JÄMSTÄLLDHET I EUROPEISKA UNIONEN - En studie om EU:s jämställdhetspolitik med direktivet ”balans mellan arbete och privatliv” som belysande exempel

Abstract

The labor market is the central legislative area for European Union (EU) gender equality policy but is a policy area where economic priorities dominate. It is considered an area where gender equality goals may conflict with increased economic growth and satisfying market needs. The European Union has introduced the concept of "reconciling work and family life" to facilitate equal opportunities for women and men on the labor market. To increase the employment of women in the labor market, measures that support the reconciliation of family and labor market participation have been seen as a high priority for EU policy goals while also being shared by many individual Member States. This bachelor thesis examine whether the European Union challenges the collective view of the EU as an area dominated by economic priorities and by a traditional family view by shedding light on directive “balance between work and private life” adopted in 2019 and on the debate about this directive. The method is a qualitative text analysis, which gives the opportunity to answer the questions by identifying and examining key patterns and tendencies about the debate and directive. When compared to previous research, the results indicate that a change has taken place within the EU institutions. Yet, there are still tensions between gender equality work, economic priorities and traditional family views in the EU institutions.