Institutionalizing Intersectionality in the European Union?

Abstract

European Union (EU) policies are a good case to explore with regard to the extent to which intersectionality has been institutionalized, given that the EU has broadened its equality agenda from the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty onwards and can be expected to impact on the trajectories of institutionalization in member states. Situated in an analysis of the EU legal framework and machinery on gender and anti-discrimination, this article explores the interface between European institutions and civil society in relation to the treatment of intersectionality by analysing alliances and competition between groups representing different inequalities and the positioning of institutions in the debate. It also investigates whether the EU's current institutionalization may encompass positive developments in the treatment of previously neglected inequalities and thus promote more inclusive equality policies, or may create barriers between and exclude different inequalities. The article concludes that the EU legal framework is merely juxtaposing inequalities rather than intersecting them, and is not giving equal importance to the different inequalities. Debates on the creation of recent institutions, such as the European Institute for Gender Equality and the Fundamental Rights Agency, show that tensions exist between different positions and groups. Dynamics of interaction within European civil society reveal evidence of both contestations and alliances.