Towards More Coherence? Policy and Legal Aspects of Gender Equality in the Armed Forces of Europe

Abstract: This article is concerned with the policy and legal aspects of the incorporation of the gender equality perspective within European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) missions and Member States' armed forces. Examining documentation issued by the Council, and relevant jurisprudence from the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ), it appreciates the practical implications and degree of convergence of the measures taken in support of equality between the sexes in the defence and security sector across the first and second pillars. This article argues that while awareness-raising will most likely result from the action of the Council, and although the arbitrariness of discriminatory policies has been reduced through the ECJ jurisprudence, the effects of the overall EU equality activism on the composition of armed forces — be it in national or ESDP troops — are in fact limited.

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