Gender and Public Policy in Europe: An Introduction

The past decade has witnessed a series of both empirical and scholarly developments in the study of gender and public policy in Europe. The papers in this special issue present new theoretical arguments and empirical findings, and provide a state-of-the-art analysis of feminist comparative policy across a range of issue areas, including reconciliation of work and family, reproductive rights, political representation, diversity policies, sexual harassment and gender mainstreaming. Taken together, the studies point to the multi-level nature of gender equality policies in contemporary Europe, to the complex and shifting determinants of successful feminist policies and to the maturation of feminist comparative policy as a field of study.