European Union

After 20 years of intensive gender research on the European Union it is time for a stock-take. To date, feminist research has helped to uncover the gendered nature of the EU polity, its politics and policies. It has illustrated gendered assumptions and practices within ‘mainstream’ EU policy making and detailed gendered effects of EU policies, European integration, Europeanisation and multi-level governance, providing nuanced analyses of diverse gendered dynamics and outcomes across policy domains and member states. Examination of EU gender mainstreaming policy has also formed a dominant focus of existing research. Together, these analyses have often suggested an inherent tension between the EU’s normative commitments to gender equality and its focus on narrowly defined economic ends. Furthermore, findings show continued male dominance of EU institutions and policy making networks, despite a growing female presence. This section invites panels and papers seeking to build on these existing research findings to contribute to a larger stock take of the EU, not just in terms of its policies but also in terms of its politics and as an ever developing polity at large. Empirical, methodological as well as theoretical papers are most welcome.