‘Coming down from their thrones’? Framing migrant men in Dutch politics

SynopsisGender equality in the Netherlands – as in many other Western countries – is currently being used as a symbol of national identity and, as such, an indicator of migrant integration. Even though migrant men have often been blamed for holding back the ‘emancipation’ of their wives and daughters, few policies have addressed migrant men, at least in the field of emancipation. The Critical Frame Analysis of political debates and policy documents in the Netherlands shows that while MPs have recurrently framed migrant men as the perpetrators of gender inequality, a recent discursive shift that frames migrant men as in need of help themselves has enabled the introduction of emancipatory policy measures that focus on their role as fathers.