Feminist tensions in equality policies: An analysis of gender mainstreaming in the european union
Year: 2018
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This dissertation provides an account of how feminist tensions are presented in policy by studying the case of Gender Mainstreaming in the European Union. First, we present Gender Mainstreaming and other strategies that tackle gender inequality. We explain how gender governance is organized in the institutional map of the European Union and how gender is constructed and perceived in policy. We use problematizations and the “What’s the Problem Represented to Be” approach to study the meanings embedded in those policy documents. We recognize two feminist theories in tension: poststructuralism and liberalism. We then explore the case of education in the European Union, to further show how those tensions are represented in almost every issue. We conclude that Gender Mainstreaming was intended to bring fresh air into policy, based on a poststructuralist approach to gender, but got entangled within liberal feminism and neoliberal policies that mitigate its transformative effects. This is what we describe as the Firework Effect. From these considerations, we argue that it is necessary to rethink policies by bringing those feminist debates to light.
Author: Carla Vanina Maenza
Language: English
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2941772300