BALTIC JOURNAL OF LAW & POLITICS A Journal of Vytautas Magnus University VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1 (2020) ISSN 2029-0454 Cit.: Baltic Journal of Law & Politics 13:1 (2020): 108-139 https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/bjlp/bjlp- overview.xml DOI: 10.2478/bjlp-2020-0005 THE TROUBLE WITH “GENDER” IN LATVIA: EUROPEANISATION THROUGH THE PRISM OF THE ISTANBUL CONVENTION Elizabete Vizgunova Ph.D. Student Riga Stradiņš University, Faculty of Political Science (Latvia) Contact information Address: Viktorijas iela 44-2, LV-2015, Jūrmala, Latvia Phone: +371 29228377 E-mail address:
[email protected] Elīna Graudiņa Ph.D. Student Riga Stradiņš University, Faculty of Political Science (Latvia) Contact information Address: Dzirciema street 16, LV-1007, Rīga, Latvia Phone: +371 29547165 E-mail address:
[email protected] Received: April 20, 2020; reviews: 2; accepted: July 27, 2020. ABSTRACT The article analyses the dynamics of Europeanisation revolving around the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) in Latvia. Whereas the document has not yet been made a part of EU acquis communautaire, the EU has committed to applying the norms enshrined in the Convention by any means, not least through the EU Gender Equality BALTIC JOURNAL OF LAW & POLITICS ISSN 2029-0454 VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1 2020 Strategy 2020-2025. The discussion on the repercussions of the implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Latvia’s legislation has occupied a noteworthy place in the discussions of the national parliament of Latvia (Saeima) since 2016. The article first uses critical frame analysis and defines the most important issue frames, document frames and metaframes that are employed by different political parties/politicians and Ministries/Ministers when talking about the Istanbul Convention to promote or refuse the ratification of the document.