Abstract by Prof. Dr. Sarah Speck

Gender and family have always been important pillars in the normative ideas of radical conservatism. In recent years, gender issues have played a major role in public debate. For conservatives and the extreme right in particular, they have been of central importance. My commentary explores the reasons for this development. In order to understand why gender has become so important to right-wing politics, particularly for strategic reasons, I argue that, amongst others, we need to look at the social reality of what is now a supposedly gender equal world of work.