Institutionalizing Intersectionality: The Changing Nature of European Equality Regimes

What is the relative importance of different inequalities for policymaking? Should they all be protected similarly, or are some different and deserving of wider protection? Does the widening protection of multiple inequalities open up the potential for addressing their intersections as well, or is more specific attention needed if intersectionality is to be addressed by equality institutions? The current European arena provides a laboratory for comparative research about these questions. The last decade has seen a steady move away from policy approaches that address different inequalities separately and a move towards an integrated approach to multiple inequalities. This collection maps the ways in which multiple inequalities are being addressed institutionally in Europe, and identifies the changing patterns of institutionalization. Using country-based and region-specific case studies it offers a comparative analysis of the multidimensional equality regimes that are emerging in Europe, and analyses the potential that these have for 'institutionalizing intersectionality'.

Table of Contents:
Institutionalizing Intersectionality? A Theoretical Framework; A.Krizsan, H.Skjeie & J.Squires The European Union: Initiator of a New European Anti-Discrimination Regime?; J.Kantola & K.Nousiainen Institutionalizing Intersectionality in the Nordic Countries: Anti-Discrimination and Equality in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden; A.Borchorst, L.Freidenvall, J.Kantola, L.Reisel & M.Teigen Institutionalizing Intersectionality in the 'Big Three': The Changing Equality Framework in France, Germany, Britain; C.Hermanin & J.Squires Institutionalizing Intersectionality in the Low Countries: Belgium and The Netherlands; K.Celis, J.Outshoorn, P.Meier & J.Motmans Institutionalizing Intersectionality in Southern Europe: Italy, Spain and Portugal; A.Alonso, M.Bustelo, M.Forest & E.Lombardo Institutionalizing Intersectionality in Central and Eastern Europe: Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia; A.Krizsan & V.Zentai European Equality Regimes: Institutional Change and Political Intersectionality; A.Krizsan, H.Skjeie & J.Squires

About the Author :
ANDREA KRIZSAN Research Fellow at the Center for Policy Studies of the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. She has worked on several comparative research projects dealing with gender and other equality policies, most recently the project 'Quality of Gender+ Equality Policies in Europe' (QUING). Her main research interests include understanding policy change and the role of non-conventional policy actors in bringing about change in Central and Eastern Europe. Her most recent project concerns reforms of domestic violence policies in five Central and Eastern European countries. Her publications include articles in Social Politics, Ethnic and Racial Studies, European Integration Online Papers, Policy Studies, Journal for Ethnic and Minority Studies, chapters in several edited volumes, and an edited volume on ethnic monitoring and data collection. HEGE SKJEIE Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, Norway. JUDITH SQUIRES Professor of Political Theory and Dean of the Faculty Social Sciences and Law, University of Bristol, UK. Her publications include: Contesting Citizenship, co-edited with Birte Siim (2008), The New Politics of Gender Equality (2007) and Gender in Political Theory (1999). She co-edits the Palgrave Gender and Politics Book Series (with Johanna Kantola) and is Reviews Editor for the journal Government and Opposition. She is a member of the European Consortium of Political Research Press board and was appointed an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2009.

Review :
Insitutionalizing Intersectionality is an essential tool for understanding and promoting democratic performance in the 21st century. It maps out the new concept of intersectionality as it has been transposed into government structures at the EU level and across many of the member states. The book's systematic, empirical and comparative approach carried out by a line-up of top scholars makes it a must-read for academics and policy practitioners alike. Professor Amy G. Mazur, Washington State University. 'The concept of intersectionality has come to loom large in debates about equality, discrimination and social inclusion across Europe. It poses difficult questions for policymakers, activists and academics alike, by focusing attention on the multiple and overlapping forms of inequality that exist in contemporary society. This book provides an outstanding comparative and multi-disciplinary overview of how European governance structures have tried to come to grips with intersectionality, with its highly impressive range of contributors providing invaluable criticial perspectives and insightful analysis on developments in this field.' Colm O' Cinneide, Reader in Laws, UCL Faculty of Laws