Eurobarometer surveys: another history of European gender equality policy?

Abstract

This article analyses Eurobarometer surveys as fully fledged instruments of the European gender equality policy since its emergence in the 1970s up until 2018. These surveys bring new data that allow for reanalysing the history of the gender equality policy, focusing on how public opinion is of interest to policymakers and how they use the results of these polls. The article shows that Eurobarometer surveys and the appeal to the ‘voice of the citizens’ have always had a legitimising function for gender equality, but that the purposes of this legitimisation have changed over time. Recently, in a context of low citizen support for the European Union political system, surveys have been integrated into the day-to-day routine of gender equality policymaking; however, they are also used by the European Parliament to reassert the shared values of the European Union.