Jemima Repo's open lecture: Gender as an Apparatus in Neoliberal Times

In her book, The Biopolitics of Gender (Oxford University Press, 2015) she introduces a new theoretical and methodological approach in order to elaborate the genealogy of the concept ’gender’. The book has been reviewed by numerous prestigious academic journals, including Gender & Society, Hypatia, or Feminist Theory. For this publication, Professor Repo received the 2017 International Studies Association's Feminist Theory and Gender Studies Book Award.

The event is supported by the Scientific Committee of ELTE.

Abstract of the lecture
In this talk I analyse the discourse of gender in European public policy as a neoliberal and biopolitical apparatus. EU gender equality policy is known to revolve strongly around the reconciliation of work and family life. Drawing on Foucault’s account of sexuality, I argue that the idea of ‘gender’ itself is integral to the attempt to govern women’s productive and reproductive labour. I focus particularly on the EU’s recommendation to increase women’s labour market participation through the management of gender roles and stereotypes, accessed by influencing the kinds of choices made by individuals. Stemming from both the Chicago School economist Gary Becker’s economic approach to fertility, as well as changes in demographic research in the past decades, I show how ‘gender’ as an apparatus works biopolitically through neoliberal notions of autonomy, choice, and empowerment.

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