Are Conservatism and Feminism Mutually Exclusive in Belgium?

Research on gender and politics has long supported the idea that conservatism and feminism do not abide well. But are conservatism and feminism necessarily that far apart? In our study of voters’ attitudes and behaviour at the occasion of the 2009 regional elections in Flanders, we analyze (1) to what extent citizens combine feminist and conservative attitudes, and (2) whether this combination of attitudes steers citizen’s voting behaviour. Our results indicate that although feminism and conservatism are negatively correlated, they are not mutually exclusive. Up to one fourth of the Flemish voters unites feminist with conservative attitudes. This combination furthermore steers voting behaviour and directs voters to the right end of the political spectrum. We conclude that the relatively high amount of voters combining feminist and conservative views constitutes an interesting electoral pool for parties on the right, although they do not always manage to capitalize on this potential.