Imagining the European Union: Gender and Digital Diplomacy in European External Relations

Abstract

The European Union has historically sought to project outwards its identity, values and raison d’être during times of uncertainty and crisis. One of the core values stated to be at the heart of the European Union’s identity is gender equality. Yet, while gender equality features more visibly in the European Union’s external discourse as it seeks to position itself as a global leader in equality and human rights, the internal challenge posed by crisis presents a real obstacle to future developments in this area. This article examines digital diplomacy, specifically Twitter presence, as a discursive site for constituting meaning. We thus take the digital space afforded by Twitter as a site where the European Union’s internal and external identity is constructed in a process of articulation and contestation. Digital diplomacy is now a salient part of public diplomacy, increasingly prioritised over ‘traditional’ approaches. Using data gathered from Twitter on the European Union’s 60th anniversary and International Women’s Day in 2017, this article provides the first in-depth study of the European Union’s approach to digital diplomacy. We find the marginalisation of gender issues from the European Union’s core narratives bringing into question the place of gender equality as a core value of the European Union.