ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on European union (EU) level policy driven through the political concept of the European Research Area (ERA), launched in 2000 and implemented through Framework Programmes (FPs) and at member state level via the ERA Roadmap National Action Plans and Strategies. The Amsterdam Treaty, which entered into force in 1999, made policies in the area of research compulsory. The evolution of the Research and technological development policy (RTD) policy has not been a steady path of growing evidence-based policy complexity. A verification of whether, how and to what extent gender has been addressed in ‘mainstream’ authors’ works leads to the conclusion that EU research policy seems to be a ‘masculine’ field of interest that focuses on techno-economic topics. The advancement of gender equality can also suffer due to the multiplicity of actors involved, particularly at times when their values and interests in promoting gender equality in research do not align.
