"Leading by example?" Decentring the EU's approach to gender equality promotion: The case of Tunisia

In recent years, the European Union (EU) has established itself as a global gender actor, particularly within its Southern Neighborhood. Nonetheless, the EU’s efforts to promote gender equality have yielded limited results. Aiming to understand how Eurocentrism hinders policy effectiveness, this thesis analyzes the EU’s promotion of gender equality in Tunisia applying qualitative methods through a decentering lens. Drawing on Keukeleire and Lecoq’s (2018) framework and employing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this research reveals that Eurocentrism is entrenched in EU gender policies through spatial, temporal, normative, polity, and linguistic dimensions. It argues that decentering, while useful, is constrained by the complexity of Tunisia’s normative landscape. It concludes that overcoming Eurocentrism is crucial to upholding women’s rights in ways that align with local realities and foster equitable and mutually beneficial partnerships between the EU and its Southern neighbors. By offering a critical and constructive perspective, this study contributes to broader debates on human rights promotion, postcolonial critiques of EU foreign policy, and norm diffusion in the MENA region.