The EU as a Global Gender Actor: Tracing Intersectionality in the European Gender Action Plans for External Relations 2010–2025

Abstract In recent years, the European Union has been paying more attention to social categories other than gender in its external policies. The authors’ aim is twofold. First, we trace how the concept of intersectionality has evolved in EU external gender policy since 2010. Second, we analyze to what extent the framing of intersectionality is able to harness intersectionality’s transformative potential. Using a tailored critical frame analysis of EU Gender Action Plans I–III, the study finds a growing and more profound engagement with the concept since 2020, due to the amenability of the policy field and a changed opportunity structure resulting from the 2019 appointment of a new Commission which put (gender) equality back on the agenda. While not yet transformative in the strict sense, the policy shift is an important leverage for equality advocates as it sets out a progressive course for the European Union as a global gender actor.