Fifty Years of European Union Gender Equality Policy and Future Challenges

In this paper, we aim to examine the progress in making policy for gender equality in the European Union. First we will briefly discuss how this story relates to European integration in general, and why European Union policy seems to see women primarily as workers. Then we will look at how policy on equality has evolved in three stages. Initially, policy focuses on the civil and economic rights of women, then it moves to considering how to advance the real situation of women and address roadblocks to their progress and finally it attempts to look at the relationship between the sexes through a gender perspective and apply those insights to policy using the techniques and strategies of gender mainstreaming. The most recent challenge for the EU is to address the issue of differences within the groups of women and men, thanks to intersecting issues of equality such as race and sexual orientation.