Governance, Institutions and Public Policy

This section provides a forum for panels and papers from different theoretical and methodological perspectives that are interested in addressing how governance, institutions, and public policies –specifically on equality or other policy areas- affect gender and intersectionality and, in turn, are shaped by them. Institutions, policies and processes of governance within the traditional nation-state are increasingly affected by Europeanisation, global economic challenges and neoliberal ideologies. How do they adapt to them or challenge them? What are the consequences of structures, policies and forms of governance for women and other disadvantaged groups? How do equality institutions and policies fare in such contexts? Equality institutions are crucial to promote gender+ equality. Yet, austerity measures increasingly threaten them and the policies they promote. And what are the prospects for equal treatment, positive actions, mainstreaming, and antidiscrimination in a framework dominated by economic concerns? In contexts increasingly affected by multi-level decision-making and neoliberal governance, how does the interaction between governments, global institutions, and civil society shape equality policies? How are gender and other equality policies framed, implemented, and evaluated? Why do specific equality policies and issues succeed or fail in different contexts? What alternative, gender+ equal, models of governance, institutions, and policies are proposed? And to what extent is gender+ mainstreamed into governance processes, institutions, and policies? The section welcomes proposals of panels and papers adopting a variety of theoretical and empirical approaches, be they comparative and single country case studies, that are interested in exploring the challenges that governance, institutions, and policies pose to gender and intersectionality, and vice versa.