Towards a feminist-decolonial epistemic justice? Evaluating EU equality policies through an intersectional lens

Drawing on Miranda Fricker’s concept of epistemic injustice, this study examines the EU’s equality agenda though an intersectional lens. By integrating epistemic justice and intersectionality into a single analytical framework, the research assesses the ‘Union of Equality’ agenda from 2020 onward – encompassing anti-racism, gender equality, LGBTIQ, Roma and disability rights. I apply this framework to five flagship strategies, asking how marginalized communities are portrayed, whose knowledge counts and which measures foster epistemic inclusion. The findings show a growing attention to intersectionality and epistemic justice: strategies increasingly name structural harms (e.g. structural racism and antigypsyism), centre the participation of marginalized voices and call for intersectional equality data. Yet key gaps remain. Inclusion prioritises established experts and institutionalized civil-society organizations, risking an additive, siloed approach. Socioeconomic inequality dimensions are under-developed, and measures mainly operate within existing social and labour-market structures rather than challenging the status quo. Focussing on disadvantaged groups alone also obscures how privilege and institutional power produce epistemic inequality. Overall, the strategies’ framings are both transformative – aimed at social justice – and instrumental, aligned with existing EU goals. While the agenda sets important norms for epistemic transformation, their impact remains precarious, depending on uneven Member State commitment amid rising anti-gender and anti-migrant mobilization.