The Europeanization of gender equality policies: A discursive–sociological approach

This article argues that a discursive–sociological approach to study Europeanization is particularly apt for understanding the dynamics of policy change in Europe. It does so by bringing closer the agenda of discursive institutionalism (DI) and gender policy analysis, drawing upon the recent sociological and discursive turns in the study of the domestic impact of Europe, and the long-term interest of gender policy analysis for discursive framings, norm diffusion, actors’ interactions and EU soft policy instruments. Challenging the limitations of Europeanization studies that only focus on convergence, the article explores the contribution that both Schmidt’s DI and discursive gender approaches make to the understanding of policy change in Europe. While seeing the two approaches as complementary in the study of Europeanization, the article discusses the added value of gender approaches for improving our understanding of policy change in Europe. Comparative European Politics (2015) 13, 222–239. doi:10.1057/cep.2013.18; published online 20 May 2013