Sara Duterte-Carpio and a Softer Face for Illiberalism: Gender Performativity, Political Dynasties and Illiberal Politics in the Philippines

masculinities” of right-wing parties.In the Philippines, an undertheorized global south context, the prevalence of strongpolitical dynasties and weak political parties allows for a more ideologically fluidrelationship between illiberalism and gender. Current Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, inherited his illiberal policies,particularly the “war on drugs” and “red-tagging” of leftist activists. However, she notonly toned down his coarse and misogynist rhetoric but also incorporated pro-LGBTdiscourse into her political repertoire. Duterte-Carpio’s embrace of progressive genderviews and her own gender-fluid self-presentation provides a contrast to liberaldemocraticbut socially conservative women dynastic leaders, such as ex-President“Cory” Aquino and ex-Vice President “Leni” Robredo, whose political identities weredeeply tied to their husbands and grounded in normative femininity.The project hypothesizes that Duterte-Carpio has simultaneously engaged in traditionaldynastic gendered practices by leveraging the continuation of her father’s political legacywhile also manipulating gender tropes to expand her own appeal. In doing so, Duterte-Carpio provides a softer face for illiberalism and appears to have contributed to thepreservation of dynastic power from her time as Davao City vice-mayor/mayor to her“UniTeam marriage” and now “political divorce” from President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.The project also examines whether Duterte-Carpio’s ambiguous gender identity mighthave allowed her more discursive space to transgress gender normativities than previouswomen dynastic leaders coded as heterosexual.Drawing on the Co-I’s expertise in gender analysis and the PI’s studies of Philippinepolitics, this project employs the concept of gender performativity to examine Duterte-Carpio’s political career. Researching its larger political and dynastic context throughprocess tracing, interviews, critical discourse and media analysis, the resonance of hergendered appeals will be assessed through focus group discussions and an online opinionpoll survey. The project aims to generate original macro-level and fine-grainedregionally disaggregated data. An international workshop will be held to positionDuterte-Carpio within the small group of “strongwoman” leaders globally.