Open Access‘It’s a total no-no’: The strategic silence about gender in the European Parliament’s economic governance policies
Author(s) -
Anna Elomäki
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international political science review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.749
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1460-373X
pISSN - 0192-5121
DOI - 10.1177/0192512120978329
Subject(s) - parliament , champion , european union , corporate governance , politics , political science , silence , multi level governance , political economy , gender equality , public administration , sociology , gender studies , economics , law , economic policy , management , philosophy , aesthetics
The European Union’s (EU) economic governance is pivotal for gender equality in the EU, yet gender equality concerns have been sidelined in governance processes. This article analyzes the struggles involved in integrating a gender perspective into the EU’s economic governance in the European Parliament (EP). It explores how the EP, often perceived as a champion of gender equality, constructs gender in relation to economic governance and how conflicts between the EP’s political groups and committees influence the EP’s ability to challenge gendered inequalities related to the governance regime. This article reveals that the EP’s positions have been characterized by strategic silence about gender and understandings of gender equality as a productive factor that legitimized gendered policies. Party-political conflicts and compromises that have sidelined critical views, and a boundary between social and economic issues and actors, were key barriers for the integration of critical gender perspectives.