Gender Justice and Democracy in the EU

www.reconproject.eu

Reconstituting Democracy in Europe

Five-year project financed by the EU under FP6

Twenty partners, coordinated by ARENA, University of Oslo

Starting point: Democratic ‘deficit’ in the EU

Exploring three alternatives:Democracy reconstituted at the national level Democracy reconstituted at the supranational level Democracy based reconstituted in a post-national polity

A feminist perspective

How can a feminist analysis contribute to the debate?What we have:

Feminist theorising on justice, citizenship, representation (in an already constituted polity)

What we lack: Feminist theorising of European integration

What difference would it make?Hypothesis: Different opportunities and constraints

afforded by each model of democracy in the EU

Objectives

1. To provide a feminist perspective on the future of democracy in EuropeWhat kind of gender politics/policies does each model of EU

democracy give scope for?

2. To establish criteria for the assessment of EU policy/policy making

3. To explore the status of GJ in the EUMap EU institutional arrangements, policy processes and policy

content

Three case studies: Gender pay gap, gender balance in decision-making, gender violence

4. How can gender justice and democracy be fostered within Europe?

Cooperation

Other RECON partners

Wider academic/expert community (Quing, Femcit, Athena, IPSA, ECPR etc..)

Civil society (EWL, ICW, ETUC, Karat…)

‘Critical’ actors

Contribution to Athena 3A

Share findings through submission of discussion papers

Cooperate in task of involving civil society actors

Input on sub-themes:Transformation of legal framework

Role of international actors

Gaps between policy design/ implementation