scholarly journals Gender equality in European Union development policy: incorporating women’s voices or confirming hierarchies?

Afrika Focus ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-45
Author(s):  
Petra Debusscher
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Eu

This paper examines gender mainstreaming in European Union (EU) development aid towards Sub-Saharan Africa. The aim is to detect how gender (in)equality in Sub-Saharan Africa is framed by the EU by critically assessing the nature and range of the differences between EU and civil society framings of gender (in)equality in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using the method of Critical Frame Analysis, 28 EU programming documents have been analysed and compared to 10 civil society texts on gender equality. I conclude that the EU’s approach to gender mainstreaming in its development aid towards Sub-Saharan Africa is to a large extent integrationist and predominantly instrumentalist as it is framed as a way of more effectively achieving existing policy goals. The more transformative issues that are put forward by Sub-Saharan African civil society organisations do not fit within the EU’s dominant development paradigm that is focused on achieving the Millennium Development Goals and does not significantly challenge gender relations or power structures. The gap between the analysed civil society views and those expressed by the EU can be explained by the EU’s reluctance to include in its policy drafting the promotion of gender equality by civil society organisations. Moreover, the gap seems to have both practical and ideological grounds.

scholarly journals Gender equality in European Union development policy: incorporating women’s voices or confirming hierarchies?

Afrika Focus ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Debusscher
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Eu

This paper examines gender mainstreaming in European Union (EU) development aid towards Sub-Saharan Africa. The aim is to detect how gender (in)equality in Sub-Saharan Africa is framed by the EU by critically assessing the nature and range of the differences between EU and civil society framings of gender (in)equality in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using the method of Critical Frame Analysis, 28 EU programming documents have been analysed and compared to 10 civil society texts on gender equality. I conclude that the EU’s approach to gender mainstreaming in its development aid towards Sub-Saharan Africa is to a large extent integrationist and predominantly instrumentalist as it is framed as a way of more effectively achieving existing policy goals. The more transformative issues that are put forward by Sub-Saharan African civil society organisations do not t within the EU’s dominant development paradigm that is focused on achieving the Millennium Development Goals and does not signficantly challenge gender relations or power structures. The gap between the analysed civil society views and those expressed by the EU can be explained by the EU’s reluctance to include in its policy drafting the promotion of gender equality by civil society organisations. Moreover, the gap seems to have both practical and ideological grounds. Key words: gender equality, European Union, Sub-Saharan Africa, development policy, civil society, millennium development goals, critical frame analysis 

Gender mainstreaming in Europe: legislation and cultural changes

2019 ◽  
pp. 31-46
Author(s):  
Vera Lomazzi ◽  
Isabella Crespi
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Substantive Equality ◽  
The Eu

The exploration of the development of the gender mainstreaming strategy and its effect on, European legislation concerning gender equality, from its beginnings to today is the aim of this chapter.The focus is on the role of the European Union in promoting substantive equality for men and women improving legislation in the European Union context and favouring a cultural change in the gender equality perspective. Gender mainstreaming is analysed as the main legislative and cultural shift done for promoting gender equality in all European policies. Gender mainstreaming legislation requires the adoption of a gender perspective by all the central actors in the policy process and, even considering its limits and blunders, and is still the most crucial transnational strategy currently in existence that promotes gender equality in all domains of social life. The legislation enquiries raised at the beginning of the gender mainstreaming implementation process in the EU around 1996 focused on the potential role of the EU in bridging the gap between formal and substantive equality, until nowadays and most recent guidelines, are the issues of the discussion in the chapter.

scholarly journals Promoting Gender Equality in EU Development Aid: From Transformative Policy to Transformative Practice?

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Debusscher
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
Transformative Practice

Promoting gender equality in EU development aidThe European Commission combines specific funds for women's empowerment with gender mainstreaming in its twin-track approach to gender equality in development aid policies. The strategy is successful in terms of budgets and formal appearance but it is implemented in a limited, interest-guided and expertbureaucratic manner. Furthermore by privileging EU interests the strategy fails to address the needs of the poorest developing countries and it ignores civil society concerns. In practice, the twin-track strategy severely limits the transformative potential of gender equality policies.

Livelihood, malaria and resilience

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 325-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brigit Obrist ◽  
Iddy Mayumana ◽  
Flora Kessy
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Paddy Fields ◽  
Intersectoral Collaboration ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Kilombero Valley ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Web

In various parts of Sub‐Saharan Africa, malaria is endemic in areas where rain‐fed agriculture implies seasonal mobility from villages to paddy fields. Contributing to the small but growing literature on livelihood and malaria, this article examines the ways in which social actors mobilise, combine and transform capitals on the household and community levels to obtain malaria treatment. It emphasises the structuring force of cultural capital and argues that farmers of the Kilombero Valley in Tanzania develop a remarkable resilience to malaria. However, in spite of all their efforts, the web of resilience they are able to create remains rather weak and should be strengthened through intersectoral collaboration between government and civil society organisations and innovative interventions.

scholarly journals Reshaping European Union development policy: collective choices and the new global order

2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUIS MAH
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Development Policy ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Global Order ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Second World ◽  
The Eu

Abstract The European Union (EU) is one of the world´s leading donors in official development assistance (ODA) to give a strong weight in the relationship with recipient partner countries, in particular with those that are more dependent on it. Besides the material weight of its funding, the EU has retained historical ties and influence in diplomatic, political and economic terms in many of its ODA recipient partner countries (particular in Sub-Saharan Africa). Since the 2000s, the EU development policy has not only undergone major structural changes in its institutional framework but also has started to face a new international aid scenario. This paper explores why a normative-based EU development policy is being challenged by reformed EU institutions and a new global order, and how the EU is attempting to respond to this context in face of the deepest recession since the end of the Second World War.

scholarly journals THE PRINCIPLE OF GENDER EQUALITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: DIMENSIONS AND THEIR CONTENT

2019 ◽  
pp. 39-44
Author(s):  
Kh. Rionidze
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Equal Pay ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Eu

The topicality of this issue is related to the fact that the EU is founded on a set of values, including equality. Nowadays the attitude towards women in the society is significantly different from that of men. Unfortunately, inequality does not decline over time. The basic idea of gender equality is to provide both women and men with the same rights, opportunities and conditions for full-fledged development. The article is devoted to the dimensions of the principle of gender equality in the European Union, which is important for Ukraine due to the conditions of European integration. The dimensions of gender equality cover the political, economic, civil, social and cultural spheres of our live activity, including achieving gender equality in employment, equal pay for equal work, gender balance in decision making, harmonization of professional and family life, education and «gender mainstreaming». That is why research and analysis of gender equality's dimensions in the EU and defining the legal aspects of their regulation are relevant to the legal system of Ukraine. Over the past few decades, the EU has notably worked for equal treatment legislation, gender mainstreaming and specific measures for the advancement of women. Moreover, the EU has defined the following dimensions of gender equality: equal economic independence for women and men; equal pay for work of equal value; equality in decision-making; dignity, integrity and ending gender-based violence; and promoting gender equality beyond the EU. The dimension of gender equality is a strategy for making women's as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and social spheres, so that women and men benefit equally and the inequality is not perpetuated. Although the EU has achieved positive results in protecting human rights, the work is still continuing in this direction. The idea of gender equality is an integral part of equality as a general principle, development and peace in the world. Without this principle, it is impossible to establish the basis for democracy, freedom, justice and tolerance. Recently, the principle of gender equality is getting paramount importance for Ukraine, as one of the conditions for successful European integration.

scholarly journals Civil Society Organisations beyond the European Union: Normative Expectations and Local Realities

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aron Buzogány
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Internal Governance ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Normative Expectations ◽  
The Eu

This article analyses the development of the EU's external civil society agenda and how this is interpreted by various actors. Using qualitative interviews carried out in Ukraine, Georgia and Brussels, the article shows how the EU's external civil society agenda has developed in parallel with the EU's internal ‘governance turn’. Changes in this narrative from a partnership-orientated role towards a more political watchdog-role for civil society organisations are (re)interpreted differently by EU actors, EU-based civil society organisations and those in the neighbourhood countries. By focusing on localised interpretations and the inherent contradictions this policy produces, this article shows that civil society's new watchdog role is not only directed towards controlling domestic governments but also the EU.

Gender Equality Policies and European Union Politics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Fiig
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
The Other ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
The One ◽  
The Eu

The European Union (EU) has been characterized as a “gender regime” with its distinctive patterns of gender (in)equalities and path dependencies. Gender equality policies have developed as a genuine policy field over the past decades from a single treaty article to a comprehensive legal and political framework dealing with multiple sources of discrimination. Besides, a range of other policies have got gendered effects, which adds to the debates about gender equality. Gender equality is often presented as a foundational value of the EU with reference to the Treaty of Amsterdam and Lisbon. Research has pointed out that it is an important aspect of the foundational myth of the EU. The development of gender policies has been uneven and met by resistance. However, a general conclusion is that EU institutions have been important catalysts in shaping women’s economic, political, and social equality in Europe and in putting equality rights into effect. The article presents some of the historical, political, and sociological interpretations of the EU’s gender equality policies. The development of actual gender equality policies is described in terms of the following phases: the 1970s (associated with women’s civil and economic rights and equal treatment), the 1980s (equal opportunities, positive action), and the 1990s (gender mainstreaming in the whole union and for all policy areas). Since the 2000s, a fourth phase of new policies against multiple discrimination has been developing. These different stages of EU gender policy continue to coexist. The analysis approaches gender equality policies as situated between concerns for gender equality and multiple discrimination on the one hand and priorities of economy and finance on the other. Critical voices in the literature have pointed out that these priorities have outperformed ideas about gender equality. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, EU austerity policies represent a “critical juncture” that could undo the long-term progress achieved in gender equality in Europe. Besides, gender equality policies suffer from a gap between institutionalization on the one hand and a lack of consistency and full political commitment on the other. In the context of the contemporary crises in the EU, the paper investigates the development and status of gender equality policies and adds to the literature through its critical focus. A key point is that dynamic gender relations, multiple discrimination, and women’s various roles in society matter for understanding the EU and European integration. This raises questions about the EU’s role as a driving force for gender equality and against multiple discrimination. What happened to gender equality policies and to gendered effects of other policies as a result of the various crises in the EU?

Gender mainstreaming in the European Union: broadening the possibilities for gender equality and/or an inherently constrained exercise?

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia S. O'Connor
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Structural Basis ◽  
Gender Justice ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Early Adopters ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
The Eu

The European Union (EU) was an influential voice in advocating the adoption of gender mainstreaming by the 4th United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Since then gender mainstreaming has become a central policy plank of gender justice globally, but progress has been variable and modest. This paper examines the unfolding of gender mainstreaming in the EU, which was one of the early adopters as reflected by its commitment to gender mainstreaming in 1996. The objective is to identify patterns that may have implications for gender justice on a broader scale. The lenses are the European Employment Strategy dating from 1997 and targeted gender equality initiatives dating from the Community Framework on Gender Equality (2001–2005). Drawing on documentary analysis of these sources constraints on moving form aspiration to policy practice and outcome are identified. These are intensified by the multilevel structure of decision-making in the EU, which means that commitments agreed at the EU level are not pursed with the same fervour by all member states. But constraints are inherent in gender mainstreaming because of the contested and vague nature of the concept, the context of cross-cutting inequalities and the structural basis of these inequalities.

scholarly journals Gender mainstreaming in the European Union development policy: the Tunisian case.

2021 ◽  
pp. 51-61
Author(s):  
Sonia Sanz Ventín
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Development Policy ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Feminist Movement ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Third ◽  
Theoretical Frame ◽  
The Eu

This paper examines gender mainstreaming in the European Union development policy to Tunisia. The main objective of this paper is to analyse the way in which Gender Mainstreaming is included in the European Union Development polity in a strategic country such as Tunisia. In doing this, I will examine to which extent the Gender Mainstreaming integration is genuinely achieving its aim of transforming unequal gender relations.  The first section of the paper develops the theoretical frame. The second section explains the research methodology. The third section explains the research results showing how the European Union has overlooked a unique opportunity that would has given the chance to integrate Gender Mainstreaming in the post-revolution European Union development policy, into the national public policies and lastly, in establishing a more inclusive dialogue with an embryonic civil society and mature feminist movement. The paper concludes with the hope that this study will serve to guide and promote, in first place, a real integration of a transformative gender mainstreaming in the EU development policy and in second place, to boost the EU role as promoter of possible national reforms which will enable the implementation of transformative gender mainstreaming in national policies breaking once for all with the artificial neutrality of public policies.

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