Silke Roth - Gender Politics in the Expanding European Union

Published in 2008 by

Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com

2008 by Silke Roth

First ebook edition published in 2011

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gender politics in the expanding European Union : mobilization, inclusion, exclusion / edited by Silke Roth.
p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-84545-516-3 (hardback : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-84545-517-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-85745-070-8 (ebk.)

1. WomenEuropean Union countriesSocial conditions. 2. Women's rightsEuropean Union countries. I. Roth, Silke.

HQ1587.G457 2008

323.3'4094dc22 2008020321

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-84545-516-3 hardback
ISBN 978-1-84545-517-0 paperback
ISBN 978-0-85745-070-8 ebook

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Tables

Figures

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

INTRODUCTION

GENDER POLITICS IN THE EXPANDING EUROPEAN UNION

Mobilization, Inclusion, Exclusion

Silke Roth

Since 1957, when Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands formed the European Economic Community (EEC) later renamed the European Union (EU), this supranational opportunity structure has been an important resource for the promotion of gender equality in member states and candidate countries. At least discursively, the EU endorses gender equality as a fundamental value and demands that its member states embrace this principle. This volume addresses the impact of EU accession on member states as well as the European Union from a gender perspective. Each enlargementwestern in the 1970s, southern in the 1980s, northern in the 1990s, and most recently easternbroadened and deepened gender policies either in the EU or in the member states or in both to various extents. In 1973 Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom joined the European Communities; in 1981 Greece followed; in 1986 Portugal and Spain became members; in 1995 Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU; in 2004 Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia became part of the EU; and most recently, in 2007 Bulgaria and Romania followed. In contrast to the other former socialist countries, due to German unification, East Germany joined the EU already in 1990. So far, gender equality policies have been neglected in research concerning EU expansion, whereas analyses of European women's movements and gender equality politics tended to concentrate either on the old EU member states or on the experiences of women in the former socialist countries, but rarely brought them together. This book seeks to fill these gaps, by assessing gender equality policies and feminist mobilization in both old and new member states, as well as in a candidate country, Turkey. It needs to be kept in mind that the EU is not identical with Europe, as Switzerland does not belong to the EU whereas the candidacy of Turkey and thus the boundaries of Europe are highly contested.

The contributions in this volume comprise fresh scholarship that challenges previous assessments of the impact of the EU and shows that it is a contradictory process. The successes of women's movements and activists at the EU level are juxtaposed with the lack of clarity, effective implementation, and enforcement of directivesin old and new member states. Furthermore, successful EU integration and economic development might go hand in hand with considerable disadvantages for women. The case studies also address the tensions between top-down reforms and grassroots autonomous movements. And it is also considered that while transnational women's movements provide important networking opportunities, East-West relations have not always been easy. Employing a social constructivist approach, the authors in this volume address the importance of framing and agenda setting at both the EU level and the domestic level. As the contributions to this volume emphasize, the relationship between the EU and its member states is interactive and dynamic. The EU is at the same time shaped by and shaping member states as well as candidate countries, whereas domestic politics remain of crucial importance regarding the adoption and implementation of EU regulations.

In this introduction, firstly, I review the impact of the EU on domestic gender equality policies and conclude that it differs by country as well as by policy area and has changed over time. Secondly, I show how the transformation process and the enlargement process in Central Eastern Europe intersected and how this affected the status of women. Thirdly, I discuss the role of women's networks and feminist mobilization in the EU and the enlargement process. Finally, I give an overview of the book.