Gender, Citizenship and European Democracy

Gender, Citizenship and European Democracy This paper looks at the interplay between gender, citizenship and EU(ropean) democracy with a focus on which limitation and possibilities citizenship in EU entails? It provides an overview of the concept of EU citizenship, its limits and potentials with regard to the enhancement of gender equal citizenship in a time of crises. Besides, it discusses manifestations of citizenship in practice –also characterized as ‘lived citizenship’ in the context of EU politics (see for example Roseneil, Halsaa & Sümer 2012). ‘Lived citizenship’ takes the analysis further as it transcends the European context and points towards transnational perspectives. The idea of a European citizenship is based on the recognition of a transnational legal status built upon a national citizenship of one of the member states. EU citizenship is thus said to be derivative and not constitutive. EU citizenship was nevertheless meant to strengthen the process of political integration, that was initiated in direct elections to the European Parliament (Siim & Mokre 2021). In the context of European integration, the notion of citizenship is intrinsically linked to democracy and participation in EU’s institutions and in European civil society. An analysis of citizenship in Europe needs to entail a focus on ‘implementation’ from above by the political institutions of the EU and a focus on ‘bottom-up agentic processes’ as the ones related to social movements’ claims (Roseneil, Halsaa & Sümer 2012: 2), European civil society and a vibrant public sphere. In order to analyze citizenship in a European context, there is a need to rethink citizenship in a multicultural and transnational context. EU citizenship is restricted to those who already hold the citizenship of one of the member states. Due to the direct derivation of EU citizenship from national citizenship, the ability of third country nationals to obtain EU citizenship is dependent on the conditions for naturalization in the respective member state (Siim & Mokre 2021: 199). Scholars have proposed new concepts to support the development of a post-national and international form of EU citizenship (Balibar 1988; Benhabib 2002, Isin 2017, Soysal 1994). Delanty (2000) proposes a European post-national citizenship based on residence rather than birth in a context of European transnationalism. Such notions of post-national citizenship have been subsequently applied to define an inclusive agenda of EU gender rights and equality and to promote gender equal citizenship in the EU (Meier and Lombardo 2008). Christina Fiig is an Associate Professor in gender and European politics at European Studies (Dept of Global Studies) Aarhus University. Hans-Jörg Trenz is Professor of Sociology of culture and communication at Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa /Florence.