Coalitions, conflicts, and internal tensions: Gendered policies of the political groups in the European Parliament

Since the Treaty of Lisbon increased the powers of the European Parliament as co-legislator, the stance the EP takes on gender equality has become more important for advancing gender equality in the European Union (EU). Whilst the EP has often been seen as an active promoter of gender equality, the increasing number of radical right and anti-gender MEPs indicates possible opposition and backlash. In this paper, our aim is to provide a broad yet nuanced analysis of the party-political conflicts around gender within the EP, with a view to assessing the possibilities of the EP to promote gender equality in a context where gender increasingly causes political polarization. We ask: how does gender create lines of contestation and consensus between and within the EP political groups in specific policy areas? How do conflicts around gender influence policy outcomes and with what effects on the possibilities for the EP to advance gender equality and the democratic functioning of the EU? We examine coalitions, conflicts, and tensions in three policy fields with high implications for gender equality: violence policy (as an aspect of gender equality policy), social policy, and economic policy. Our qualitative and discursive approach based on a broad range of policy documents and 139 interviews with MEPs and staff aims to examine how political groups construct gender equality as well as its fate in policy-making processes both within the groups and at the EP level.