Premium
Money, Empowerment and Neglect – The E uropeanization of Gender Equality Promotion in G reek and P ortuguese E mployment Policies
Author(s) -
Zartaloudis Sotirios
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/spol.12146
Subject(s) - promotion (chess) , conditionality , subsidy , gender mainstreaming , gender equality , empowerment , transformative learning , political science , neglect , economics , economic growth , sociology , gender studies , psychology , law , pedagogy , psychiatry , politics
This article examines the impact of the E uropean E mployment S trategy ( EES ) on G reek and P ortuguese employment policies ( GEP and PEP , respectively) with regard to gender equality promotion during 1995–2009. It focuses on the three main EES goals of gender mainstreaming, reconciliation of work and family, and reducing gender pay gaps, drawing on 44 semi‐structured interviews, official documents and the academic literature. The first part discusses the content of GEP and PEP before the introduction of the EES , arguing that gender equality promotion was absent in both countries. The second part examines the reforms promoting gender equality in GEP and PEP after the introduction of the EES in 1997, arguing that both countries implemented a substantial policy change which can be observed in two areas: first, expanding training and providing start‐up subsidies for women; and, second, expanding care facilities to promote the reconciliation of work and family life. In the third part it is argued that these reforms were linked to the EES and that the E uropeanization of GEP occurred through the E uropean Social Fund's conditionality, whereas in the case of PEP , E uropeanization occurred through the external empowerment of domestic policy entrepreneurs who used the EES to promote their pro‐gender equality agenda. Overall, in both countries the EU caused a considerable but not transformative change in their welfare states, with the EES constituting the key driver of pro‐gender equality reforms in employment policy.