Translating Gender Equality - A case study about the EU gender policy's politicising capacity

Abstract: This thesis investigates the politicising capacity of gender equality policy in the European Investment and Structural funds (ESI funds). It takes off from studies on the implementation of the policy, which indicates that it is not able to politicise gender – because it does not articulate gender equality in conflictual terms. Theories on a discursive understanding of politics and translation processes pose that the design and the translation of the policy may limit the politicising capacity. To investigate the translation process, attention is paid to the underlying problem formulation as well as the organisation of the policy. The translation of gender equality policy in Community Led Local Development (CLLD) in Sweden and the region Halland is used as a case study. CLLD is a method for implementing the ESI funds local based initiatives, which enables analysis of three levels: the level of the EU (with involvement from the European Commission, European Parliament and the Council), the national administrative agency in Sweden (Board of Agriculture) and the CLLD group in the region of Halland. Interviews are conducted with public officials at the Board of Agriculture and members of the CLLD group, to investigate their understanding and prioritisation of the gender equality policy. Policy documents which guide the implementation of CLLD are analysed to expose the underlying problem formulation. This material is used to elaborate on what politicising potential the policy has. It is found that the policy does not imply any politicising measures. Instead, it mainly focuses on how gender equality can be used for economic goals, how it loosely prescribes equal representation in decision making groups, how to avoid discrimination in the implementation, and how knowledge will help the policy actors to understand more exactly what do with the policy. The policy actors do not perceive gender equality to have priority over other goals. At EU and national level, the gender equality policy is presented as a solution which enhances other measures, making them more profitable. At the local level, the gender equality policy is understood as useful when it is instrumental to reach other goals, and may cause tension in certain cases.