Policy-as-Discourse Approach to Gender Equality Policies of the European Union in External Affairs: Gender Action Plan III

Abstract: This thesis examines gender equality policies of the European Union in external affairs. The aim is to discover how the meaning and “problem” of gender (in)equality is constructed, represented, and problematized in the gender policies for external action. The study also ascertains what logics underpin the problem representations, whose voices are silenced, and what subject positions are created. Employing the “what is the “problem” represented to be” (WPR) method of Bacchi, primary Gender Action Plan III documents are analyzed. For the critical discursive analysis of the thesis, broad conceptual and theoretical approaches are applied: social construction theory and poststructuralism; governmentality and neoliberal rationalities; feminist body theory. The paper discovers that neoliberal rationalities underlie the overarching problem representations, postcolonial feminism is silenced and the subject positions label women as “other” and “subordinate”. The study concludes that the EU approach to gender equality and mainstreaming in external affairs is instrumentalist and integrationist. There is much to be done for reaching transformative gender mainstreaming.