Paper Titles & Abstracts

Equality and the respect for human rights are foundational values of the European Union that according to primary law should be promoted internally and externally. This without doubt comprises the topics of gender equality and the human rights of women. While first European efforts to engage in gender equality promotion abroad can be traced back to the 1980s, since the early 1990s the EU has developed a whole range of more detailed policy documents and instruments to achieve this aim. This paper investigates the extent to which the high rhetoric employed in the just referred to policy documents and the well-conceived instruments have led to concrete action in the six former Soviet countries that constitute the Eastern wing of the EU's Neighbourhood Policy. Although socialist legacy has prevented the states from too low ratings in international gender (in)equality indices (like by UNDP), many women in the region face domestic violence, trafficking, low female representation in parliaments, and limited support for maternal health issues. The EU has so far insufficiently addressed the topic. Political dialogues have only to a small degree dealt with issues of gender equality, too few targeted projects have supported governments and NGOs to improve the situation, and the mainstreaming approach has only superficially been pursued. Reasons for the negligence appear to competition for funding by other fields and lack of supporting voices for the topic within the Commission as well as recipient states. Overall, it is argued that the EU needs to step up its efforts, for moral, legal, as well as instrumental reasons, if it wants the objectives of the ENP as well as of the TEU to be achieved.