One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? Gender-mainstreaming in the EU’s Foreign Policies

Scholars studying gender policies in and of the EU have mainly analyzed the (in)effectiveness of EU gender-mainstreaming. Poststructuralist or critical feminists studying international relations on the other hand have shown how gender is constructed in international foreign policies and how these constructions (re)produce marginalizing dynamics and gendered dichotomies between women and men such as being victim or perpetrator, being part of civil or political society. Surprisingly, critical studies of the EU’s gender constructions and their implications are rare although the EU – as other international organizations – has introduced gender-mainstreaming into its international policies as seen in its support of the UN Security Resolution 1325 or the European Development Consensus focusing on gender. However, the very foundations of the EU’s gender construction in its international policies have hardly been questioned. It might be here though where the roots of ‘ineffectiveness’ and resistance lie. What kind of gender roles does the EU constitute when it speaks of gender and which consequences does it open up or restrain? My paper provides an analysis of discursive representations of gender in the EU’s foreign policies – with a focus on security policies and democracy promotion – identifying how gender is constructed around dichotomies such as public/private; peace/war; and economy/state and their implications. I expect to find different, sometimes contradicting representations of gender. Scrutinizing the very foundations of EU gender policies enables us to understand the consequences and dynamics of EU foreign policies on the ground in a more profound way.