The Gendered Consequences of Brexit: The Changing Nature of Gender Equality Policies and Gender Regimes in the UK

On January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom officially exited the European Union, resulting in significant consequences for the UK’s future institutionalization of gender equality mechanisms, policies, and gender regime. This article takes Brexit, a critical juncture, as a point of departure to ask the question: “How does the process of Brexit affect the UK’s employment and domestic violence policies, and what kind of impacts do these have on the UK’s gender regime?” Analyzing government documents from 2016 to 2021, the study finds that post-Brexit erosion of EU gender equality norms has reinforced hierarchical policy meanings and amplified economic and degendered frames. Mediated by departmental mandates and institutional contexts, these shifts have consolidated a more neoliberal UK gender regime, emphasizing market-oriented logics while limiting transformative initiatives. The article highlights how Brexit reorganizes existing policy frames rather than producing progressive change and underscores the enduring discursive legacy of Europeanization in post-Brexit UK policy.