Gender Sensitivity in the National Roma Integration Strategies of Member States of the European Union

Abstract

A large part of the European Roma community faces prejudices, discrimination, and social exclusion. This situation is more visible in Roma women. This study assesses gender sensitivity in the National Roma Integration Strategies (NRIS) of the Member States of the European Union. To do so, an adapted ad hoc tool was applied to the twenty-seven NRIS documents, making it possible to identify gender sensitivity in its “symbolic dimension”—declaration of principles and values that guide the action and/or proposing reasons of the intervention; and in its “operational dimension”—formal aspects of the intervention. In addition, this tool allowed us to classify the documents according to their gender approach. A low gender sensitivity is observed, which is more developed in the symbolic part. The line of action with greater gender sensitivity is health, followed by employment and education. Gender sensitivity is nonexistent for housing.