Women in Europe: the Articulation of Gender and Citizenship through Transnational Networks at the EU Level (Ph.D. project)

The project focuses on civil society participation in relation to the development of gender policies in the EU. The combination of civil society action in the transnational space and the EU as a decision-making institution results in a particular kind of interaction and specific opportunity structures for civil society actors.

The objective of the project is to analyse the development and the framing of gender policies in the EU as well as the ways in which civil spociety actors can influence it. Thus, the possibilities of democratization in the transantional space will be an important focus. Theoretically the project draws on the concept of transnationalism, feminist citizenship theories, theories on European integration and gender policies as well as theories on civil society and civil society participation. The empirical material consists of official EU documents (directives, reports, working papers, etc.) and qualitative interviews with key actors in the EU institutions and selected transnational movements and organisations, working with gender policy issues within the European context. The material will be analysed from a cosntructivist perspective, using discourse analysis, frame analysis and policy analysis. The field will be explored through two case studies, namley gender violence and reconciliation.