Gender Equality: Judicial Framework and Protection at the EU Level

Gender equality is a very important issue related to EU social policy. So far, many directives have been adopted in the EU under three main approaches: equal treatment, positive action and gender mainstreaming. Looking at gender equality in the labour market, the paper points out that EU gender equality law needs to be enforced. The European Court of Justice is especially called upon to play a stronger and crucial role in the effective enforcement of gender equality standards in the Member States. The paper is divided into three main parts: the first one is an overview about gender equality at the EU level; the second part describes the three main approaches on gender equality issues in the EU; the third part analyzes the implementation of the gender equality law in the labour market by drawing some conclusions about how to enforce the equality gender principle within the EU.