Research Article
The Politics of EU Gender Equality Policies: Prospects for Changing Gender Equality Paradigm at the EU
Abstract
Gender equality has long been a central theme of the European social model since the Maastricht Treaty. Using the example of work - life balance policies, this article aims to identify two successive periods and explore the changing policy paradigm with respect to gender equality at the EU. In so doing, the article draws on two conceptual approaches in terms of theoretical basis: (a) Esping-Andersen’s three welfare pillar conceptualisation and (b) genderised and de-genderised distinction. Drawing on a comprehensive literature review and the content analysis of official EU policy texts, the article contends that the EU gender policies have shifted away from serving to change the redistribution of work between men and women, towards improving women’s employment opportunities.
References
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- Alesina, Alberto, Ignazio Angeloni, and Ludger Schuknecht. "What does the European Union do?." Public Choice 123, no. 3-4 (2005): 275-319.
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- Council Directive, ‘Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the implementation of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of pregnant workers, women workers who have recently given birth and women who are breast-feeding’.
- Council Directive, ‘Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 on the concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP, Official Journal of the European Communities. 10 July 1999. https://eurlex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:31999L0070andfrom=EN
- Council Directive, ‘Council Directive 2010/18/EU of 8 March 2010 on implementing the revised Framework Agreement on parental leave concluded by BUSINESSEUROPE, UEAPME, CEEP and ETUC and repealing Directive 96/34/EC’, Official Journal of European Union. 18 March 2010. https://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:068:0013:0020:EN:PDF.
- Council Directive, ‘Council Directive 97/81/EC of 15 December 1997concerning the Framework Agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC, Official Journal of the European Communities. 20 January 1998. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:31997L0081andfrom=EN.
- Council Directive, ‘Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 on the concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP, Official Journal of the European Communities. 10 July 1999. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:31999L0070andfrom=EN.
- Daly, Mary, and Mary E. Daly. The gender division of welfare: the impact of the British and German welfare states. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
- De la Porte, Caroline, and Kerstin Jacobsson. "Social investment or recommodification? Assessing the employment policies of the EU member states." In Towards a social investment welfare state?, pp. 117-150. Policy Press, 2011.
- Drew, Eileen P., Ruth Emerek, and Evelyn Mahon, eds. Women, work, and the family in Europe. Psychology Press, 1998.
- Duncan, Simon. "Policy discourses on ‘reconciling work and life’in the EU." Social Policy and Society 1, no. 4 (2002): 305-314.
- Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. "The three political economies of the welfare state." International journal of sociology 20, no. 3 (1990): 92-123.
- Esping-Andersen, Gosta. Social foundations of postindustrial economies. OUP Oxford, 1999.
- Esping-Andersen, Gosta. Incomplete revolution: Adapting welfare states to women's new roles. Polity, 2009.
- European Council. Council Recommendation of 31 March 1992 on child care 92/241/EEC., Official Journal of the European Communities, No L 123/16. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:31992H0241
- European Union, Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Official Journal of the European Communities. December 18, 2000. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/pdf/text_en.pdf.
- European Union. Strategic Engagement for Gender Equality 2016-2019 (Rep.). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, (2015).
- Fahlen, Susanne. "Facets of work–life balance across Europe: How the interplay of institutional contexts, work arrangements and individual resources affect capabilities for having a family, and for being involved in family life." PhD diss., Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis, 2012.
- Fraser, Nancy. "Heterosexism, misrecognition, and capitalism: A response to Judith Butler." Social text 52/53 (1997): 279-289.
- Ferree, Myra Marx. "Framing equality: The politics of race, class, gender in the US, Germany, and the expanding European Union." Gender politics in the expanding European Union: Mobilization, inclusion, exclusion. 2008: 237-256.
- European Commission. Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/202003/gender_equality_strategy_factsheet_en.pdf.
- Ghailani, Dalila. "Gender equality, from the Treaty of Rome to the quota debate: between myth and reality." Social developments in the European Union (2013): 161-190.
- Grebe, Cornelius. Reconciliation policy in Germany 1998-2008: construing the 'problem' of the incompatibility of paid employment and care work. Springer Science & Business Media, 2010.
- Goetschy, Janine. "The European employment strategy: Genesis and development." European journal of industrial relations 5, no. 2 (1999): 117-137.
- Hantrais, Linda. "Family policy matters." Responding to family change in Europe. OUP Oxford, 2004. Hemerijck, Anton. Changing welfare states. OUP Oxford, 2012. James, Grace. "Forgotten children: work–family reconciliation in the EU." Journal of social welfare and family law 34, no. 3 (2012): 363-379.
- Jacquot, Sophie. "European Union gender equality policies since 1957." EHNE. Digital Encyclopedia of European History (2020).
- Juhâz, Borbála, and Enikő Pap. "Backlash in gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights." (2018).
- Kantola, Johanna. Gender and the European Union. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010. Kazanoğlu, Nazlı. The politics of Europeanisation: work and family life reconciliation policy. Routledge, 2021.
- Leitner, Sigrid. "Varieties of familialism: The caring function of the family in comparative perspective." European societies 5, no. 4 (2003): 353-375.
- Lewis, Jane. "Work/family reconciliation, equal opportunities and social policies: the interpretation of policy trajectories at the EU level and the meaning of gender equality." Journal of European public policy 13, no. 3 (2006): 420-437.
- Lewis, Jane. Work-family balance, gender and policy. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009. Lewis, Jane. "Gender and the development of welfare regimes." Journal of European social policy 2, no. 3 (1992): 159-173.
- Lister, Ruth. "'She has other duties'-women, citizenship and social security." Social Security and Social Change: New Challengesto the Beveridge Model, Eds. Sally Baldwin and Jane Falkingham: Harvester Wheatsheaf. 1994.
- Masselot, Annick, and Eugenia Caracciolo di Torella. Reconciling work and family life in EU law and policy. Springer, 2010.
- McDonald, Peter. "The “toolbox” of public policies to impact on fertility–a global view." (2000).
- Mazur, Amy G. Theorizing feminist policy. OUP Oxford, 2002. McLaughlin, E., and C. Glendinning. "Paying for care in Europe: Is there a feminist approach? Family Policy and the Welfare of Women. L. Hantrais and S." Morgan. Longborough (1994).
- Morel, Nathalie, and Bruno Palier, eds. Towards a social investment welfare state?: ideas, policies and challenges. Policy Press, 2012.
- O'Connor, Julia S. "Gender, class and citizenship in the comparative analysis of welfare state regimes: theoretical and methodological issues." British journal of Sociology (1993): 501-518.
- Orloff, Ann Shola. "Gender and the social rights of citizenship: The comparative analysis of gender relations and welfare states." American sociological review (1993): 303-328.
- Saraceno, Chiara. "Family change, family policies and the restructuring of welfare." In Family, Market and Community. Equity and Efficiency in Social Policy, vol. 21, pp. 81-100. OECD, 1997.
- Saxonberg, Steven. "From defamilialization to degenderization: Toward a new welfare typology 1." Social Policy & Administration 47, no. 1 (2013): 26-49.
- Stratigaki, Maria. "The cooptation of gender concepts in EU policies: The case of “reconciliation of work and family”." Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 11, no. 1 (2004): 30-56.
Year 2024,
Volume: 23 Issue: Özel Sayı-Future of Europe: Reflections from Türkiye, 71 - 90, 27.03.2024
Abstract
References
- Agapiou-Josephides, Kalliope, and Kypros Savva. "Governing Gender Inequality: A Genealogy of EU State Feminism." Gender, Law and Institutions (2015): 147.
- Alesina, Alberto, Ignazio Angeloni, and Ludger Schuknecht. "What does the European Union do?." Public Choice 123, no. 3-4 (2005): 275-319.
- Bianchi, Suzanne M., Melissa A. Milkie, Liana C. Sayer, and John P. Robinson. "Is anyone doing the housework? Trends in the gender division of household labor." Social forces 79, no. 1 (2000): 191-228.
- Bulmer, Simon J., and Claudio M. Radaelli. The Europeanisation of national policy?. No. p0042. Queens University Belfast, 2004.
- Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the implementation of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of pregnant workers, women workers who have recently given birth and women who are breast-feeding, Official Journal of the European Communities. 28 November 1992. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:01992L0085-20140325.
- Council Directive, ‘Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the implementation of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of pregnant workers, women workers who have recently given birth and women who are breast-feeding’.
- Council Directive, ‘Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 on the concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP, Official Journal of the European Communities. 10 July 1999. https://eurlex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:31999L0070andfrom=EN
- Council Directive, ‘Council Directive 2010/18/EU of 8 March 2010 on implementing the revised Framework Agreement on parental leave concluded by BUSINESSEUROPE, UEAPME, CEEP and ETUC and repealing Directive 96/34/EC’, Official Journal of European Union. 18 March 2010. https://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:068:0013:0020:EN:PDF.
- Council Directive, ‘Council Directive 97/81/EC of 15 December 1997concerning the Framework Agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC, Official Journal of the European Communities. 20 January 1998. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:31997L0081andfrom=EN.
- Council Directive, ‘Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 on the concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP, Official Journal of the European Communities. 10 July 1999. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:31999L0070andfrom=EN.
- Daly, Mary, and Mary E. Daly. The gender division of welfare: the impact of the British and German welfare states. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
- De la Porte, Caroline, and Kerstin Jacobsson. "Social investment or recommodification? Assessing the employment policies of the EU member states." In Towards a social investment welfare state?, pp. 117-150. Policy Press, 2011.
- Drew, Eileen P., Ruth Emerek, and Evelyn Mahon, eds. Women, work, and the family in Europe. Psychology Press, 1998.
- Duncan, Simon. "Policy discourses on ‘reconciling work and life’in the EU." Social Policy and Society 1, no. 4 (2002): 305-314.
- Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. "The three political economies of the welfare state." International journal of sociology 20, no. 3 (1990): 92-123.
- Esping-Andersen, Gosta. Social foundations of postindustrial economies. OUP Oxford, 1999.
- Esping-Andersen, Gosta. Incomplete revolution: Adapting welfare states to women's new roles. Polity, 2009.
- European Council. Council Recommendation of 31 March 1992 on child care 92/241/EEC., Official Journal of the European Communities, No L 123/16. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:31992H0241
- European Union, Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Official Journal of the European Communities. December 18, 2000. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/pdf/text_en.pdf.
- European Union. Strategic Engagement for Gender Equality 2016-2019 (Rep.). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, (2015).
- Fahlen, Susanne. "Facets of work–life balance across Europe: How the interplay of institutional contexts, work arrangements and individual resources affect capabilities for having a family, and for being involved in family life." PhD diss., Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis, 2012.
- Fraser, Nancy. "Heterosexism, misrecognition, and capitalism: A response to Judith Butler." Social text 52/53 (1997): 279-289.
- Ferree, Myra Marx. "Framing equality: The politics of race, class, gender in the US, Germany, and the expanding European Union." Gender politics in the expanding European Union: Mobilization, inclusion, exclusion. 2008: 237-256.
- European Commission. Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/202003/gender_equality_strategy_factsheet_en.pdf.
- Ghailani, Dalila. "Gender equality, from the Treaty of Rome to the quota debate: between myth and reality." Social developments in the European Union (2013): 161-190.
- Grebe, Cornelius. Reconciliation policy in Germany 1998-2008: construing the 'problem' of the incompatibility of paid employment and care work. Springer Science & Business Media, 2010.
- Goetschy, Janine. "The European employment strategy: Genesis and development." European journal of industrial relations 5, no. 2 (1999): 117-137.
- Hantrais, Linda. "Family policy matters." Responding to family change in Europe. OUP Oxford, 2004. Hemerijck, Anton. Changing welfare states. OUP Oxford, 2012. James, Grace. "Forgotten children: work–family reconciliation in the EU." Journal of social welfare and family law 34, no. 3 (2012): 363-379.
- Jacquot, Sophie. "European Union gender equality policies since 1957." EHNE. Digital Encyclopedia of European History (2020).
- Juhâz, Borbála, and Enikő Pap. "Backlash in gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights." (2018).
- Kantola, Johanna. Gender and the European Union. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010. Kazanoğlu, Nazlı. The politics of Europeanisation: work and family life reconciliation policy. Routledge, 2021.
- Leitner, Sigrid. "Varieties of familialism: The caring function of the family in comparative perspective." European societies 5, no. 4 (2003): 353-375.
- Lewis, Jane. "Work/family reconciliation, equal opportunities and social policies: the interpretation of policy trajectories at the EU level and the meaning of gender equality." Journal of European public policy 13, no. 3 (2006): 420-437.
- Lewis, Jane. Work-family balance, gender and policy. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009. Lewis, Jane. "Gender and the development of welfare regimes." Journal of European social policy 2, no. 3 (1992): 159-173.
- Lister, Ruth. "'She has other duties'-women, citizenship and social security." Social Security and Social Change: New Challengesto the Beveridge Model, Eds. Sally Baldwin and Jane Falkingham: Harvester Wheatsheaf. 1994.
- Masselot, Annick, and Eugenia Caracciolo di Torella. Reconciling work and family life in EU law and policy. Springer, 2010.
- McDonald, Peter. "The “toolbox” of public policies to impact on fertility–a global view." (2000).
- Mazur, Amy G. Theorizing feminist policy. OUP Oxford, 2002. McLaughlin, E., and C. Glendinning. "Paying for care in Europe: Is there a feminist approach? Family Policy and the Welfare of Women. L. Hantrais and S." Morgan. Longborough (1994).
- Morel, Nathalie, and Bruno Palier, eds. Towards a social investment welfare state?: ideas, policies and challenges. Policy Press, 2012.
- O'Connor, Julia S. "Gender, class and citizenship in the comparative analysis of welfare state regimes: theoretical and methodological issues." British journal of Sociology (1993): 501-518.
- Orloff, Ann Shola. "Gender and the social rights of citizenship: The comparative analysis of gender relations and welfare states." American sociological review (1993): 303-328.
- Saraceno, Chiara. "Family change, family policies and the restructuring of welfare." In Family, Market and Community. Equity and Efficiency in Social Policy, vol. 21, pp. 81-100. OECD, 1997.
- Saxonberg, Steven. "From defamilialization to degenderization: Toward a new welfare typology 1." Social Policy & Administration 47, no. 1 (2013): 26-49.
- Stratigaki, Maria. "The cooptation of gender concepts in EU policies: The case of “reconciliation of work and family”." Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 11, no. 1 (2004): 30-56.
There are 44 citations in total.
Details
| Primary Language | Turkish |
|---|---|
| Subjects | European Union |
| Journal Section | Research Article |
| Authors | |
| Early Pub Date | February 26, 2024 |
| Publication Date | March 27, 2024 |
| Submission Date | May 17, 2023 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2024 Volume: 23 Issue: Özel Sayı-Future of Europe: Reflections from Türkiye |
