Summary gender, diversity & politics. This course is taught at several universities (UA, VUB, Ugent) and is an elective course for both Master Gender & Diversity, Political Sciences, Sociology, Languages, etc.
Session 2: Introduction to Gender & Diversity in European Politics 2
Understanding Gender & Diversity in Contemporary European Politics 2
Session 3: intersectionality: critical approaches & mobilizations 11
Understanding Intersectionality 11
Critical Approaches to Intersectionality 14
Intersectional Mobilizations: Romani Women’s Activism in RO & BG 16
session 4: (the absence of) gender in migration studies: a critical overview 19
short intro 19
GUEST LECTURE GENDER in MIGRATION STUDIES: From Invisibility to Visibility 22
SESSION 5: The racializing discourse on migrant integration in ‘colour-blind’ Europe 29
Definitions: integration, race/ethnicity & racialization 29
Policy categorizations: 4 divides 32
Policy trends: national models or cross-national convergence? 36
From migrant integration to ethno-racial equality? 3 critiques on the integration discourse 37
SESSION 6: THREE YEARS AFTER #METOO: IS WINTER COMING IN POLITICS REGARDING SEXUAL
VIOLENCE? 41
Intro: Sexual Harassment in Politics & Institutional Change 41
GUEST LECTURE 44
#MeToo European Parliament (#MeTooEP) –movement 44
SESSION 7 51
Session 8: Mobilization, politics and policy: FROM EQUALITY MOVEMENTS TO EQUALITY POLICIES
52
GUEST LECTURE: professor A.E. Woodward 52
Feminist actors and interactions 52
I.IS FEMINIST ORGANIZING DEAD? OR JUST TRANSFORMING? 53
II. What are Social Movements and where do women fit in? Feminist Social Movements 55
III. Transforming demands into policy 58
Questions? 62
Session 9: Queer Theory, Politics and Asylum 63
I. Queer Theory and Politics: A general introduction 63
II. Lesbian & Gay Studies: Queer Studies 64
III. Queer Theory: Main tenets 68
IV. LGBT Rights and Queer Politics 71
V. LGBT asylum: policy, practice and critical approaches 72
session 10: QUEER MIGRATION POLITICAL ACTIVISM – PRACTICES & EXPERIENCES FROM THE
GRASSROOTS 75
introduction 75
grassroots perspectives on queer migration 76
the politics of (queer) migration 79
conclusion 82
q&a 83
session 11: Wrap-Up! 85
Practicalities 85
Content 86
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,SESSION 2: INTRODUCTION TO GENDER & DIVERSITY IN EUROPEAN
POLITICS
What’s up today?
Understanding Gender & Diversity in Contemporary European Politics
o Why is an European perspective key?
o Diversity as a ‘value’
o (In)equality & Anti-discrimination Regimes
o Fact & figures
UNDERSTANDING GENDER & DIVERSITY IN CONTEMPORARY EUROPEAN
POLITICS
Gender & Diversity in Contemporary European Politics // General Context
What is going on in Europe at the moment concerning gender and diversity? Also, positive
things going on, but we start with what’s missing, the negative examples.
Opposition to Gender + Equality in several European countries (conservative, populist,
far-right political parties)
Some recent examples:
• Ban to gender studies in Romania
Quite impressive, starts from education level, entering the governmental and policy-
making structures (not only small decisions on party-level)
• LGBTI-free zones in Poland
Intention to block same sex couples having the same rights as heterosexual couples
Strict migration regimes
• Intensification of EU external borders
• Strengthening of forced return policies
• Cooperation with 3rd countries with low Human Rights standards
Examples of detention centres and prisons, the way that migrants are being treated is
controversial
Structural/institutional racism
• Increasing protests and contestation (related to structural and institutional racism):
global phenomenon, not only European
WHY AN EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE IS KEY?
What is happening at the national level can’t be fully understood if we don’t also understand
the broader context (= multi-level structures of governance) where this is taking place. By
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,multi-level governance = the relation between all levels: local governance, city, roll of majors,
urban context, national level, international level until supranational level. Issues like diversity
and migration are governed on multiple levels and one can’t be fully understood without
taking the others into account. This doesn’t mean that nations are passive. Recipients of
what’s going on at the supranational level. Organisational process is mutual. The national
level is also influencing the European level, not only the other way around. National
sovereignty and interest are still very strong in Europe. Interaction works not only top down,
also bottom up. Mutual way!
How dynamics of Europeanization relate to Politics of Diversity?
The dynamics of Europeanization are closely related to the politics of diversity:
• Process of European integration and the successive enlargements of the EU to the East
This process (big enlargement wave EU 2004, concluded in 2007) was bringing in big
cultural, social and economic diversity to the previous EU (mainly western countries
with similar traditions) → new element for the EU at the time, new challenges, EU
had to deal with these new forms of diversity
• Guarantee of the weight and the persistence of member state identities in Europe
To guarantee the identities of each member state but at the same time to introduce
European identity as a value tension that is often visible in many of the policies that
we see nowadays on diversity (and other domains). National interest and identity
strong and visible vs. transnational and international message of unity and European
values
• ‘European’ value that transcends the framework of nation-state sovereignty
transnationally (European identity-building)
European Domestic level
level V
level
Dome
Video on PowerPoint
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, EU Motto “United in Diversity” (2000)
“Unity in diversity”: really or only a “catchy slogan”? How much DIVERSITY fits into
UNITY?
Despite the recurrent celebration of diversity that we find in the EU’s official discourse,
recognition has remained clearly biased towards the identities that are embodied by nation
states.
“The European view of diversity is still very much a billiard-ball view, in which the billiard-
balls are the EU’s member states: while each ball gets its own colour, all balls look more or
less the same and make more or less the same kind of noise when they clash at
intergovernmental meetings because of their conflicting political priorities.”
Diversity vs Inequality
"Inequality leads to differences that may well be unjust and, in such a case, should be
overcome; diversity, in contrast, points at ways of being different that must be tolerated or
deserve protection.”
What does this mean?
It means that very often, also in European policy making and European politics in general,
diversity is conceived in a positive way bv. “we are trying to increase diversity in our
organisations, in our universities” We start from the idea that diversity is good. That it’s
something positive. In the case of inequality, it’s the other side of the coin, negative
connotation: imbalance, inequity, discrimination, racism, injustice
Diversity management: positive meaning, but this implies some dynamics of power (not
always addressed)
Yes, diversity is positive, but to what extent, and what do we mean by this?
(IN)EQUALITY & ANTI-DISCRIMINATION REGIMES
The transition from the 1990s to the 2000s has been crucial in the fields of equality and non-
discrimination. At both European and international levels, the end of the twentieth century has
marked, at least in theory, the shift from a traditional single-strand approach to
inequalities (primarily focussing on gender- and nationality-related discriminations) towards
the awareness that discrimination can be experienced on more than one ground.
Copenhagen Criteria for EU Membership
Some criteria/requirements that were mandatory in order to join the EU
Rights of minorities as a precondition for accession (=if you don’t ensure the protection and
the rights of minorities, you can’t join the union)
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