ABSTRACT

This book presents a wide-ranging comparative analysis of the development of sex-equality policies within Europe. The contributors, comprising both European and US-based scholars, address a very current political issue. This is an area of policy that has reached the decision-making stage in much of Europe and it is thus possible to assess the outcome of policy-making and to account for cross-national variations of sex-equality policy measures.
The contributors discuss the similarities and differences in levels of awareness, commitment to equality of opportunity and readiness to turn rhetoric into reality in a number of west European countries, including Spain, the Netherlands, Britain, Norway and Ireland.

chapter |21 pages

Introduction

Welfare and sex equality policy regimes

part |65 pages

Contested concepts – selective practice

chapter |21 pages

Effective utilisation of equality rights

Equal pay for work of equal value in France and the UK

chapter |28 pages

The timid and the bold

Analysis of the ‘woman-friendly state' 1 in Ireland and the Netherlands

part |69 pages

Elements in the policy community and process

chapter |18 pages

Incorporating feminism

The women's policy network in the Netherlands

chapter |15 pages

State feminism and gender equality policies

The case of Spain (1983-95) 1

part |57 pages

Privatising equality, gendered citizenship, inter/transnational influences