Social partners and gender equality in Europe

The growing participation of women in the labour market has prompted changes in the way European social partner organisations tackle gender issues. Their organisational and collective bargaining structures – historically dominated by men – have had to adapt to include gender equality issues. This report examines the extent to which gender equality is incorporated by the social partners in their organisations and in their policymaking at European and national level. It explores the differences between the priority given to gender issues between the social partners in different countries and the possible factors behind such differences. Finally, it examines the main challenges faced by the social partners when attempting to promote gender equality within their organisations and in the wider labour market. The findings are based on the contributions of Eurofound’s network of European correspondents, covering all EU Member States and Norway