Gender and European Politics

During the European parliamentary elections, and in its immediate aftermath, EUCO president, Donald Tusk declared that the EU is a woman. Commission president-elect caused a stir when she indicated that the Commission’s approach to selecting new commissioners should be one that prioritised gender equality. This occurred on the heels of the approval of a New EU Strategic Approach to Women, Peace and Security aimed at including gender perspectives and ensuring gender equality in the EU’s external relations practices. Does this mean that “gender” is moving from the margins to the mainstream of European politics? Is this trend part of a wider process of transformation or co-optation? Feminist scholarship warns that the inclusion of “gender” in dominant narratives of European integration should not be taken as tantamount to a reorganisation of the gender order at the heart of European society and economics. The backlash against women activists, scholars, journalists and political leaders, and particularly women of colour, highlights the deeply gendered and racialised nature of contemporary European politics. This Section thus seeks to bring together a rich and growing body of research that seeks to centre the silences to the way mainstream approaches to European integration approach gender and the wider “equality & diversity” debates. We are interested in Papers that showcase the latest conceptual, empirical and methodological contributions from across different European studies disciplines to discuss various dimensions of gender and European politics broadly defined. We particularly welcome Papers that seek to decentre traditional approaches to EU studies, with a focus on intersectionality and de-colonising the research and policy agenda. We are also very keen to receive Papers from PhD students and early career researchers, as well as colleagues who can provide a view of Europe “the outside”. We therefore invite scholars working on gender, European politics and cognate fields to submit their Paper and Panel suggestions to this Section for consideration. Please get in touch if you have any questions around the suitability of your proposed Panel or Paper for the Section.