The study of gender and political parties most often focuses on national parties in specific countries or comparatively. The unique contribution of this paper is to study gender and political parties in the transnational context, namely in the European Union (EU), and to evaluate what this form of governance offers for gender politics. We argue that a focus on transnational party politics sheds light on both the continuities and new patterns in the gendered formal and informal institutions. Through processes of Europeanization these patterns become pertinent in member states too. We map out the positions of women and men in the seven different party groups of the European Parliament and the European party federations; and analyze the organizational structures of these “transnational parties” as well as their gendered norms and practices. Second, we focus on the gender policies of these party groups.
