Contentious citizenship : feminist debates and practices and European challenges

Citizenship is both a contentious and contested struggle about the creation of rights, duties, and opportunities. Feminist practices and debates can clarify the meaning of citizenship. This is because the form of feminist practices, characterized by an ongoing struggle, and the content of feminist debates, focusing on gender and other inequalities, recognition of different voices, and critiques of the public and private dichotomy, are particularly suited for dealing with the challenges of contentious and contested processes of citizenship. We argue more specifically that feminist debates and practices provide fruitful contributions for the citizenship challenges that the European Union must face. © 2009 Feminist Review.