ABSTRACT
The article looks at the translation of international norms on domestic violence to the national level in five Central and Eastern European countries. It argues that translation brings a concept of domestic violence, which stretches gender equality ideas underpinning international norms so as to be easier to endorse by mainstream policy actors, and results in policies framed in degendered individual rights terms. The potential for keeping gender equality in focus is then guaranteed by gendering policy processes through empowerment of gender equality actors at all stages. Absence of ownership of the policy by gender equality actors risks co-optation by frames contesting gender equality.
Subject(s)
Domestic Violence/legislation & jurisprudence , Human Rights Abuses/legislation & jurisprudence , Interpersonal Relations , Policy Making , Socioeconomic Factors , Women's Rights/legislation & jurisprudence , Domestic Violence/trends , Europe, Eastern , Female , Human Rights Abuses/trends , Humans , Politics , Women's Rights/trendsABSTRACT
This article looks at how Europe matters in the development of policies against domestic violence, a gender equality field outside the core European Union (EU) conditionality criteria. By analyzing the concrete workings and uses of Europe's domestic violence policy-making in five Central and Eastern European countries, it identifies three mechanisms of Europeanization in the field and shows how together they work to expand the reach of the EU to this policy realm. The findings point toward an understanding of Europeanization based on social learning and dynamic, interactive processes of constructing what membership in the EU means in terms of domestic violence policy processes.
