Europeanization Through the European Women’s Lobby: A Sociological Comparison of the French and Belgian National Coordinations

Abstract

What impact has the creation of the European Women's Lobby (EWL) had on national feminist Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in France and Belgium? To find this out, I examine how the national CSOs' coordinations have adapted their practices, discourses, strategies and internal organisation to be part of European Civil Society. Drawing on 40 interviews and two internships within both French and Belgian EWL intermediary coordinations, I put forward an actor-based sociological perspective focusing on three causal paths in order to explain the findings derived from comparing the Europeanization of the CSOs in France and in Belgium. If identical effects of this Europeanization were identified in both coordinations, the French coordination appears to be more proactive on EU issues and more EWL-orientated than the Belgian. These two distinctive outcomes can be explained by three factors: cultural, organisational and individual. While cultural factors explain some longterm Europeanization outcomes, factors to do with actors' individualities also highlight the mutability of the Europeanization process.

Velvet triangles and more: alliances of supranational EU gender equality actors

“…Equally important to feminist governance is addressing how supranational women's organisations manage multilevel governance (Lang, 2014). The EWL is a potential bottleneck between domestic and supranational levels: whether domestic women's organisations adapt or influence EWL positions often depends on matching frames, individual leadership connections and simply geographic proximity (Ahrens and Meier, 2019;Lafon, 2018). Furthermore, Schrama (2019) illustrates severe imbalances between Western and Eastern EWL members, with the former rich in human, financial and social capital, while the latter aim to compensate for their lack of resources by linking up directly with the Commission.…”

Sticky Networks in Times of Change: The Case of the European Women's Lobby and Brexit*

“…Karlberg and Jacobsson (2015) have examined the Europeanizing effects of EWL membership on organizational structures and CSO cooperation in Sweden. Lafon (2018) has noted cultural, organizational and individual factors as shaping different Europeanization outcomes in Belgian and French CSOs. These focused studies speak to a broader literature on national CSOs' Europeanization of their activity, including through participation in EU CSO networks.…”

“…Many scholars recognize that CSOs at once seek to advance particular policy goals and, as organizations, seek to sustain and expand themselves. Normative, capacity and organizational factors shape and are shaped by domestic CSOs' participation within Europe (for example, Beyers and Kerremans, 2007;Karlberg and Jacobsson, 2015;Kröger 2018;Lafon, 2018). Sensitive to multiple levels of governance, Santiago López and Tatham (2018) have explored the Europeanization of interest groups at the sub-state level, observing a relationship between the level of a state's decentralization and regional interest groups' Europeanization.…”

Intersectionality in Feminist and Queer Movements

“…What Lafon (2018) calls the 'Belgian consensual spirit', indeed seems to characterize the two women's councils. While having broadened their scope, they did not adopt all intersections characterizing Belgian society, let alone mainstream them in the descriptive and substantive dimension of their representative work.…”