ABSTRACT
This chapter starts by looking at key features of women’s employment in France and Spain in comparison with the United Kingdom, and outlines the main issues covered by European Union legislation and other measures relating to equality of opportunity for women in the workplace. It discusses their application in France and Spain. Economic activity rates vary between and within countries, and constitute one of the most significant differences in the employment patterns of France and Spain. The chief factor limiting part-time work in both France and Spain in the past was employment law that made part-time jobs uneconomic for employers. However, legislation was introduced in France in the 1980s and 1990s, and in Spain in 1994, aimed at bringing greater flexibility into the labour market. In France a factor explaining the large numbers of women working full-time has been the availability of affordable public childcare and pre-school education. The chapter concludes by attempting to evaluate their impact on women’s employment.
