The Gendered Nature of the EU Budget

Abstract

The relationship between the European Union's (EU) budget and gender equality has been a constant challenge throughout the process of European integration. Recognising the distinctiveness of the EU budget, it is evident that its primary focus lies in transfers between regions, states and specific sectors, allocating expenditure to broad objectives of public provisioning and investment. However, weaknesses remain in public funding related to social reproductive work and the funding of feminised sectors. Initially considered gender‐neutral, research and policy‐makers now acknowledge the multilayered challenges of the gender‐responsiveness of EU spending, which forms the central research question of this paper: to what extent is the EU budget gender‐responsive? To address this question, three operational benchmarks assess the extent to which EU funding instruments are gender‐responsive. These benchmarks focus on the interrelated mechanics underpinning gender‐responsiveness: the importance of considering social reproductive work, power hierarchies across funding contexts and legal instruments safeguarding social and employment rights. Applying the benchmarks to two case studies – a historical case of the agricultural funds underpinning the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (1962–present) and a contemporary case of the current Multiannual Financial Framework (2021–2027) – demonstrates that while substantial progress has been made in achieving a gender‐responsive EU budget, a key limitation remains: the insufficient recognition of how the three mechanisms interact to shape gender responsiveness.