Gender, right-wing populism, and immigrant integration policies in France, 1989–2012

Abstract

Immigrant integration has been on the political agenda in France since at least the late 1980s, yet starting in the early 2000s this issue became bound up with concerns about the oppression of minority women. This article examines the evolution of the issue over two decades, pinpointing when and why debates over integration took on a gendered cast. The article’s explanation centres on two factors – the growing threat of the Front National coupled with the legitimation of gender-based claims in French politics. These claims were embraced by conservative politicians seeking to adopt a harder line toward immigration and led to the refashioning of core Republican concepts such as égalité and laïcité as being about gender equality. The use of similar themes by the Front National as it has sought to move in from the political fringe reveals how gendered claims can be deployed in an effort to keep anti-immigrant policies within the boundaries of liberal values.

Keywords:

• France
• integration
• immigration
• Front National
• Conservative parties
• gender equality

Acknowledgements

Previous versions of this article benefited from the insightful comments of Cybelle Fox, Tom Guglielmo, Lisel Hintz, Michèle Lamont, Liza Mügge, Bruno Palier, Vilna Bashi Treitler, and seminar participants at the Columbia University Women and Society Seminar, Erasmus University Rotterdam, George Washington University, Harvard University, the Max Planck Sciences Po Centre, and New York University. I also thank the editors of this special section and two anonymous reviewers for their probing feedback, and the CCAS Enhanced Travel Award of George Washington University for financial support.

Notes

1. The FN fits Mudde’s definition of a populist radical right party.

2. Exceptions include Bonjour (2010) and Roggeband and Lettinga (2014).

3. The first council (1989–1994) had 10 members; subsequent councils had 20–22 members. In 1995, a second woman was added to the Council, and the Socialist government appointed several women after 1997.

4. EU citizens and others coming from rich democracies generally are exempt.

5. Code de l’entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d’asile [The Code of Entry and Residence of Foreigners and the Right to Asylum], 25 July 2006.