Gender Stereotypes and EU Antidiscrimination Case Law
Gender Stereotypes and EU Antidiscrimination Case Law

Gender Stereotypes and EU Antidiscrimination Case Law

Summary/Abstract: Nowadays law is considered to be an effective instrument of shaping social reality. In this context special attention must be paid to gender equality law and jurisprudence which setting protection against unequal treatment because of someone’s gender intend to make a balance between individual’s identity and social expectations related to his or her role. These social preconceptions basedon gender stereotypes must be contested in so far as they serve as an instrument to rationalize inequality between women and men. The aim of the article to explore the gender stereotypes in the anti-discriminatory judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The article claims that the CJEU’s case law is unambiguous with respect to this. On the one hand the Court contributes to eradication of stereotypes based on gender in some cases, on the other – it reinforces them in the other. The article starts with explanation of the role of the gender equality principle in the EU legalsystem. It also makes some general remarks on stereotypes, biases and discrimination. The second part is devoted to the CJEU case law in which the Court, explicitly or implicitly, avoids applying the gender stereotypes lens to equality issue. The third part of the article analyses those of the CJEU judgments which, unfortunately, can be considered as perpetuating gender stereotypes and as such discrimination based on them.

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