ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the core concepts and analytical foci in Feminist political economy (FPE) literature that have the potential to deepen our understanding of the gendered character and impacts of European Union (EU) integration. Critical political economy (CPE) has been applied to multiple policy areas, including the internal market, the Economic and Monetary Union, trade policies, the euro crisis and its management, and the EU’s socioeconomic governance. CPE scholars have highlighted how the European integration process has become increasingly neoliberalised since the mid-1980s. In contrast to CPE, FPE is characterised by a significant degree of intellectual and methodological eclecticism. FPE scholars have challenged these assumptions by thoroughly demonstrating the social impacts of macro-economic policies. Gender budgeting – and to a lesser extent, gender mainstreaming – have been seen as a way to implement the critical insights of feminist economics and FPE in practice.
