The Political Economy of Femonationalism

In recent years nationalist-xenophobic parties but also neo-liberal governments across Europe have increasingly deployed notions related to gender equality in order to depict male Muslim citizens - and male non-Western migrants more in general - as unable to respect women's rights. Recent discourses about multiculturalism and integration have correspondingly been strongly marked by demands for migrants to adapt to Western culture and values; one of the essential items in such a list of values being gender equality. The mobilization and instrumentalisation of the notion of gender and women's emancipation, thus, constitutes one of the most important aspects that characterize the current political conjuncture. Furthermore, this mobilization has divided feminist intellectuals and activists in particular, leading to a strong dichotomization. In order to address the discursive formation" that brings together the heterogeneous anti-Islam and anti-(male)immigrant concerns of nationalist parties, of some feminists and of neo-liberal governments under the idea of gender equality, I propose to employ the term "Femonationalism". Furthermore, the aim of this article is to account for the various attempts to employ "gender" in contemporary discussions of migrants' and particularly Muslims' integration with a "political-economic" perspective. In doing so, I hope to open a discussion about a dimension, i.e. the political-economic one, which has been either overlooked or insufficiently analysed.