Nellie Munin
Since its establishment in 1957, the European Union or, to be more precise, the European Economic Community was motivated by the vision of a single market, where the peoples of Europe would be able to conduct economic transactions without suffering from barriers to trade. EU law, EU legislation, and its interpretation by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) are aimed at promoting the single market vision, based on the four freedoms, one of which is the free movement of persons. These legally-established freedoms aim at removing obstacles to trade. Obstacles to the free movement of persons may include direct or indirect discrimination of employees at work. Discrimination may be based on grounds of religion, race, or sex. This book concentrates on the last.
The book provides a comprehensive and detailed survey of the development of equal opportunity standards for men and women in the ILO and in the EU during the course of the 20th century. The book includes a foreword by Professor Lucius Caflisch, a former Judge of the European Court of Human Rights and Member of the International Law Commission of the United Nations.
Written by two lawyers specializing in the study of international organizations, the labour market, and EU law,1 the book draws an interesting link between the regional, EU, system and global systems, in particular the ILO, depicting the process by which the notion and standards of gender equality were developed by these organizations in a unique, multidisciplinary approach. EU law, being inspired by ILO Conventions, has enforced these standards as binding law via EU Directives which harmonize the laws of the Member States.
The book is divided into four parts: The first part (chapters 1, 2) is dedicated to the role of global organizations in the development of labour law. It covers the contribution �