Gender and crises in European economic governance : is this time different?

Abstract

There is now a significant literature engaging with questions around gender and economic governance in the European Union. This builds upon research that demonstrates the gendered nature of the economy, and the gendered impacts of policy interventions. This paper draws on that research to develop an account of the gendered nature of the EU’s crisis response, moving from analysis of the response to the Global Financial Crisis to some prelimary discussions of the EU’s economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper shows how at each stage policies generate gendered consequences, and are built upon gendered assumptions about society and the economy. This paper therefore connects the feminist literature on the European Economic Governance to debates on the Covid-19 response, using a focus on gender and gender equality to examine key continuities between the crisis fighting of the Global Financial crisis to the establishment of the Next Generation EU fund.