‘It is all about the women’Intertwining discourses on gender equality,ethno national diversity andidentity constructions among Danish politicians

This paper focuses on a specific process of meaning construction, namely that of the (non) articulation of the idea of gender equality among Danish politicians. The analysis concerns specifically whether and how Danish and European identity is constructed as an idea in relation to notions of gender, gender equality and ethno-national diversity. The main interest of this paper, in other words, is to see whether discourses concerning national identity and European integration are gendered and when and how ‘gender’ and ‘diversity’ come into play when national politicians articulate their ideas, concerns and aspirations regarding the national and the European. It parts from an underlying assumption concerning the influential role of discourses in policies and their impact on the possible policy actions and implementation. It expects the ideas surrounding national and European identity, in terms of gender and diversity, to have implications for the inclusion and exclusion into national and European spheres of belonging and for the potential development of Europe as a diverse society.