“What use is the legislation to me?” Contestations around the meanings of gender equality in legislation and its strategic use to drive structural change in university organizations

Abstract

Multiple meanings of gender equality in the implementation process provide feminist actors in institutions with opportunities to contest these meanings to address resistance against gender equality policy implementation and drive structural change in organizations. Taking legislation as a key discursive resource and Spanish universities as a case study, this article analyzes how the meaning of gender equality is constructed in the relevant legislation and how feminist actors interpret and use it in their implementation efforts. Despite a women approach predominating in the legislation, feminist actors contest and reinterpret these meanings to push for a more transformative gender approach in their institutions. They strategically use the legislation, molding it to their preferred approach, to negotiate the meaning of gender equality and to drive structural gender equality actions and demand institutional compliance.