Gender equality law in 33 European countries How are EU rules transposed into national law in 2014

The purpose of the present publication is to provide a general overview of the transposition of EU gender equality law in the 28 Member States of the European Union, as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (the EEA countries to which most of the EU equality law applies) and two candidate countries: the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey.1 This summary of the report offers a comparative analysis of the transposition of EU gender equality rules into national law. This publication is complementary to the publication EU Gender Equality Law, which provides an overview of relevant directives and case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) in this field and which was last updated in 2013.2 These publications are aimed at a broad – and not necessarily legal – public and explain the most important issues of the EU gender equality acquis and its implementation. The term ‘EU gender equality acquis’ refers to all the relevant Treaty and Charter provisions, legislation and the case law of the CJEU in relation to gender equality. Another frequently used term is ‘sex equality’. Both terms are used in the present publication, more or less interchangeably. However, it should be noted that while the term ‘sex’ refers primarily to the biological condition and therefore also the difference between women and men, the term ‘gender’ is broader in that it also comprises social differences between women and men, such as certain ideas about their respective roles within the family and in society