This paper studies the broader meaning of gender equality policies across Europe, trying to untangle what such policies might mean in terms of symbolic representation. Symbolic representation is that dimension of representation focusing on the representation of citizens through symbols and not through representatives. The issue addressed in this paper is that gender equality policies tie into symbolic representation at (at least) two levels. At a first level gender equality policies contain discursive and other symbols representing different groups of citizens and their needs and interests (women, men, trans people, specific categories of for instance women, such as women from ethnic minorities, etc). Which (category of) citizens is represented how, etc, are typical questions to address. The focus is on what terms and images are used for specific groups of citizens, and how this then represents some (groups of) citizens in particular ways and others in other ways, and some (groups of) citizens not at all. In this the paper looks into the way in which social roles and identities are discursively shaped and reproduced, also by gender equality policies. At a second level gender equality policies are in themselves a symbol involving a particular or several representations of (certain groups of) citizens. The issue underlying gender equality policies is that there is not such a thing as gender equality being achieved and that policies are needed to foster it. The question then becomes what is problematised and what is not problematised, and what such policies diffuse in terms of symbolic representation. What is considered to be at stake when it comes to gender equality? The paper uses a discursive approach, the methodology of critical frame analysis, to study gender equality policies across a number of European countries (Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Spain), using data from the QUING research project. It will discuss the consequences of the discursive construction of gender equality policies for the symbolic representation of citizens and for the promotion of gender equality in general.
