Mainstreamed away? Assessing the gender equality dimension of the European Employment Strategy

In: Policy & politics, Band 36, Heft 4, S. 521-538

Abstract

The activation agenda, which increasingly informs social policies throughout Europe, also has significant gendered implications. This article focuses on the gender equality dimension of the European Employment Strategy (EES), the main process promoting the activation paradigm at the European Union (EU) level. It asks whether and how the strategy addresses the gendered effects of activation and promotes gender equality. Based on a comparative case study, the article argues that a continuous loss of visibility has significantly weakened the strategy's agenda-setting potential on gender issues and pushed gender equality to the fringes of the central EU project of social and economic modernisation.