Gendering the EU's Western Balkan Enlargement

Abstract

The EU's extra-territorial, value-driven practices are often conceptualized as normative power. However, the diffusion of norms is strongly contested in terms of human rights. This is particularly true of gender equality, which the EU uses as a conditionality tool to promote human rights, consolidate democracy, and develop a well-functioning fair market economy in other countries. Using a feminist lens and drawing on the literature and official documents, this chapter questions the balance between these three aims and the extent that Europe's normative power can mainstream gender norms in Western Balkan countries. Backsliding of equality patterns and the EU's exclusive concern on producing instruments to encourage women's labour market participation indicate that it promotes more market-engaged gender equality norms instead of creating normative change in socially constructed roles in Western Balkan countries.