Heather MacRae | York University (original) (raw)
Papers by Heather MacRae
The integration process has had an impact on the domestic policies, politics and polities of Euro... more The integration process has had an impact on the domestic policies, politics and polities of European Union (EU) member states, on candidate countries and third countries targeted by the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). This impact is investigated by "Europeanization" studies. This chapter addresses the interaction of feminist and gender scholarship with the Europeanization literature and its diff erent streams. Europeanization does not rely upon a fullyfl edged, empirically tested theory, but rather derives from the analysis of top-down implications of what have long been framed as only bottom-up processes. As member states voluntarily conceded competences to a supranational entity, they got caught in a process of adaptation to EU norms, policy instruments and "ways of doing things" generating a number of scenarios for convergence, divergence or norm contestation, depending on domestic settings, actors and policy domains. Europeanization scholars have attempted to make sense of diverse situations, investigating facilitation and causality mechanisms, diff erent logics underpinning norm adaptation and subsequent policy change, as well as actors' confi gurations or confl icting discursive uses of the EU. By changing the lens, Europeanization considerably complicated the picture well beyond the dynamics covered by what had so far constituted the main theories of European integration: Liberal intergovernmentalism, neo-functionalism and, more recently, neo-institutionalism. By shifting the focus to new dimensions such as ideas and discourses, it paved the way for a more substantial contribution to theorizing integration from gender scholarship, well suited to consider power dynamics at play in discursive framing or resources redistribution processes as those unfold by Europeanization (see also Lombardo and Kantola in this volume). This dialogue has not been straightforward and has involved many scholars from Europeanization and gender and politics studies working in the realm of neo-institutionalism. Signifi cant contributions have been made by countless case and comparative studies on many countries and policy domains, with a specifi c interest on soft Europeanization, particularly through gender mainstreaming. These studies have highlighted the importance of gender regimes (see von Wahl in this volume) in Europeanization outcomes, also capturing Europeanization as a scenario for norm contestation, rather than convergence, especially as the diversity of European polities considerably increased with the accession to EU membership of eight, later 11 post-Socialist states from central and eastern Europe. Although far more limited, theoretical dialogue
JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies
Women and Leadership in the European Union
Although they are still underrepresented, women are entering the upper echelons of EU institution... more Although they are still underrepresented, women are entering the upper echelons of EU institutions in unprecedented numbers. More and more are breaking the glass ceiling and attaining leadership positions. Does this have an effect on leadership and on European integration? We still don’t know, nor do we have the theoretical tools ready to investigate. Thus, different strands of literature: integration theories, leadership studies, and gender studies need to be considered and linked. Recently, linkages have been discussed between each of the three pairs among these strands: gendering integration theories, leadership in the EU, and gender and leadership. We search for connections between all three strands and make these productive for investigating gender and leadership in the EU. We contend that integration theories can offer insights into some of these emergent trends, but that these must be expanded through a gender lens. We assume that the conceptualization of agency is vital for ...
European institutions have begun to elaborate a distinctive gender regime. Relying on a largely l... more European institutions have begun to elaborate a distinctive gender regime. Relying on a largely liberal understanding of equality, European measures are frequently at odds with established policies in a number of member states, especially those where a male breadwinner/female caregiver regime predominates. This thesis examines the way in which European initiatives, inspired by the liberal gender regime, have fed into policy debates and reforms in Germany, a notoriously resilient male breadwinner state and a “laggard” in European gender policy. Three case studies (drawing on policy from the 1970s until 2005) are used to explore tensions between the nascent European gender regime and Germany's gender regime. The findings suggest that Europeanization of the German gender regime has been uneven and incomplete. Although the German gender regime cannot thus be said to have been transformed, the changes that have been introduced are contributing to the emergence of a hybrid regime, inc...
Journal of Common Market Studies, 2018
Gender and the Economic Crisis in Europe, 2017
German Politics, 2021
In a stark departure from the historical stance that Germany is “not a country of immigration”, A... more In a stark departure from the historical stance that Germany is “not a country of immigration”, Angela Merkel has made it a priority to welcome and integrate newcomers into German society. Over the course of her four terms, various Merkel-led governments have paid increased attention to the integration of newcomers, and specifically to the integration of women and girls. Drawing on key documents, including the four coalition agreements, I identify three different phases in the incorporation of gender into German integration policy. I also find evidence of several different, yet at times overlapping frames which shape the ways in which gender is framed into the integration discourse. Drawing on two case studies, I then draw attention to the fact that the shifts in discursive and policy frames at the federal level, are not immediately evident in policy initiatives as. As such, barriers to the integration of women and girls remain, even though Merkel has made this a central priority in her governments
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 2006
... accurately characterized the (now-unified) German state as a strong male breadwinner regime.... more ... accurately characterized the (now-unified) German state as a strong male breadwinner regime. They highlighted how the German welfare state presumes a woman's financial and social dependence on a male partner and links her social entitlements to this role as mother and ...
The Routledge Handbook of Gender and EU Politics, 2021
Federalism, Feminism and Multilevel Governance, 2016
In this special issue of the European Integration online Papers (EIoP), we reconsider the practic... more In this special issue of the European Integration online Papers (EIoP), we reconsider the practicability of gender mainstreaming in the European Union (EU) and its traction in the European integration project more broadly. We follow the feminist institutionalist turn which seeks to bring contemporary feminist insights and new institutionalism’s various schools of thought to bear on one another. Out of this synergy comes the recognition of gender as an inherent feature of institutions and the opening up of new avenues to interrogate the dynamics of power and change. Collectively, we argue that the EU is a battleground where gender equality concerns must struggle against a masculine stronghold. We question whether there are better means to bring about gender mainstreaming’s transformative triumph.
International Studies
As critics are quick to point out, the European Union (EU) has entered the crisis phase of its ev... more As critics are quick to point out, the European Union (EU) has entered the crisis phase of its evolution. It could be argued that crisis management is now the EU’s new normal. Dealing with both endogenous (e.g., economic crisis and Brexit) and exogenous crises (e.g., the migrant crisis and COVID-19), the EU is facing a whole new set of challenges that has the potential to destabilize the complex institutional balance that has maintained the process of European integration over the last 70 years. In this environment of rapid responses, gender+ equality has frequently been compromised. As we argue in this article, the implications of this backsliding are grave not only for equality but also for the European Union as a whole. Drawing on Walby’s concept of gender regimes and social transformation, we consider current crises and the EU’s responses to those crises to highlight potentially dangerous shifts in the European gender regime. With crisis response increasingly supporting a neo-li...
The Routledge Handbook of Gender and EU Politics
This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from t... more This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality o f the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps.
International Feminist Journal of Politics
The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users ar... more The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record.
The integration process has had an impact on the domestic policies, politics and polities of Euro... more The integration process has had an impact on the domestic policies, politics and polities of European Union (EU) member states, on candidate countries and third countries targeted by the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). This impact is investigated by "Europeanization" studies. This chapter addresses the interaction of feminist and gender scholarship with the Europeanization literature and its diff erent streams. Europeanization does not rely upon a fullyfl edged, empirically tested theory, but rather derives from the analysis of top-down implications of what have long been framed as only bottom-up processes. As member states voluntarily conceded competences to a supranational entity, they got caught in a process of adaptation to EU norms, policy instruments and "ways of doing things" generating a number of scenarios for convergence, divergence or norm contestation, depending on domestic settings, actors and policy domains. Europeanization scholars have attempted to make sense of diverse situations, investigating facilitation and causality mechanisms, diff erent logics underpinning norm adaptation and subsequent policy change, as well as actors' confi gurations or confl icting discursive uses of the EU. By changing the lens, Europeanization considerably complicated the picture well beyond the dynamics covered by what had so far constituted the main theories of European integration: Liberal intergovernmentalism, neo-functionalism and, more recently, neo-institutionalism. By shifting the focus to new dimensions such as ideas and discourses, it paved the way for a more substantial contribution to theorizing integration from gender scholarship, well suited to consider power dynamics at play in discursive framing or resources redistribution processes as those unfold by Europeanization (see also Lombardo and Kantola in this volume). This dialogue has not been straightforward and has involved many scholars from Europeanization and gender and politics studies working in the realm of neo-institutionalism. Signifi cant contributions have been made by countless case and comparative studies on many countries and policy domains, with a specifi c interest on soft Europeanization, particularly through gender mainstreaming. These studies have highlighted the importance of gender regimes (see von Wahl in this volume) in Europeanization outcomes, also capturing Europeanization as a scenario for norm contestation, rather than convergence, especially as the diversity of European polities considerably increased with the accession to EU membership of eight, later 11 post-Socialist states from central and eastern Europe. Although far more limited, theoretical dialogue
JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies
Women and Leadership in the European Union
Although they are still underrepresented, women are entering the upper echelons of EU institution... more Although they are still underrepresented, women are entering the upper echelons of EU institutions in unprecedented numbers. More and more are breaking the glass ceiling and attaining leadership positions. Does this have an effect on leadership and on European integration? We still don’t know, nor do we have the theoretical tools ready to investigate. Thus, different strands of literature: integration theories, leadership studies, and gender studies need to be considered and linked. Recently, linkages have been discussed between each of the three pairs among these strands: gendering integration theories, leadership in the EU, and gender and leadership. We search for connections between all three strands and make these productive for investigating gender and leadership in the EU. We contend that integration theories can offer insights into some of these emergent trends, but that these must be expanded through a gender lens. We assume that the conceptualization of agency is vital for ...
European institutions have begun to elaborate a distinctive gender regime. Relying on a largely l... more European institutions have begun to elaborate a distinctive gender regime. Relying on a largely liberal understanding of equality, European measures are frequently at odds with established policies in a number of member states, especially those where a male breadwinner/female caregiver regime predominates. This thesis examines the way in which European initiatives, inspired by the liberal gender regime, have fed into policy debates and reforms in Germany, a notoriously resilient male breadwinner state and a “laggard” in European gender policy. Three case studies (drawing on policy from the 1970s until 2005) are used to explore tensions between the nascent European gender regime and Germany's gender regime. The findings suggest that Europeanization of the German gender regime has been uneven and incomplete. Although the German gender regime cannot thus be said to have been transformed, the changes that have been introduced are contributing to the emergence of a hybrid regime, inc...
Journal of Common Market Studies, 2018
Gender and the Economic Crisis in Europe, 2017
German Politics, 2021
In a stark departure from the historical stance that Germany is “not a country of immigration”, A... more In a stark departure from the historical stance that Germany is “not a country of immigration”, Angela Merkel has made it a priority to welcome and integrate newcomers into German society. Over the course of her four terms, various Merkel-led governments have paid increased attention to the integration of newcomers, and specifically to the integration of women and girls. Drawing on key documents, including the four coalition agreements, I identify three different phases in the incorporation of gender into German integration policy. I also find evidence of several different, yet at times overlapping frames which shape the ways in which gender is framed into the integration discourse. Drawing on two case studies, I then draw attention to the fact that the shifts in discursive and policy frames at the federal level, are not immediately evident in policy initiatives as. As such, barriers to the integration of women and girls remain, even though Merkel has made this a central priority in her governments
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 2006
... accurately characterized the (now-unified) German state as a strong male breadwinner regime.... more ... accurately characterized the (now-unified) German state as a strong male breadwinner regime. They highlighted how the German welfare state presumes a woman's financial and social dependence on a male partner and links her social entitlements to this role as mother and ...
The Routledge Handbook of Gender and EU Politics, 2021
Federalism, Feminism and Multilevel Governance, 2016
In this special issue of the European Integration online Papers (EIoP), we reconsider the practic... more In this special issue of the European Integration online Papers (EIoP), we reconsider the practicability of gender mainstreaming in the European Union (EU) and its traction in the European integration project more broadly. We follow the feminist institutionalist turn which seeks to bring contemporary feminist insights and new institutionalism’s various schools of thought to bear on one another. Out of this synergy comes the recognition of gender as an inherent feature of institutions and the opening up of new avenues to interrogate the dynamics of power and change. Collectively, we argue that the EU is a battleground where gender equality concerns must struggle against a masculine stronghold. We question whether there are better means to bring about gender mainstreaming’s transformative triumph.
International Studies
As critics are quick to point out, the European Union (EU) has entered the crisis phase of its ev... more As critics are quick to point out, the European Union (EU) has entered the crisis phase of its evolution. It could be argued that crisis management is now the EU’s new normal. Dealing with both endogenous (e.g., economic crisis and Brexit) and exogenous crises (e.g., the migrant crisis and COVID-19), the EU is facing a whole new set of challenges that has the potential to destabilize the complex institutional balance that has maintained the process of European integration over the last 70 years. In this environment of rapid responses, gender+ equality has frequently been compromised. As we argue in this article, the implications of this backsliding are grave not only for equality but also for the European Union as a whole. Drawing on Walby’s concept of gender regimes and social transformation, we consider current crises and the EU’s responses to those crises to highlight potentially dangerous shifts in the European gender regime. With crisis response increasingly supporting a neo-li...
The Routledge Handbook of Gender and EU Politics
This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from t... more This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality o f the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps.
International Feminist Journal of Politics
The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users ar... more The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record.