#SecurityHasNoGender. Frontex, border security, and the politics of gender-neutrality

To celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD), the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex published a short video paying homage to women working at the EU’s external borders. The video, accompanied by the hashtag #SecurityHasNoGender, is reminiscent of a trailer from an action movie. Frame after frame depicts predominantly female border guards in roles such as passport checking and fingerprinting. Each frame narrates a story about ‘security’, and particularly the border security practices as engaged by Frontex, as seemingly gender-neutral. In different frames, for example, Frontex states that its activities are part of “preventing terrorism” and “protecting Europe,” which, it claims, “has no gender”.