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AbstractEuropean Parliament's (EP) party groups are crucial to democratic representation in the EU. Much of the academic research about party groups has been gender‐blind. This article draws on qualitative methods to undertake a gender analysis of EP party groups. The article analyses the gendered experiences of women MEPs from two Nordic countries, Denmark and Finland, and draws on interview data with 18 women MEPs from these two member states to explore their perceptions of gender equality in the political groups. The findings illustrate that party groups exhibit some shared and some diversified gendered norms as well as concrete practices for advancing the position of women, including informal women's networks. We draw attention to the shortcomings in m/paternity leave rights in the EP and the lack of political will within the party groups to tackle this, which is further cementing exclusionary practices of the institution.

European Parliament's (EP) party groups are crucial to democratic representation in the EU. Much of the academic research about party groups has been gender‐blind. This article draws on qualitative methods to undertake a gender analysis of EP party groups. The article analyses the gendered experiences of women MEPs from two Nordic countries, Denmark and Finland, and draws on interview data with 18 women MEPs from these two member states to explore their perceptions of gender equality in the political groups. The findings illustrate that party groups exhibit some shared and some diversified gendered norms as well as concrete practices for advancing the position of women, including informal women's networks. We draw attention to the shortcomings in m/paternity leave rights in the EP and the lack of political will within the party groups to tackle this, which is further cementing exclusionary practices of the institution.

In this article, we analyze transnational party politics in the European Union from a gender perspective. This is a subject that has been neglected both by mainstream European studies on party politics and by gender scholars who work on political parties. Drawing on the insights of these two research traditions, we build toward an analytical framework to study gender and transnational party politics. Our empirical analysis focuses on two policy issues, the economic crisis and the sexual and reproductive health and rights, analyzing European Parliament reports, debates and voting on the issues from 2009 to 2014. By focusing on gender equality constructions and the way in which consensus and contestation are built around them within and between party groups, we argue that shared constructions about gender equality are issue specific and change over time. Consensus breaks down along the left right axis and, at the same time, internal divisions within party groups affect policy output.

Inclusiveness of different social groups and responsiveness to the needs of increasingly diverse societies are key criteria for policy analysts to assess the quality of public policies. We argue that an intersectional approach attentive to the interaction of gender with other inequalities is particularly apt to deal with equality and diversity in policymaking. By analysing a selection of European Union policy documents on gender-based violence in the period 2000–2014, we attend to the question of what intersectionality can bring to policymaking in terms of strengthening inclusiveness and address the methodological question of applying an intersectional approach to policy analysis.

The paper addresses the dilemmas, contradictions and paradoxes in the Danish approach to gender quotas and gender equality and discusses the intersections of citizenship, democracy and gender justice. Gender research understands gender quota as a means to achieve equal rights, gender equality and gender parity. Gender theory has conceptualized gender parity as one step towards achieving gender justice in all arenas of social, political and economic life. The Danish cases illustrate that context matters and question gender quota as a universal strategy to achieve gender equality. The empirical focus of the paper is placed on three arenas: 1) gender quota in political governance; 2) gender quota in parental leave policies; and 3) gender quota in economic governance. The paper is primarily concerned with analyses of Danish discourses and policies in relation to the three policy areas and only to a limited extent addresses the impact of these policies and their implications for lived practice. One issue concerns the paradox of the relatively high female representation in politics without the adoption of gender quotas. A second issue concerns the gap between gender equality policies. Denmark lacks behind the other Scandinavian countries' discourses and policies about gender quota but in practice the picture is much more complex. A third issue concerns the European perspective. In relation to women's labour market participation and gender parity in politics Denmark is ahead of other European countries but lacks behind in relation to equal representation on corporate boards.