ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an important reference point for the regulatory framework of gender pay equality in the European Union prior to ‘Brexit’. It presents an interdisciplinary comparative approach, which analyses the interaction between differences in national legal frameworks, the level of decentralisation in the negotiation of salaries and the rate of the gender pay gaps (GPG). The book shows how segregation and segmentation may be used to great effect at an aggregated but also, importantly in the context of decentralisation, a disaggregated level. It also provides the comparative analysis of the relevant legal, industrial relations and economic frameworks of the countries involved. The book also presents an interdisciplinary analysis of the influence contractual decentralisation has on various factors of GPGs in Italy. It analyses the research findings of three case studies relating to the GPG issues in the Polish context.
