Gendering Democratic Resistance to Authoritarianism: Leni Robredo’s Presidential Campaign

Abstract

Abstract Women-led democratic movements in repressive contexts confront gendered discourses at the nexus of authoritarianism and patriarchy. However, the role of gender in resistance to authoritarian populism remains understudied. Additionally, less is known about how women in new democracies resist, outside Western feminist discourse. Through a discursive view of resistance, we examine how a Filipina presidential candidate draws on gendered discourses to enact democratic resistance during her electoral campaign. Cosmopolitan discourses of gender equality and traditional discourses of motherhood were employed across various junctures of the campaign. While the former asserts Robredo’s political worthiness independent of her late husband, the latter frames social reforms within a relational language of maternal care. The “radical love” discourse transcends binaries of the two, mobilizing an electoral campaign at the crossroads of patriarchy and authoritarianism. Findings hold implications for contemporary psychologies of gendered political resistance in the contexts of new and hybrid democracies.