Gender Perspective in European Law

Abstract

Equality between women and men has been given special consideration into the EU law since Article 119 establishing equal pay in the European Community Treaty became the legal basis for directives and judgments of the Court of Justice. This opened the path to greater equality in a wide range of areas (social security, work-life balance, access to employment, professional advancement, and so on). Thus, with the Treaty of Amsterdam, the European Community Treaty was amended to incorporate equality in the workplace and in working conditions, positive actions and, especially, to make equality a transversal issue that, according to Articles 2 and 3 of the same Treaty, should govern all Community policies as an objective and as a means of action. This way, a body of implementing legislation and Community case-law arose providing the basis for progress in equality not only within the EU but also in each of its Member States. The Court of Justice of the Union has played an important role in this development, simultaneously to the European Court of Human Rights within the context of the Council of Europe, whose legislation was, in any case, already embedded in the European acquis thanks to Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union according to which the rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights form part of Union law as general principles. In light of the above, this entry will analyze all the legal development of gender equality in European law.