ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the latest developments in European social and employment policy from a feminist standpoint. Specifically, it examines trends in the way the mainstream literature has treated the impact of Lisbon and the financial crisis on European social and economic cohesion as core principles of European integration. The chapter opens with a summary of the historical development and key features of the European Social Model. The European Social Model has always been and continues to be a highly contested concept/principle, and it is an aspiration that requires significant political will, which is lacking at this juncture in the history of European integration. The emergence of the EU as a social actor is inextricably linked to its role as a gender actor. The chapter concludes by exploring the idea of the de-evolution of a racialised gender regime and its impact on the politics of social cohesion and equality in Europe.
