The articles in this book share a dedication to broadening and stretching the scholarly field
of feminist citizenship studies and invite the reader to reflect on the many different ways
citizenship is formed in contemporary Europe. They do so by stretching the concept of
citizenship itself going beyond legalistic definitions and by asking new questions about the
ways in which citizenship is constructed the entitlements to benefits and to social and
political participation how cultures of knowledge allow participation and how inclusion and
exclusion can be represented. In all cases gender is one of the categories that allow a deeper
insight and a better perception of the way the ideals of citizenship have helped people to
overcome exclusion. As the articles show access to citizenship differs from context to
context. Citizenship is never only a legal status: it has to do with cultural diversity with
recognition of difference with access to professions and hierarchies on the labour market not
least in universities with traditions in political as well as visual representation. The
collection is an introduction to new research in the field of European gender studies.
