Integrating or Setting the Agenda? Gender Mainstreaming in the European Constitution-Making Process

Citation:

Lombardo, Emanuela. 2005. “Integrating or Setting the Agenda? Gender Mainstreaming in the European Constitution-Making Process.” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State Society 12 (3): 412–32.

Author: Emanuela Lombardo

Abstract:

The European Union (EU) constitution-making process has adopted an "integrating" rather than an "agenda-setting" approach to gender mainstreaming. This argument draws on analysis of both the European Constitutional Convention and its product--the Constitutional Treaty. Five indicators of application of mainstreaming serve as reference points for exploring how it has been applied in the EU Constitutional Convention: a broader concept of gender equality, the incorporation of a gender perspective into the mainstream, equal representation of women, the prioritization of gender policy objectives, and a shift in institutional and organizational culture. The article provides a tentative explanation for the failure of the EU constitution-making process to adopt an "agenda-setting" approach to gender mainstreaming.

Topics: Gender, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Constitutions, International Organizations Regions: Europe

Year: 2005