The Political Representation in the European Union and European Gender Equality Policies

The aim of the paper is to contribute to the understanding of the role of gender in political representation. In general, it questions to what extend the decision-making persons’ gender in the European Union law-making bodies influence the policy responsiveness regarding gender equality in the EU. Precisely, the focus here lays on the adoption of EU-directives and EU-regulations trying to achieve gender equality. The investigation period begins with the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 and ends with the end of the legislative period of the European Parliament in 2019. The theoretical approach includes the deduction that not only the European Parliament (EP) but also the European Commission and the Council of the European Union represent the European population. The substantial representation by these three institutions in the field of gender equality policy is analyzed through indicators finding EU-directives and EU-regulations, which have the potential to pave the way towards political equality for people with various genders in the EU. Their quantity per legislative term of the EP or per Commission’s term of office as well as their potential consequences for relative gender equality (classified into three stages) are put in contrast to the modifying gender percentages in the EU decision-making bodies. After researching of more than 25 years of EU gender equality policy it can be concluded, that female decision-making persons certainly promoted the adoption of gender equality EU-legislation, though not in a decisive way. The result of the analysis does not determine a causal relation between the gender percentages and the policy responsiveness in the EU gender equality legislation. More decisive factors influencing substantial representation in the field of gender equality are put in an overall picture: this includes for instance the EU enlargement process, party constellations in the member states, role models and gender ascriptions and last but not least national employment and social policies in the member states.