Intersectionality and Equality Mainstreaming: Two Common Values for the EU Equality Policy Sector?

The Union of Equality (UoE) programme adopted by the Commission in 2019 is structured around two cross-cutting principles: equality mainstreaming and intersectionality. Mainstreaming dates back to 1990. The 2020 Gender Equality Strategy signals its comeback, after a decade of open resistance within the Commission. But rather than emphasize gender mainstreaming, the Union of Equality focuses on equality mainstreaming, taking a three-pronged approach: integrating equality into policies, reaching gender parity in decision-making, and moving forward with gender budgeting. Contrasting with the long-existing tool of mainstreaming, intersectionality as a principle and instrument is more recent at EU level. It appeared with the adoption of the “Equality Directives” in 2000, and the emergence of a new equality agenda mainly focused on the concept of “multiple discrimination”. The 2020 Gender Equality Strategy and the 2022 Pay Transparency Directive marked a new step in institutionalising intersectionality, which had formerly relied on a contradictory approach built on a legal hierarchy between the different grounds of discrimination mentioned in the Treaty. The aim of this paper is to explore the reception of these two hallmark principles among the members of the EU equality policy sector. How are the transformation of gender mainstreaming into equality mainstreaming and the institutionalisation of intersectionality received by the members of the “velvet triangle” (NGOs, femocrats, gender experts)? Are these changes supported by all the actors or do they induce some conflict about the definition of the EU (gender) equality regime and the strategies and policy instruments to implement them?