Transformations of the European Union’s Gender Regime Over Time: Integration Projects and Pro- and Anti-Equality Actors

The gender regime of the EU polity has undergone significant transformations over time. Analyzing the historical evolution of the EU’s gender equality policies and institutions across the domains of the polity, economy, civil society, and violence from 1957 until 2024, we argue that such transformations are determined by the interaction between the two projects of European economic and socio-political integration and the actors who promote and oppose gender equality. The result is a hybrid type of gender regime that combines social democratic and neoliberal elements in different ways over time. Focusing on the EU’s gender regime in this way challenges the classic periodization of European integration.