Civil Society Participation in EU Gender Policy-Making: Framing Strategies and Institutional Constraints

The participation of transnational advocacy networks (TANs) in the policy processes
of the European Union (EU) is a potential site of substantial representation
of women (SRW). In the article, it is argued that the institutional context can both
enable and constrain civil society actors’ claims-making. TANs employ framing
strategies to make their claims resonate with or challenge the dominant discourse
of the EU policies. The institutions use contested frames to constitute legitimate
claims-makers, by recognising certain claims as more valid than others. The possibilities
of SRW are delimited, since the pluralisation of claims is not sufficiently
prioritised by the institutions.