Politicile egalităţii între femei şi bărbaţi pe piaţa muncii: de la egalitatea salarizării la echilibrul între viaţa profesională şi viaţa de familie
Gender Equality Policies in the Labor Market: From Equal Pay to Work–Life Balance

Summary/Abstract: The paper aims to show that gender equality issues, although extensive and lively debate raises, it may remain confined to the a great goal or a promising ideological discourse, if it does not address the substance of gender relations, set at the intersection of public and private space, characterized by unequal ownership and valuation between paid and unpaid work. In this sense, the formulation of policies of reconciliation between work and family/personal life on the European public agenda, since 1980, opened a new stage in the evolution of women's rights and gender equality, marking the transition from legal equality to equal the real equality. The purpose of this paper is to identify the role and responsibility of each actor (the state, market and family) involved on the growth of social welfare. This leads us to trace the evolution of European models in terms of well-being, social citizenship,gender equality and empower women depending of the role of the state, market and family. In this paper, argumentation is structured around the following questions: What changes bring gender analysis of labor? What are the policies of "reconciliation" (balance) between work and personal/family life? How can they reduce gender inequalities in relation to work? What conceptual and methodological changes produced gender issues in public policy analysis and welfare regimes? Except the Nordic countries, in the most European countries, gender equality policies in education, employment, family and social protection reproduce structural gender inequalities from private life and imbalance between paid and unpaid work. A real increase in the employment rate for women and for increase their participation in public life can be achieved only if accompanied by policies to balance the professional with personal/family life and welfare regimes based on equality in gender relations.

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