Gender Equality, Legal Mobilization, and Feminism in a Multilevel European System

Abstract

This special issue probes the ways in which legal processes and entitlements are mobilized by individual and collective actors on behalf of gender equality, their causes, as well as their consequences for social, political, and policy change in Europe. While far from a unique phenomenon, such processes are distinct in Europe: they largely take place in the frame of multilevel European Union (EU) governance, defined by a multiplicity of legal and judicial mechanisms coexisting alongside supranational institutions and a sui generis system of law. From the 1970s onwards, EU law has expanded the arsenal of rights to gender equality that can be claimed before national courts and the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Over the past ten years, the adoption of anti-discrimination legislation by the EU has further strengthened the relevant body of legal norms. It has also expanded the (quasi-) judicial and non-judicial fora where gender equality claims can be advanced in the multilevel European system. In this changing context, individuals and other actors have increasingly challenged state laws and policies in court for compatibility with gender equality norms enshrined in national constitutional and EU law.