this crusade.
The allure of authority
The political right has traditionally been a male-dominated space, but over time women’s involvement has steadily increased.
The BBC found that 45% of American women voted for Donald Trump in 2024. So, we need to understand what draws women to support right-wing parties and policies in the first place.
Helen Gilbert is a national organiser at Radical Women US, a socialist feminist activist group.
She says: “Some women (and other people) are very attracted by power — either the ability to exert their own power or by proximity to the men who are leading the far-right backlash.
She notes how this is true for women who come from privileged backgrounds as they can struggle to identify with those who suffer the under the oppressive and exclusive capitalist system. Instead, she explains how they may see themselves identifying more with the autocrats, as they see parallels with themselves.
“There are also women who see themselves as uniquely talented and gifted and feel that they are exempt from patriarchal systems that are fine for their less stellar sisters.
“Some see ‘their own interests’ as upholding racism, homophobia, gender oppression and reactionary religious concepts — which are all closely tied to keeping women and their bodies under control.”
In a similar vein, Dworkin argues in her book that the political right attempts both to exploit and quiet women’s deepest fears of male violence in order to control them.
Therefore, there are further causes which oppress their fellow women to reclaim some semblance of power within the patriarchal system.
The prevalence of high-profile female figures in right-wing movements also normalises the idea that other women can pledge their support.
Key figures
It seems counterintuitive that women would advocate for policies that undermine their own rights, but some of the most prominent figures of the modern right-wing are female.
The list is almost endless – Marine Le Pen in France, Giorgia Meloni in Italy, Pauline Hanson in Australia, Keiko Fujimori in Peru, and many more.
These women have a say over what laws they believe should be enacted, and others use their platforms to broadcast their agenda as far as possible.
Former Tory MP Maria Caulfield served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women under Rishi Sunak, despite having voted against both removing the ‘tampon tax’ on sanitary products and legalising abortion in Northern Ireland.
In the US, Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is an outspoken advocate for a nationwide abortion ban. She is also an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, despite a jury finding him liable for sexual abuse in 2023 and the numerous other sexual assault allegations against him.
Alice Weidel, the co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany, holds traditionalist social views such as opposing same-sex marriage and believing that the nuclear family is the best structure for raising children. Yet she is in a lesbian relationship and has adoptive children.
The disconnect between these women’s policy stances and the reality of their situations exposes the deep irony within right-wing politics – they seek to roll back the progress of gender equality that has allowed them to access such levels of authority in the first place.
Far-right feminism?
Could it be argued that these women are in fact being feminists? As President Coin demonstrates, this debate is highly nuanced.
On one hand, she defies patriarchal power structures by becoming the first female president of Panem, breaking the ‘glass ceiling’ which confronts women in real life and extends far beyond the political sphere. However, she is more than happy to manipulate Katniss and her role as a symbol of the rebellion for her own political gain.
“This approach diverges from feminist theories’ emphasis on disrupting gender norms, which creates a fundamental tension.
“For instance, radical feminists might argue that reinforcing traditional roles entrenches patriarchal structures, whereas conservatives may defend them as socially stabilising,” says Liz McGough.
McGough is a former lecturer in feminism at Liverpool John Moores University. She explains that right-wing ideologies often frame women’s issues within traditional roles – mothers, caregivers, or victims of violence.
“Another approach could be a non-partisan feminism centred on women’s shared experiences and focusing on universal concerns – such as bodily autonomy or protection from violence – without aligning with partisan agendas.
However she notes that this raises a critical question. She questions if feminism can “transcend political ideology when its core aim is to challenge power dynamics, which are inherently political?
“Moreover, multiracial feminism complicates this by underscoring how race, class, and other intersectional identities fragment women’s experiences.”
Indeed, almost all female figures on the right are white; there are only a few outliers, such as Candace Owens or Suella Braverman.
This further reinforces hegemonic values as issues are predominantly viewed through a lens of ‘whiteness’ that excludes the realities of what women from other races face.
The fightback
In a 2019 article, political professor Marion Trejo describes sisterhood and solidarity as “utopian ideals” – in a perfect world, all women would stand together in fighting for their rights.
The politicians we’ve discussed show that this isn’t a universal truth, but that doesn’t mean it’s a lost cause.
Achieving gender equality is an ongoing battle, as it has been for decades.
So, as long as there are women on the right trying to damage women’s rights, there will be countless women and their allies on the other side standing up to defend them.
Evidence of this fightback is clear to see – in the US, Republican strongholds like Missouri and Montana voted to expand abortion rights, even as Donald Trump was swept back into the White House last November.
In other words: for both sides, the campaign is far from over.
