Transcript slides (Powerpoint format)

INTERSECTIONALITY IN THE PRACTICE
OF EUROPEAN GENDER EQUALITY POLICY
Mieke Verloo
ESCR Seminar Intersectionality: From Idea to Implementation
10th December 2010 – 9.30-5pm
University of Brighton
Why intersectionality?
 Gender never comes alone…
 As a concept, intersectionality draws the
attention to how inequalities are interwoven
and not always ‘packages of disadvantage’.
 Not just at the level of identities, also at the
levels of structures, movements and projects.
Inequalities
 Our societies are ridden with inequalities along many
different axes or dimensions
 Our societies differ in whether and how they see these
inequalities to be important, problematic, in need of
action
 Civil society, social movements and politics engage in
various activities towards abolishing various inequalities
 The strength of these political actors varies
tremendously
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How inequalities relate to
each other in society
 The discussion about what is the most important/
encompassing inequality in a certain context is inevitably
political
 How the relation between different inequalities is
conceptualized is crucial
 My position: inequalities are related to each other, they are
intersecting, and therefore there is no full equality for anyone
“group” unless also other inequalities are tackled, at all levels
and in all domains.
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Intersectionality in policy
 Quite new to have or ask for explicit attention
beyond ‘target groups’.
 Most attention in targeted gender equality
policies (special projects for specially
disadvantaged groups)
 Little or no attention in gender
mainstreaming, nor in equal treatment
policies.
How to do intersectionality?
 Do we have ‘good practices’, or ‘practices
with potential’ that show how to do
intersectionality in gender equality policies?
 Not really, the QUING project found very little
of those… (see Final STRIQ report on www.
quing.eu)
Current developments in
European Union policies

EU directives:
 Treaty of Amsterdam, 1997, art 13. …the Council […] may take
appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or
ethnic origin, age, religion or belief, disability and sexual orientation.

Charter of Fundamental Rights, 2000, art.21

Racial Equality Directive (2000/43/EC): the principle of equal treatment
between people irrespective of racial or ethnic origin and gives
protection against discrimination in fields of employment and training,
education, social security, healthcare, and access to goods and services.
 Employment Equality Directive (2000/78/EC): the principle of equal
treatment in employment and training irrespective of religion or belief,
sexual orientation, and age.
Current developments in
European Union policies
 The new EU Directives ‘ fix’ a particular understanding of inequalities

A ‘widened’ set of inequality categories that get attention
 Sex, racial or ethnic origin, age, religion or belief, disability and sexual
orientation
 Denying intersectionality
 A ‘shrunk’ understanding of ways of dealing with inequalities as compared to
gender equality policies
 Gender equality policies in the EU currently do include attention for: the level
of social structures and institutions; the level of states or EU institutions, and
for the private sphere…
 The EU approach to multiple discrimination lacks all this.
 The main problem causing inequality is seen to be discrimination, to be
addressed by equal treatment, preventing discrimination, and some positive
measures
How to do intersectionality?
 In contrast, we found enough cases of ‘bad practices’,
where the intersection of gender with other
inequalities was overlooked, or, even worse, where
gender equality policies were feeding into the
reproduction of other inequalities.
 There are ‘bad’ practices such as stigmatisation, lack
of attention for the specific situation or discrimination
of intersectional groups, or the fading away of gender
when the attention turns from gender equality to
broader defined goals such as diversity.
 Therefore there is a need to do intersectionality in a
reactive form => by exposing intersectional bias.
How to do intersectionality?
 Against this back drop, how can
intersectionality be integrated in gender
equality policies?
 Can we come to gender+ equality policies?
How to do intersectionality?
Good practices on intersectionality in gender
equality policies can only be ‘good’ if they are
embedded in good gender equality policy, that is:
 if they are transformative, recognising the
structural character of gender inequality across
many domains in their proposed actions and
measures.
 If they are rooted and shaped in constructive
struggle and dialogue with civil society
organisations working towards the abolishment of
gender inequality.
How to do intersectionality?
 The pragmatic approach to doing intersectionality:
 Instead of an ongoing compartmentalization of
legal provisions
 Focus on the ways in which existing rights
standards can provide strong protection for
individuals whose experience crosses the pre-set
institutional lines
 Strategy of ‘applied intersectionality’ (Sattertwaite
2005). Example: migrant domestic workers
 Comparing Belgium and the Netherlands on antidiscrimination
How to do intersectionality?
 The structural approach to doing intersectionality
 Conceptualize practices of mainstreaming
structural inequalities
 ‘Stretch’ gender mainstreaming to encompass
both structural and political intersectionality
 Develop forms of comprehensive (or ‘equality’)
mainstreaming, such as race/ethnicity
mainstreaming, sexuality mainstreaming
How to do intersectionality?
 The procedural approach to doing intersectionality
 Organize deliberation between different groups
representing different axes of inequality
 Facilitate coalition building
 Organize struggle between different groups
representing different axes of inequality
Which intersectionality in
Europe?
 Currently on the rise: attention for sexuality
equality and hence also for intersection of
gender and sexuality. Still contested, especially
is some Southern countries and Central
European countries.
Sexual orientation
 EU is pioneering in equality regardless of sexual
orientation
 General recognition in Treaty of Amsterdam
 Some protection in employment and training
 Some signs that this creates new (at least discursive)
opportunities for the LGTBQ movement
 Should make it more easy to address heteronormativity
as one of the building blocks of gender inequality
Which intersectionality in
Europe?
 Currently turning into a full fledged pattern of
racialisation: the intersection of
race/ethnicity and religion (Muslim in the
West of Europe, Roma and Jews in Central
Europe).
 Gender comes into the picture when it is
about demographic deficit policies including
reconciliation policies.
 Gender also comes into the picture when it is
about sexuality (Muslim) and crime (Roma).
European racialization
(Goldberg
2006)
 The Euro-legacy on colonialism is often seen as a
problem that Europe caused ‘outside’ Europe.
 The Holocaust is the defining event, reducing the
racial to the Jewish question.
 Yet, the figure of the ‘Muslim’ has historically also
bookended modern Europe’s explicit historical
anxieties about Blackness.
 The Muslim population is increasingly racialized to
a unitary category.
Which intersectionality in
Europe?
 The two focuses of attention are not
independent: case of the Netherlands…
The exemplary state of the Netherlands:
opening speech of ILGA-Europe by Dutch
Minister
 “As Europeans, we are united in the fight for equality and equal rights for gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender people worldwide”.
 “As the host country of this conference, the Netherlands is glad to be at the
vanguard. Because we have a high standard to live up to”.
 “Religion, culture or tradition may not be used as an excuse where the
protection of human rights is concerned. Human rights are golden rules that
apply to everyone, everywhere and at all times. They are obligations of
international law. You cannot simply place a group of people outside the law on
the basis of their sexual orientation”
Cross-movement politics and fighting inequalities Mieke Verloo ILGA-Europe 2010
09/04/2015
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And then the other face of
this government…
 Human rights are golden rights and obligations of international law
but….
 “where new national policy is limited by legal barriers, the
Netherlands will actively work towards changes of EU or other
treaties, directives of agreements”.
 (p. 3. Het kabinet respecteert internationale verdragen. Ook verdragen bieden burgers en hun grondrechten bescherming. Daar waar nieuw
nationaal beleid op juridische grenzen stuit zal Nederland zich binnen de Europese Unie of in ander verband inzetten voor wijziging van de
betreffende verdragen, richtlijnen of afspraken
.)
Cross-movement politics and fighting inequalities Mieke Verloo ILGA-Europe 2010
09/04/2015
21
More excerpts from the Dutch
governmental agreement 2010

P.26: If someone’s behaviour or dress impedes his (!) chances on being available on the labour market,
a refusal, discount or withdrawal of social security rights will result. If needed the government will
come with a proposal for this.
(Indien gedrag of kleding van iemand feitelijk zijn kansen op beschikbaarheid voor de arbeidsmarkt beperkt, volgt een weigering, korting of intrekking van
een uitkering op grond van de Wet Werk en Bijstand (WWB). Zo nodig zal het kabinet daartoe met een voorstel komen.

P. 23. New requirements linked to family migration can be realised when European Directive 2003/86
will be revised. This government will push for: higher age limit for partners (24 years)/ allowing just
one partner in 10 years/ higher income demand (120% of minimum wage/ a / a test if the bond with
the Netherlands is stronger than the bond with other countries/ (…)/ the possibility of having
education requirements.
(Belangrijke nieuwe eisen aan gezinsmigratie kunnen bijvoorbeeld worden gerealiseerd bij aanpassing van de EU-richtlijn inzake gezinshereniging
(2003/86). Daarbij zal het kabinet onder meer inzetten op: • verhoging van de leeftijdseis voor de partner naar 24 jaar / • toelating van maximaal een
partner in de tien jaar / • verhoging van de inkomenseis naar tenminste 120% van het minimumloon / • invoering van een borgsom / • invoering van
een toets waaruit blijkt of de band met Nederland groter is dan de band met andere landen en (..) • Tot slot zal met het oog op het belang van
kwalificatie ten behoeve van participatie en integratie worden ingezet op opneming in deze richtlijn van de mogelijkheid opleidingseisen te stellen
aan gezinsmigranten.
Cross-movement politics and fighting inequalities Mieke Verloo ILGA-Europe 2010
09/04/2015
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Which intersectionality in
Europe?
 The eternal need to refocus on class, especially
under conditions of rising neo-liberalism.
– Cuts in welfare state disproportionally affect women and
gender equality agencies as well as feminist civil society,
and all projects for social justice
– Mismatch popular gender equality topics onto this
development: disproportional attention to glass ceiling and
other white middle class women’s issues
– The weakened position of gender mainstreaming in
European-level initiatives has led to gender and all issues of
social justice being marginalised or ignored in national and
EU policy responses to the crisis (Smith & Villa 2010).
Summing up:
 There is an ongoing need to explore and try
out how to do intersectionality in equality
policy making,
 But a decreasing number of places for tryouts in actual realities.
 Exposing and reacting to policies that
increase intersectional equalities may
therefore be more realistic….