Gendering the Analysis of Inter-Parliamentary Activities: Video Analysis from the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly

The relationship between the European Parliament’s interparliamentary activities and gender has been explored through the lens of parliamentary diplomacy (Veslasco-Pufleau 2017; Jančic et al 2021, Miller 2024, Miller and Santini 2024; Jančic 2025). These studies have used inter alia survey, interview, content analysis and ethnographic methods to explore how the European Parliaments’ rules, practices and norms support or weaken gender equality promotion in the conduct of parliamentary diplomacy. Less is shown about how parliamentary diplomacy is itself accomplished through ‘everyday’ gender performances. Plenaries constitute an important organ of the interparliamentary meeting programme. Here – amongst other parliamentary venues, key diplomatic practices may be performed, such as representation, deliberating mutual interests, negotiation, information seeking and building friendly relations. Many inter-parliamentary plenary meetings are recorded. This provides fertile ground for a micro-sociological approach. Drawing on multiple sessions of the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, this paper explores how parliamentary diplomacy is accomplished through gender. First, the study analyses inter-delegation interactions quantitatively. It then qualitatively explores five practices in the inter-delegation interactions: 1) building shared meanings, 2) challenging misunderstandings, 3) directing inter-delegation calls to action; 4) weaving a web of inter-parliamentary contacts, and 5) performing inter-parliamentary virtuosity. The empirical discussion then has a dual focus, exploring both how these practices simultaneously are accomplished through gender performances and how these practices may also be harnessed by feminist inter-parliamentary actors.