Framing Gender Intersections in the European Union: What Implications for the Quality of Intersectionality in Policies?

This article explores the extent to which the emergence of an antidiscrimination policy in the European Union (EU) implies a shift in EU gender equality policies towards an intersectional approach. The frame analysis of EU gender equality policy documents shows that intersectional dimensions are increasingly present but they are treated implicitly and from a separate perspective, and the inclusion of a wide range of inequalities often implies a degendering of the policy content. We assess the implications of the identified intersectionality trends for the quality of intersectionality in gender equality policies, and we suggest the practice of an "intersectionality impact assessment" as a way to improve the quality of EU policy-making. © 2011 The Author.