Gender and EU Citizenship

This chapter examines the gendered effects and key challenges of European citizenship. Citizenship has a dual face: the promise to include all members of a community at the expense of excluding outsiders. Citizenship is about equal rights but it has gendered effects; in this respect, European citizenship mirrors the national model. It privileges mobile (male) wageworkers at the expense of mothers/caretakers, mobile over stay at home citizens and excludes migrant women as third country workers. The chapter identifies differentiated and cumulative effects of gender and diversity/migration and proposes to analyze the gendered effects of EU citizenship employing an intersectional approach. It first gives an overview over the general concept of citizenship including feminist approaches. Then it focuses on EU citizenship and feminist approaches to identify key problems connected with institutionalization of gender equality in the EU and the practical embodiment of equal rights. Finally, it examines recent developments in the EU/EP and EU member states relevant to a gender perspective. The conclusion sums of the main points and arguments and proposes that one fruitful strategy for future gender research would be developing further the multilayered and intersectional approach to EU citizenship.