Actors, Institutions, and the Making of EU Gender Equality Programs

J of Common Market Studies

Vleuten

2019

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In 2017, at a time when the EU was experiencing a triple crisis, the European Commission published a White Paper containing five scenarios outlining potential ways out of it. In his State of the Union address Commission President Juncker added a sixth. Although the Commission refers to fundamental values it neglects gender equality and reduces equality to the harmonization of the quantity of fish in fish fingers and EU‐wide access to vaccination against measles. Despite the neglect of gender equality, the scenarios are not gender neutral. A feminist institutionalist analysis unpacks the potential direct and indirect positive and negative gendered consequences of each scenario and illuminates how the choice of scenario makes a difference as to their gendered impacts and as to the access for feminist actors to bring gender issues to the table.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Forecasting the Gendered Impact Of The Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fish Fingers and Measles? Assessing Complex Gender Equality in the Scenarios for the Future of Europe

J of Common Market Studies

Vleuten

2019

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“…I have used QNA in different research projects. I studied how actors cooperated formally and informally in developing the EU policy program "A roadmap for equality between women and men 2006-2010" (Ahrens, 2018). Then, QNA was used in research on equality policy networks among nongovernmental organizations and finally in an ongoing research project studying the interface of CSOs and EU institutions as a basis for supranational participatory democracy.…”

Section: Combining the Methods Of Concentric Circles And Expert Intervmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qualitative network analysis: A useful tool for investigating policy networks in transnational settings?

Methodological Innovations

2018

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The European Commission designs and promotes policy networks in almost all policy fields. Knowledge about networks is necessary for a better understanding of the overall policymaking process in multilevel governance systems like the European Union (EU). Studying EU networks helps to explain how policies emerge, how they are framed and processed, why they take the character they do, and how they might contribute to understanding the course of European integration. The political system of the EU is characterized by the coexistence and interdependence of formal and informal networks that are part of its multilevel governance. While the interplay of formal and informal actor's networks has been researched to some extent (Klüver, 2014; Mahoney, 2008), informal policy networks have been paid less attention in EU integration theory (Christiansen and Piattoni, 2004)-one reason being that rules for processes, membership, and responsibilities are often not clearly defined and are not readily detectable from the outside. Informal policy networks may include expert groups, civil society organizations (CSOs) such as lobby groups, social partners, or companies that argue about policy content also discussed in the formal policy-making process. Researchers used social network analysis (SNA) as an essential technique to investigate such complex networks among actors, be they individuals, small groups, or international organizations (Carrington et al., 2005; Jansen, 2006; Wasserman and Faust, 1994). SNA allows investigating a broad range of professional and personal networks and their quantitative aspects such as group size, the number, and status of contacts. A common challenge in network analysis is the lack of information on other elements of social life like inter-agency and process-related aspects (Crossley, 2010). Qualitative network analysis (QNA) aims addressing the shortcomings of SNA by applying a micro-perspective instead of a macroperspective and qualitative instead of quantitative methods, and taking an insider instead of an outsider view. A qualitative approach to networks prompts a focus on personal and social networks, for instance, friendships, family relations, or migration ties. Until now, only a few attempts have been made to apply QNA to policy networks (Baumgarten and

“…This was compounded by the move of the topic from DG Employment to DG Justice in 2010 in connection with the reframing of gender equality in terms of anti-discrimination. This move led to a severe perturbation in established networks between CSOs and the European Commission (Ahrens, 2018a(Ahrens, , 2019bJacquot, 2015). Second, as outlined above, the overall political and societal climate for promoting gender equality and sexuality rights altered negatively.…”

Section: Equality Csos In a Changing Environmentexpectations And Implmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adjusting venues and voices: populist and right-wing parties, the European Parliament and civil society equality organizations 2014–2019

European Politics and Society

Woodward

2020

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The European Parliament (EP) offers channels for policy input through committees, intragroups, and the commissioning of reports and studies. Civil society equality organizations (CSOs) promoting diversity, gender equality and sexual rights are among the actors using such channels. Today they experience severe cutbacks and direct attacks by populist and radical-right parties who increasingly gained electoral support in several member states. The trajectory on the supranational level is less clear. This article examines the question of whether the increase in populist and right-wing parties in the EP changed how supranational CSOs promoting (gender) equality used venues for making their voice heard in EP policy-making in the 2014-2019 legislature. We investigate the challenges to the relationships between the EP, its committees and political groups, and equality CSOs. Analysing documents and interviews with MEPs and CSOs, our findings show that in the changing political environment, CSOs have moved towards more informal channels of participation, thereby avoiding polarization and conflict and maintaining an effective presence on the political stage.