The first von der Leyen European Commission’s response to anti-gender politics in the EU: A successful feminist institutional response?

This paper examines the feminist institutional responses of the first European Commission (EC) presided by Ursula von der Leyen (2019–2024) to anti-gender and far-right populist politics. Building on scholarship on anti-gender mobilisations and feminist institutionalism, we conceptualise feminist institutional responses as institutional practices, discourses, and strategies aimed at countering opposition to gender equality and democracy while advancing an equality agenda. While existing research has predominantly focused on parliaments, this paper extends the analysis to the EC, thereby refining current classifications and highlighting dimensions unique to the Commission, such as its economic rule-making and enforcement powers. Findings show that the first von der Leyen Commission employed a comprehensive strategy that combined discursive interventions, institutional innovation, rule-making, rule-enforcement, and coalition-building. We propose two criteria to assess the success of such responses: their capacity to generate durable institutional change and their principled commitment to equality and democracy as non-negotiable EU values. By contrasting the ambitious strategies of the first von der Leyen EC with the backsliding evident in its second mandate (2024–2029), we argue that feminist institutional responses are most effective when discursive commitments are matched with enforceable rights, substantive democracy, and intersectional approaches.