Gender and Mobility across Southern and Eastern European Borders: ‘Double Standards’ and the Ambiguities of European Neighbourhood Policy

Citation:

Marchetti, Sabrina, and Ruba Salih. 2015. “Gender and Mobility across Southern and Eastern European Borders: ‘Double Standards’ and the Ambiguities of European Neighbourhood Policy.” IAI Working Paper 19, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSC), European University Institute, Italy.

Authors: Sabrina Marchetti, Ruba Salih

Abstract:

This article proposes a gendered critique of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), a policy framework that, amongst other things, aims to facilitate the mobility of migrants to the EU from the bordering countries. We highlight the ambivalences of European regimes of gender and migration, and we take issue with the celebration of the “feminisation of migration.” The former fails to offer opportunities to women to safely embark on autonomous migratory projects, the latter contributes to reproduce traditional gender biases in the countries of origin as well as of destination. We conclude by suggesting that the EU critique to emigration countries for failing to tackle women’s discrimination falls short of persuasiveness when confronted with the curtailment on women’s independent mobility within the ENP framework.

Annotation:

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Migration, Gender, Women Regions: Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe

Year: 2015