Women Populist MPs, Patriarchal Bargains, and Anti‐Gender Politics: Agnė Širinskienė and Marjorie Taylor Greene

Two women politicians living over 5,000 miles away—Agnė Širinskienė, a populist left member of the Lithuanian Parliament, and Marjorie Taylor Greene (known as MTG), a far-right MAGA Republican from Georgia in the US House of Representatives (2021–2026)—rose to prominence by winning several national elections and becoming among the most recognizable women populist leaders in their countries’ politics. Despite their different birthplaces, life experiences, ideological orientations, and political affiliations, they share several commonalities: both are anti-feminist, anti-gender, and/or espouse anti-immigrant views, and both came into national politics while showing no lifelong desire to become MPs. This transnational comparative analysis of the two women MPs, first, examines their motives for getting involved in national politics by reviewing significant biographical events that shaped Širinskienė’s and MTG’s professional careers; second, applies a “patriarchal bargain” analytical concept to the strategies they used to rise to political prominence within patriarchal environments; and, third, evaluates the anti-gender political agendas that both MPs pursued to influence national political landscapes. This article maps out the similarities and differences in the roles that Širinskienė and MTG have played in their respective political parties to ensure their political survival and notoriety. We find that the patriarchal bargains used by populist women MPs present them with a paradox: career opportunities and fame in politics on the one hand, and vulnerability and “effacement” on the other.