What's the Problem? : An Analysis of EU's Gender Equality Policy

For the past decade, EU’s gender equality policies have undergone some changes that have affected the way in which the problem with gender equality is now represented. This case study analysis explores what the problem with gender inequalities is represented to be in EU’s Strategy for Equality between Women and Men, 2010-2015, and whether there are any presuppositions or assumptions underlying EU’s representation of the problem. The method used for analysis is Carol Lee Bacchi’s approach: What’s the Problem (represented to be)?, which is a post-structuralist approach that pays much attention to language and discourse. EU’s gender equality policy is then compared with Sylvia Walby’s theory on the patriarchy, that explains gender inequalities as being systematically produced through a system of social structures. The main conclusion is that EU’s gender policies are tailored to fit the political priorities of the union, which are to achieve the objectives of the EU 2020 Strategy. The problems are mainly being represented from an economic perspective, and furthermore the EU dismisses the notion that gender inequalities are a result of our social structures, and rather explains the problem of gender inequality as being the problem of women.