The Gender Politics of the EU

Examining developments in the study and practice of gender politics over 60 years of European integration, this chapter explores progress and paradoxes in EU institutional developments surrounding gender, surveys new studies of the gender dimensions in European integration, and draws together the key insights from EU gender policy studies. Examining institutional changes through a gender lens highlights reforms with ambiguous effects. Indeed institutional changes have increased women's representation in key institutions and changes in decision-making dynamics in EU institutions. At times, however, attempts to streamline, formalize, and make more transparent procedures in these same institutions have made them more exclusionary. A survey of recent feminist scholarship highlights that gender approaches have much to contribute to mainstream theories of European integration. Indeed, this survey reveals gender dimensions in interest group mobilization and in the interplay between national and EU-level gender policy, all of which might help add needed depth to existing integration theories. Likewise, a survey of policy studies underscores that while the effects of the supranationalisation of gender equality policies have been significant, progress varies substantially between Member States and policy areas. This chapter concludes that while gender policy advocates and gender scholars clearly have much to offer, advocates must rely upon coalition building and clever issue-framing, while scholars will only succeed if there is a meaningful dialogue between gendered approaches and mainstream integration theory.