The Discursive Politics of Gender Equality: Stretching, Bending and Policy-making

This book explores the discursive constructions of gender equality and the implications of these understandings in a broad range of policy fields.

Using gender equality as a prime example, a number of internationally renowned scholars offer a new vocabulary to identify and study processes of the reduction, amplification, shifting or freezing of meaning. The main aim of the book is to understand the dynamics and to reflect on the consequences of such discursive politics in recent policy making on gender equality. It explores both the potential opportunities that are opened up for the promotion of equality through discursive politics, and the limitations they impose. Distinctive features of the volume include:




chapters covering a range of case studies in Europe, the USA, and the Asia region, tackling contemporary political debates on equality




new insights of relevance to public policy practices such as gender mainstreaming, with theorizing on intersecting inequalities


The Discursive Politics of Gender Equality will be of interest to students and scholars, of political science, public policy, comparative politics, gender and women studies.

Emanuela Lombardo is currently Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Department of Political Science and Administration II of the Complutense University Madrid, Spain.
Petra Meier is lecturer at the Politics Department of the University of Antwerp, Belgium.
Mieke Verloo is currently associate professor in Political Science and Gender Studies, affiliated to the Faculty of Management and to the Institute for Gender Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

1. Stretching and Bending Gender Equality: A Discursive Politics Approach Emanuela Lombardo, Petra Meier and Mieke Verloo 2. The Issue of Intentionality in Frame Theory: The Need for Reflexive Framing Carol Bacchi 3. Beyond the Politics of Location: The Power of Argument in Gender Equality Politics Sylvia Walby 4. Stretching and Bending the Meanings of Gender in Equality Policies Vlasta Jalušic 5. Stretching Gender Equality to other Inequalities: Political Intersectionality in European Gender Equality Policies Emanuela Lombardo and Mieke Verloo 6. Inequality, Intersectionality and the Politics of Discourse: Framing Feminist Alliances Myra Marx Ferree 7. Bending Towards Growth: Discursive Constructions of Gender Equality in an Era of Governance and Neoliberalism Malin Rönnblom 8. Trading-in Gender Equality: Gendered Meanings in EU Trade Policy Jacqui True 9. Stretching, Bending, and Inconsistency in Policy Frames on Gender Equality: Discursive Windows of Opportunity Emanuela Lombardo and Petra Meier 10. Grounding Policy Evaluation in a Discursive Understanding of Politics María Bustelo and Mieke Verloo 11. The Discursive Logic of Ranking and Benchmarking: Understanding Gender Equality Measures in the European Union Mieke Verloo and Anna van der Vleuten 12. Conclusions: A Critical Understanding of the Discursive Politics of Gender Equality Emanuela Lombardo, Petra Meier and Mieke Verloo