:    Scholars have consistently recognized the European Parliament (EP) as one of the world’s most gender-friendly legislative bodies, providing crucial support for countless equal treatment, positive action and anti-discrimination policies established by the Union.  Introduced in 1979, direct elections were very effective in raising the share of female MEPs from 1.3% in 1952, to 4.5% in 1975, to 11%, shooting up to 35% by 2009. The May 2014 elections nonetheless produced results that hold potentially negative consequences for future EU equality policies: right-wing, “anti-EU” parties – advocating “traditional” divisions of gender labor-- secured almost 25% of the EP seats. The 2014 campaign slogans -- This time it’s different (Commission) and Act, react,  impact (EP) -- targeted the Community’s first democratic deficit, i.e., the lack of citizen input into decision-making, coupled with a dearth of transparency and  accountability among largely unelected EU officials. Under the slogan 50/50: No more excuses, the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) devoted its campaign to a second, equally intractable democratic deficit: the persistent underrepresentation of women in ALL EU organs.

This panel will explore the broader consequences of the latest EP elections,  assessing the extent to which growing partisan fragmentation both within and between member-state delegations will affect not only the Community’s gender policy agenda but also its traditional mode of functioning, given changes under the Lisbon  Treaty which took effect in 2014.