Unholy Alliance? Ordinary Religious Christian Women's Responses to Rodrigo Duterte's Gendered Populism

Abstract

An unholy alliance between populism and patriarchy is on the rise. As populist leaders gain power, they also use it to invoke patriarchal norms aimed against women and other gender minorities. Gendered populism manifests worldwide but most especially in the Philippines. Since Rodrigo Duterte's electoral victory in 2016, his speeches and actions have deepened patriarchal, sexist, and misogynist norms embedded in Philippine society. Despite this, he continues to enjoy a high level of public support even among women. Scholars have offered various explanations for Duterte's popularity. This exploration of how different publics perceive and respond to Duterte's populism serves as the take-off point of this research. This study extends existing conversations by focusing on two presently underexplored areas: women in the religious sector and the gendered nature of Duterte's populism. This article pays attention to this particular question: how do ordinary religious Christian women perceive and respond to Duterte's gendered populism? In this article, we show how gendered Christian theology informs how they embrace or reject the president’s sexist and misogynist rhetoric. Ordinary religious Christian women draw from diverse and conflicting traditions of church and biblical teachings to either legitimize or protest Duterte's gendered populism. In embracing gendered populist politics, they find justifications from traditional gender roles prescribed by Christian doctrines. In rejecting it, they draw from the same doctrines espousing the equality of sexes. But despite this difference, they similarly endorse a "spiritual" rather than a "public" response from their churches. Personal spiritual interventions are believed to be the most effective way in influencing the president’s behavior. The choice of religious frames matter in the responses of ordinary religious Christian women to gendered populism.