Pia Kjærsgaard And The Danish People's Party Analysis

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In the article, “Charismatic female leadership and gender: Pia Kjærsgaard and the Danish People's Party” author Susi Meret reviews the political legacy of the infamous creator and leader of The Danish People's Party, Pia Kjærsgaard, through a gendered perspective. Throughout this article, Meret discusses how gender, indeed, shaped Kjærsgaard’s leadership style, her rhetoric, how the media portrayed her, and ultimately her political career.
Who is Pia Kjærsgaard
In my opinion, Pia Kjærsgaard is a very interesting woman. Meret states Kjærsgaard grew up in a family which had no real interest in politics. Furthermore, in Kjærsgaard’s own autobiography she stated that politics, “was not something her parents talked about at home” and that her family …show more content…

I think it highlights the challenges and criticisms women face in political leadership. One of the criticisms of Pia that stood out to me was that people believed she was too emotional and not rational enough to be a serious political leader. Although, even though I do not think Pia’s politics (Her xenophobia/anti-immigration views… among other things) are rational it is clear to me this was stated on a basis of gender. Certainly, this kind of critique is almost always aimed at female politicians and has become a universal criticism of women in political positions This is seen clearly during the 2016 election. Meaning, it was not uncommon for Hillary Clinton’s capacity to serve as president be challenged by the popular opinion she was “too emotional to lead” (This was also accompanied with the popular crude comment regarding that a woman's menstrual cycle makes her incapable of rational political decision making). Additionally, although I am not surprised by this, I think it's interesting in politics how well received the mom anti-feminist type female leader is received by the right-- particularly men on the right. I believe this is because men on the right (and men in general) feel empowered to be anti-feminist when the person encouraging this is a woman. Additionally, there are many women in American politics who have thrived under this persona including the likes of Sarah Palin and social media sensation Tomi