“Experts and Politicians”: Female MEPs and the Gendered Politics of Social Policy in the European Parliament

This paper examines the contributions of female Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) across two transformative periods of European integration: the appointed European Parliamentary Assembly (1958–1962) in the European Econiomic Community and the first directly elected European Parliament (1979–1984). Focusing on the Social Affairs Committee, it investigates how women navigated and shaped a political environment that was overwhelmingly male and institutionally changing. Drawing on Representative Claims Analysis (RCA) in combination with archival sources from the Historical Archives of the European Union and European Parliament’s Historical Archives, the paper analyses committee debates, plenary sessions, and biographical records to trace continuities and shifts in women’s political positioning. Integrating biographical analysis into the RCA approach, the paper shows how women’s professional and political trajectories shaped the representative claims they articulated and the social policy priorities they promoted. A preliminary RCA identifies recurring patterns in how female MEPs articulated their role and authority. Drawing on previous research on women in politics, this analysis develops categories of representative claims based on party loyalty, national interests, constituency representation, and political expertise, alongside claims to represent women specifically. This approach highlights both continuity and transformation across the two periods, enabling the analysis to trace how these forms of representation were used over time, and to investigate whether, and in what ways, “women’s interests” were articulated and embedded in EP debates and institutional agendas. By analysing how women enacted representation across two institutional settings, the paper demonstrates their active role in shaping the Parliament’s evolving identity and the social dimension of European integration. It thereby contributes to debates on gendered representation, institutional change, and the historical agency of women in European politics.