Beyond Employment: Addressing the Private and Public Divide through Reconciliation Policies

Abstract

Equal employment policy has been the EU mainstream policy area when it comes to gender equality policy mainly because of its starkly economic nature and focus. However, as the EU has enlarged not only geographically but also in its scope of influence, it has extended its reach into areas that deal more with domestic social aspects such as reconciliation policies. Thus, it is important to analyse the changes that have taken place with regards to balancing family and work life in the new EU member states to 1) evaluate the influence that the EU has beyond equality in employment and 2) to understand the commitment that domestic governments have demonstrated to transform and shift the traditional view on the division of public and private life through policy measures that in general improve women’s status in the society.