My research in this area focuses on women at the grassroots of political parties. While we know a lot about women’s participation as candidates and politicians, less attention is paid to party members – the main pool from which candidates and politicians are recruited. If we want to understand the drivers of gender inequality among elected representatives and officials, party grassroots are a good place to look at.
My book Grassroots Women in the Populist Radical Right (Oxford University Press) shows that although women are more active members than men (!) and fulfil key functions for populist radical right parties, party elites conceive of them as a source of short-terms gains, and not as a group they should invest on.
As part of the YOUMEM project, I am working on women’s involvement in mainstream party youth wings. My research examines various aspects, including women’s reasons for joining and staying in youth wings, their aspirations, and what they see as the costs and benefits of their membership. Ultimately, I am interested in whether youth wings can provide an inclusive environment for young women to be socialised in politics.
Book
Ammassari, S. (2026). Grassroots women in the populist radical right. Oxford University Press. [Link]
- Featured in Vrij Nederland, ‘Women really shine on the right’.
Journal articles
Ammassari, S., McDonnell, D., Bolin, N., Werner, A., Valbruzzi, M., Wegscheider, C., Heinisch, R., & Jungar, A.-C. (2026). Party youth wings as forces of renovation: A study of young women members’ efficacy and ambition. Politics and Gender. Advance online publication. [Link] [PDF]
Ammassari, S., McDonnell, D., Werner, A., Heinisch, R., Valbruzzi, M., & Wegscheider, C. (2026). More social, less material, more influenced by family ties: Why young women join political parties. European Journal of Political Research. Advance online publication. [Link] [PDF]
Ammassari, S. (2026). “Men’s parties”, but with more active women: Gender and party activism in the populist radical right. Comparative Political Studies, 59(5), 1083-1119. [Link] [PDF]
- Winner of the ECPR Extremism & Democracy Best Paper Prize 2023.
Ammassari, S., McDonnell, D., & Valbruzzi, M. (2023). It’s about the type of career: The political ambition gender gap among youth wing members. European Journal of Political Research, 62(4), 1054-1077. [Link] [PDF]
Working papers
Ammassari, S., & Off, G. The role of women candidates in legitimising and normalising far-right parties.
Abstract
Do voters perceive women far-right candidates as more socially acceptable and democratic than men candidates? If so, does this increase their likelihood of voting for women candidates? To investigate, we run a vignette survey experiment in Germany (n=3,881). We find that women far-right candidates are perceived as more socially acceptable, and partly as more democratic, than men. This is due to stereotypical feminine traits that people attribute to them. Perceptions of social acceptability, in turn, mediate the relationship between candidate gender and likelihood of voting for them. Therefore, women candidates contribute to far-right parties’ electoral success in two ways: indirectly, by making them appear more socially acceptable, and directly, by attracting more votes than men – with the reputational and electoral gains greater among women voters. Our study brings a novel gender perspective to research on far-right normalisation, by showing that women candidates play an important role in it.