Gender, family and work in the European cultural and social model: some critical aspects

The Lisbon Council invited the Commission and Member States to promote all aspects concerning equal opportunities in the field of employment policies, including the reduction of occupational segregation and the possibility to balance work and family life and to solve some of the increasing problems affecting several countries, such as lower and later fertility and the ensuing ageing of the population. Further, The basic idea of the ESM is that economic and social progress must go hand in hand; economic growth, in other words, is to be combined with social cohesion. Although some significant improvements have certainly been made – especially in terms of women’s emancipation, gender equity and maternity policies – it should however be noticed that some fundamental issues still remain unresolved and continue to cause problems. Such framework – equal opportunities on the one hand and female emancipation on the other, in a competitive and little-regulated market – seems to lead to a potential contraposition, or trade-off, between equal opportunity and family (or family-friendly) policies.