In Her Own Words: Gender in the Rhetoric of Ursula von der Leyen’s Second Term

When Ursula von der Leyen became President of the European Commission in 2019, expectations for a new phase of gender equality within the European Union were exceptionally high. Her inaugural speech before the European Parliament was seen as a unifying moment for the cause of equality, and the Union of Equality programme launched in 2020 marked a milestone by integrating intersectionality into EU gender policy for the first time. This inclusive approach generated widespread optimism about the potential for a more feminist, transformative political agenda. The position of Commission President has become increasingly personalised and politicised, concentrating both agenda-setting power and political visibility in one office. Von der Leyen’s rhetoric, therefore, carries particular importance: the way gender equality is framed, or left unframed, shapes how issues gain visibility, how authority to interpret them is established, and how the EU’s political agenda evolves. Against this background, the article explores how gender equality is framed in von der Leyen’s speeches during the early phase of her second term, asking whether the initial feminist optimism of 2019 still resonates in her more recent rhetoric. The analysis draws on qualitative content analysis and examines a corpus of more than 80 speeches. The findings suggest a nuanced evolution in von der Leyen’s discourse. While references to gender equality remain present and symbolically important, the tone and framing have become more pragmatic and less visionary. The transformative momentum that characterised her early presidency appears to have diminished, giving way to a discourse more closely aligned with political stability and consensus-building. This shift highlights the challenges of sustaining feminist ambition within the institutional and political constraints of EU governance. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that while von der Leyen continues to affirm equality as a European value, the discursive expression of feminist optimism has weakened, revealing the complex balance between symbolic leadership and structural transformation in European politics.