Interrelations between Gender, Diversity, and European Integration

The empirical question we want to address in this paper is two-fold. First,while we as social scientists may consider diversity a complex phenomenon,where multiple identifications are likely to co-exist and overlap, how doopinion makers within Europe conceive of and speak about diversity?Specifically, we assess to what extent they show awareness of the possibilitiesfor multiple co-existing identifications. Secondly, building from the basis ofconceptions of diversity, what are the future prospects for complex diversity ina Europe becoming increasingly integrated? As a part of assessingrespondents’ conception of diversity, we focus particularly on how theyarticulate their notions of gender equality in connection with diversity. This isdone both because the Eurosphere data contains comprehensive informationabout respondents’ conceptions of both, but also because gender serves as arelevant and manageable way of probing conceptions of ‘complex diversity’(Kraus 2009).