Depoliticising Gender Equality in Turbulent Times: The Case of the European Gender Action Plan for External Relations
| Author | Friederike Beier,Gülay Çağlar |
| Published date | 01 August 2020 |
| Date | 01 August 2020 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1478929920929886 |
| publishedBy | Sage Publications, Inc. |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929920929886
Political Studies Review
2020, Vol. 18(3) 558 –575
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929920929886
journals.sagepub.com/home/psrev
Depoliticising Gender
Equality in Turbulent Times:
The Case of the European
Gender Action Plan for
External Relations
Friederike Beier and Gülay Çağlar
Abstract
Since more than a decade, the EU is confronted with a number of crises that significantly changed
the environment under which the EU operates in the field of gender equality. Evidence shows, that
in many European countries, the different crises have led to a deprioritisation of gender equality
policies. However, the way in which the new Gender Action Plan for External Relations 2015–
2020 of the European Union addresses and operationalises gender equality suggests in contrast a
policy shift towards an intensified commitment and more comprehensive understanding of gender.
Against this background, this article analyses, first, how the content and the conceptual orientation
of gender equality policies in European Union’s external relations have changed in the light of
post-crisis recommendations. Second, the article scrutinises the ways in which the European
Union tries to tackle the credibility crisis through increasingly intensified and operationalised
policy procedures. The argument put forth is that the gender-related indicators in the Gender
Action Plan translate complex societal processes into a technical data-based framework and
thereby depoliticise gender equality by simulating a technocratic, evidence-based and quantified
form of politics.
Keywords
crisis, gender policy, European Union’s external relations, intersectionality, governing technology
Accepted: 4 May 2020
Introduction
The European Union (EU) represents itself as strongly committed to promoting gender
equality worldwide. Since 2010, the EU has adopted two gender action plans (GAPs) –
the first Gender Action Plan (GAP I; 2010–2015) and the second Gender Action Plan
(GAP II; 2016–2020) – in order to advance the principle of gender equality and to better
Fachbereich Politik- und Sozialwissenschaften, Freie Universitat Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Corresponding author:
Gülay Çağlar, Fachbereich Politik- und Sozialwissenschaften, Freie Universitat Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Email: Guelay.Caglar@fu-berlin.de
929886PSW0010.1177/1478929920929886Political Studies ReviewBeier and Çağlar
research-article2020
Special Issue Article
Beier and Çağlar 559
implement the strategy of gender mainstreaming in EU development policy and external
relations. Particularly in GAP II, titled ‘Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment:
Transforming the Lives of Girls and Women through EU External Relations 2016-2020’,
the EU clearly articulates its leadership role by stating that it is ‘at the forefront of the
protection and fulfilment of girls’ and women’s rights and vigorously promotes them in
its external relations’ (European Commission and High Representative of the Union for
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, 2015: 2).
GAP II is currently in the process of being implemented until the end of 2020. In con-
trast to the GAP I, GAP II is far-reaching, indeed, as it sets out a holistic framework for
coordinating and implementing gender equality activities ‘in all areas of EU external rela-
tions’ (Allwood, 2018: 3, own emphasis; Šimáková, 2017). That means, GAP II reaches
out beyond development cooperation and encompasses a wide and diverse range of policy
areas, such as Common Foreign and Security Policy, Common Commercial Policy,
European Neighbourhood Policy or the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, which
includes immigration, asylum and fundamental rights among others. Moreover, the GAP II
sets out the elements for an institutional culture shift in Commission services and in the
European External Action Service (EEAS; European Commission and High Representative
of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, 2015: 13–15; cf. Allwood, 2019).
One of the key elements in this context is a results-oriented approach that defines a large
set of measurable goals and indicators for monitoring and evaluating gender equality out-
comes. Overall, GAP II is an ambitious document that aims at extending its political and
institutional reach and demonstrating the EU’s global leadership role in gender equality.
However, since more than a decade, the EU is confronted with a number of crises that
significantly changed the environment under which the EU operates in the field of gender
equality. The global financial crisis of 2008, the subsequent Eurozone sovereign debt crisis
and austerity policies imposed on highly indebted EU member states by the Troika1 have
deepened the economic disparities between and within member states. The structural
reforms were inherently gender biased and had, as many studies show, particularly nega-
tive effects on women’s livelihoods (Bruff and Wöhl, 2016; Emejulu and Bassel, 2017;
Karamessini and Rubery, 2013; Walby, 2015). Besides the economic crisis, the EU is also
confronted with a series of political challenges, such as United Kingdom’s decision to
leave the EU (Brexit), the increasing Euroscepticism and the strengthening of right-wing
forces within Europe (Virdee and McGeever, 2017). Moreover, the instability in the neigh-
bouring regions increased the inflows of refugees. The EU member states plunged into
bitter fights over quota to receive refugees and demonstrated their inability to share the
responsibility for refugees and to protect basic human rights. All these crises and the dif-
ficulties in crisis resolution have profoundly challenged the EU’s sense of solidarity and
damaged its image as a ‘normative power’ (Manners, 2013). The dissatisfaction with the
way the EU has handled all these crises has – as the introduction to this special issue under-
lines – culminated in a deep political legitimacy and credibility crisis of the EU.
In this context, inevitably the question arises how the direction of gender equality poli-
cies in EU external relations can be assessed against the backdrop of all these crises.
Many empirical studies show that economic crisis and austerity politics usually lead to a
deprioritisation of gender equality goals (Jacquot, 2017; Karamessini and Rubery, 2013;
Lombardo, 2017a). The GAP II, however, has even extended its gender equality goals in
the midst of crisis. The changes in GAP II actually emerged as a result of critical evalua-
tions of GAP I. These evaluations revealed a commitment-implementation gap which
called the credibility of the EU as a global policy entrepreneur in the field of gender
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