Brexit is a critical moment in which gender relations are being reshaped.
An article on women, equality and the EU referendum by Julie MacLeavy, University of Bristol, published in July 2018 emphasizes the risks of Brexit for both women and gender equality.
In the article, MacLeavy argues the EU referendum and its aftermath reflect a gendered politics, which is embedded within the neoliberal restructuring of the state and austerity.
She looks at the effects of this neoliberal regime on women in terms of their place in the labour market, social mobility and the public sphere.
She analyses the absence of gender in 2016 EU referendum, which she calls a ‘re-masculinisation of the state and politics’ and says that it ‘crystallised’ rather than ‘challenged’ existing gender inequality.
The article points out that negotiations are about securing the UK’s economic and political power in a (gender)neutral way.
So post-Brexit, whether the gender regime implicit in this politics is institutionalized remains to be seen.
