Integrating or Setting the Agenda? Gender Mainstreaming in the European Constitution-Making Process

The European Union (EU) constitution-making process has adopted an “integrating” rather than an “agenda-setting” approach to gender mainstreaming. This argument draws on analysis of both the European Constitutional Convention and its product—the Constitutional Treaty. Five indicators of application of mainstreaming serve as reference points for exploring how it has been applied in the EU Constitutional Convention: a broader concept of gender equality, the incorporation of a gender perspective into the mainstream, equal representation of women, the prioritization of gender policy objectives, and a shift in institutional and organizational culture. The article provides a tentative explanation for the failure of the EU constitution-making process to adopt an “agenda-setting” approach to gender mainstreaming.