The persistent invisibility of gender in EU policy: Introduction

In this special issue of the European Integration online Papers (EIoP), we reconsider the practicability of gender mainstreaming in the European Union (EU) and its traction in the European integration project more broadly. We follow the feminist institutionalist turn which seeks to bring contemporary feminist insights and new institutionalism’s various schools of thought to bear on one another. Out of this synergy comes the recognition of gender as an inherent feature of institutions and the opening up of new avenues to interrogate the dynamics of power and change. Collectively, we argue that the EU is a battleground where gender equality concerns must struggle against a masculine stronghold. We question whether there are better means to bring about gender mainstreaming’s transformative triumph.