Integrating Gender: Women, Law, and Politics in the European Union

Abstract

During 1996-97, the European Union's Intergovernmental Conference is reviewing the competence, institutional structure and working methods of the Union. This book seeks to make an intervention in the debate on these issues by highlighting the obstacles and opportunities for an effective policy on the rights of women at work. Since the 1970s, European Community legislation on conditions of employment has provided a rare example of European policy which grants social rights and engages, at least to some extent, with a mobilized political community. Analysis of policy implementation reveals the complex web which develops when national and transnational state activity interacts with social movements operating in different national and cultural contexts. In this book, Catherine Hoskyns tracks these developments across the EU member states using a wide range of primary sources, including original interviews with some of the key women involved at grassroots, professional and official levels.