By Somini Sengupta @ New York Times, March 2

UNITED NATIONS — Some of Europe’s most successful far-right politicians are women. There is Marine Le Pen of France, of course. But also Frauke Petry of Germany, Siv Jensen of Norway and Pia Kjaersgaard of Denmark, who is something of a pioneer in the new wave of anti-immigrant populism sweeping through Europe.

They are leading, or have recently led, what were once fringe parties — pushing their extremist views to the political mainstream and seeking to appeal to those who once eschewed their parties: female voters.

Some of them are also eyeing their country’s highest office [....]

Gender issues don’t much get the attention of far-right parties, whether led by men or women. The parties don’t support gender quotas in politics, as many centrist and left parties do, nor do they campaign on issues like equal pay. Abortion and gay rights are not lightning rod political issues for conservatives as they are in the United States, so they tend not to be ideological tinder in Europe.

Gender is a useful wedge, though, when it comes to highlighting what has become one of their main planks: a critique of immigration, particularly from the Muslim world. The European far right has long seized on the hijab as a symbol of patriarchy; more recently it has said that attacks on gays and women in Muslim enclaves are evidence of the Islamic threat to European values [....]