Women and Leadership in the European Union

This volume is the first comprehensive analysis of women's ascendance to leadership positions in the European Union as well as their performance in such positions. It provides a new theoretical and analytical framework capturing both positional and behavioral leadership and the specific hurdles that women encounter on their path to and when exercising leadership.

The volume encompasses a detailed set of single and comparative case studies, analyzing women's representation and performance in the core EU institutions and their individual pathways to and exercise of power in top-level functions, as well as comparative analyses regarding the position and behaviour of women in relation to men.

Our research shows that women continue to experience substantial hurdles in accessing leadership positions across EU institutions. However, once in office, women tend to perform extremely well, often applying a combined leadership style, being both assertive and conciliatory. We relate these results to the complex nature of the EU political system that overall promotes a more conciliatory and collaborative leadership style than national political arenas.

The project was funded by the Thyssen Krupp Foundation, New York University Abu Dhabi, and University of Osnabrück.

Women and Leadership in the European Union
Oxford University Press, 2022
Co-editors: Henriette Müller and Ingeborg Tömmel

Table of Contents
Introduction: The State of Women's Leadership in the European Union
Henriette Müller and Ingeborg Tömmel
Part I: Conceptual Approaches to Women and Leadership in the EU
1. Women and Leadership in the European Union: A Framework for Analysis
Henriette Müller and Ingeborg Tömmel
2. Searching for Agency: Gendering Leadership in European Integration Theory
Gabriele Abels and Heather MacRae
Part II: Accessing Positional Leadership in EU Institutions
3. Women's Positional Leadership in the European Commission: When, Where, and How?
Miriam Hartlapp and Agnes Blome
4. Women's Leadership in the European Parliament: A Long-Term Perspective
Sarah C. Dingler and Jessica Fortin-Rittberger
Part III: Exercising Political Leadership
5. Women and Leadership across the EU Institutions: The Case of Viviane Reding
Michelle Cini
6. Women on Mars: The Two Post-Lisbon High Representatives and EU Foreign Policy on Libya
Maria Giulia Amadio Viceré and Giulia Tercovich
7. Rhetoric and Leadership: A Comparison of Female Vice-Presidents of the European Commission (1999-2019)
Henriette Müller and Pamela Pansardi
8. Gendered Leadership in the European Parliament's Political Groups
Johanna Kantola and Cherry Miller
Part IV: National Leaders in European Arenas
9. Becoming Prime Minister: Women and Executive Power in EU Member States
Karen Beckwith
10. Winning by Spending Leadership Capital? Angela Merkel's Approach to the Refugee and COVID-19 Crises
Femke A. W. J. van Esch and Christoph Erasmy
11. Theresa May's Leadership in Brexit Negotiations: Self-Representation and Media Evaluations
Sandra Eckert and Charlotte Galpin
Part V: Exercising Administrative Leadership
12. A Tightrope Walk? Catherine Day and the Interplay of Political and Administrative Leadership in the European Commission
Ingeborg Tömmel
13. Women EU Multilevel Administration: The Europeanization of Member State Bureaucracies
Eva G. Heidbreder
Part VI: Exercising Expert Leadership
14. The Court of Justice of the European Union, Gender, and Leadership
Jessica Guth
15. Women's Leadership in the European Central Bank
Amy Verdun
Part VII: Looking Ahead: The Future of Women's Leadership in the EU
16. Strategic Leadership: Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission
Henriette Müller and Ingeborg Tömmel
Appendix: Women and Leadership in the European Union