Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, Volume 6, Number 2, pp. 203-229
© 1999 Oxford University Press
Case X: Irish Reproductive Policy and European Influence
Will the European Union be a force for women's rights in the Twenty-first Century? In this work, I argue that although the European Community was established primarily to facilitate transfer of goods and economic growth, in practice it has proven to be a watchdog for women's rights, their maintenance and expansion. As a case in point, I consider Europe's recent role in the feminist struggle for reproductive freedom in Ireland. Data from one politically tumultuous period in Irish women's history illustrates that member states' practices cannot be wholly prescripted and legislated and that economic convergence cannot be accomplished independently of cultural and political influences. This analysis signals the ways in which Europe, as an informal network rather than a formal bureaucracy, might be useful to feminists working for social policy changes in their home countries.
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