Protecting Refugees Inside, Protecting Borders Abroad? Gender in the EU’s Responses to the ‘Refugee Crisis’
| Author | Natalie Welfens |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929919887349 |
| Published date | 01 August 2020 |
| Date | 01 August 2020 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929919887349
Political Studies Review
2020, Vol. 18(3) 510 –524
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929919887349
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Protecting Refugees Inside,
Protecting Borders Abroad?
Gender in the EU’s
Responses to the
‘Refugee Crisis’
Natalie Welfens
Abstract
Migration tends to be denoted as a crisis which needs a solution. The European Union has
developed policies for dealing with this crisis internally, within its borders, and externally. Both
the experiences of migrants and European Union policy responses are gendered and have
gendered effects. This article analyses how the European Union refers to gender in its definitions
of and responses to the crisis. Grounded in feminist policy analysis, I scrutinize European Union
internal and external policies under its Agenda of Migration. The analysis finds that European
Union internal crisis responses demonstrate a more comprehensive understanding of gendered
vulnerabilities and a commitment to human right provisions. External crisis responses reduce
gender considerations to refugee women and the policy objective of reducing refugee arrivals
which leads to further curtailing refugees’ access to protection. Showing how the crisis transforms
the very meaning and scope of gender considerations to various degrees, the article furthers
insights on how the European Union’s normative commitments develop in times of crisis.
Keywords
European Union, refugee policies, gender, refugee crisis, refugee protection
Accepted: 18 October 2019
Introduction
The so-called ‘European refugee crisis’1 mobilized discourses on who is vulnerable, in
need of protection and, hence, entitled to access the European Union (EU). Gender, in
interaction with other social categories like nationality, age or sexual orientation, influ-
ences all phases of the migration process (Lutz, 2010). Therefore, the way refugee poli-
cies refer to gender can be determinative for who may leave their regions of origin and get
Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Corresponding author:
Natalie Welfens, Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1000 GG,
The Netherlands.
Email: n.p.m.r.welfens@uva.nl
887349PSW0010.1177/1478929919887349Political Studies ReviewWelfens
research-article2019
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