When gender does not matter in the success of a female leader: the case of Giorgia Meloni and Fratelli d’Italia

Consistent with the gender affinity literature, the presence of a female party leader can eradicate the radical-right gender gap. However, we argue that the political agenda of the candidate and her party plays a greater role in attracting the female vote than any identitarian appeal. In this article, we test whether sharing personal characteristics with Meloni (that is, being a parent, a Christian and morally conservative) reinforced support for Meloni and Fratelli d’Italia (FdI) among women more than among men in the 2022 Italian national election. In doing so, we go beyond the sole category of gender to investigate whether a gender gap persists within specific subcategories of women and men. Data come from the Italian National Election Study (Itanes) 2022 survey, analysing both the evaluation of Meloni as party leader and propensity to vote for FdI. Overall, the results do not support the expectation of a relatively higher consensus for Giorgia Meloni and FdI among women who are mothers, religious and morally traditional.