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In the final account will be taken of the extent to which the student:
Who is Europe?
The representation of women and minorities in the European parliament
Project description:
Who is Europe? The representation of women and minorities in the European Parliament
Equality between women and men is inscribed as an aim in the EC Treaties. EU policies on this issue include legislation, mainstreaming and positive actions. A European Institute for Gender Equality is being created, and one of the prioritized areas is gender balance in decision-making. Similarly the EU institutions are promoting a vision for the integration processes in Europe which stresses unity in diversity beyond the national level. EU institutions have thus extended different forms of support for linguistic and cultural minorities and for immigrants in the European Union.
Taking the upcoming elections for the European Parliament as the point of departure, the Project of 2009 at the Department of European Studies at Århus University will explore how EU initiatives concerning gender equality and cultural and linguistic diversity are reflected when it comes to representation in the European Parliament.
With reference to new qualitative material from selected old and new member states, student researchers from different countries enrolled in the masters programme of European Studies will go beyond statistics to analyse and discuss to what extent and for what reasons the various political parties in different member states prioritise women and minority representatives among their candidates running for EP election: Do they have any specific strategies for recruiting women and minority representatives to stand for EP election? Is gender equality and/or minority representation considered important? Is representation in the European Parliament considered to be important by women's and minority organizations, and what do such organisations do to secure representation? The student researchers will also interview present female and male MEP's with majority and minority backgrounds from the same countries about their attitudes, motives and experiences in their home country as well as in the European Parliament as they are now launching their campaigns for the next elections.
The aim will be to uncover both barriers and bridges for women and cultural, linguistic and ethnic minority representatives. All the information will be systematized and analyzed in order to finalize findings concerning similarities and differences regarding gender, ethnicity and political culture throughout Europe.
Underlying the project and data collection will be a diverse body of academic literature that transcends both the study of project design, methods for interviewing, observation and data collection, and the study of gender, minorities and politics. The purpose is to introduce participating students to different ways that these topics can be studied and analyzed, and to secure that there is a solid academic underpinning to the findings.
The student can only register for the examination in Project Theme 1 & 2 if he or she registers for the examinations in Research Design, Methodology and Presentation Techniques during the same semester.
Kirsten Gomard and Lisanne Wilken
Instruction will typically take form as lectures, workshop, practical exercises, teamwork and research based class discussions.
Engelsk
Preliminary list of literature
Htun, Mala (2004) Is Gender like Ethnicity? The political representation of identity groups.
Lovenduski: State Feminism and Political Representation. Cambridge University Press 2005. Cases: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, UK, USA
Wilken, L. 2008, "[ http://person.au.dk/da/pub/13171717?id=11446 ]The social construction of EUâ€TMs cultural policy and the relevance of minority languages", i Hemmersam, F. (red.) Kulturelle processer, Museum Tusculanums Forlag, København,
The examination consist of a paper written individually or in smaller groups in relation to the project theme.
