Gender and European integration

The paper assesses the contribution of gender approaches to understanding European integration. It offers a conceptualization of such approaches as including a distinct ontology, epistemology and methodology. While feminist literature on the European Union is diverse, all such literature sheds light on the gendered process of European integration. The authors identify two distinct contributions of this literature: (a) it illustrates the relevance of movement actors and other advocates in shaping EU policies; (b) it shows that economic integration entails the creation of new gender regimes. The
paper illustrates these contentions presenting case studies of the EU’s response to sex trafficking, the reform of the common agricultural policy, and of enlargement.