Gendering Legal Theories of European Integration

In 1998 Armstrong wrote ‘Politics has discovered the European Court of Justice (ECJ). But has it discovered Law?’ The answer to this question, I would argue, continues to be no. Though there has been some interest in the ECJ from a political science perspective, political science has not yet fully engaged with law as a discipline which can add to our understanding of EU integration. Conversely, law has also shied away from analyses of EU integration which go beyond traditional legal doctrine. As a result legal integration remains under-theorised and under-interrogated and has certainly received very little scrutiny from a gender perspective. This paper therefore seeks to address two key issues. Firstly, it seeks to outline why legal integration theory may be problematic when viewed from a gender perspective, and secondly it seeks to show how a more nuanced and gender aware reading of legal integration can help us develop a fuller and more holistic picture of how EU (legal) integration works.

This paper therefore begins by sketching out what we mean by legal integration as it has been traditionally understood. The second part then considers legal integration from a gender perspective and problematizes it in that context. Finally it explores what a gendered reading can add to our understanding of EU integration generally.