Towards equal sharing of care? Judicial implementation of EU equal employment and work–life balance policies in Spain

Abstract

Discursive factors have not figured prominently in implementation research. This article fills this gap by addressing the material and discursive conflicts articulated around equality at workplace between women and men in multilevel judicial contexts. It studies obstacles to and opportunities for the judicial implementation of EU equal employment policies in Spain by analyzing two cases of parental rights to childcare litigated before Spanish and supranational courts, namely the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. The claimants are working parents who litigate for the recognition of their right to provide childcare. In judicial implementation multiple meanings about women, gender and intersectionality can be articulated and counteracted at different levels. Frame analysis of selected judicial documents and content analysis of legal proceedings and interviews show that simultaneous favorable institutions, framing, and actors are needed for implementing EU equal employment policies in a way that allows overcoming the gendered division of care and paid work. Distinguishing among ‘women’, ‘gender’ and ‘intersectionality’ approaches, we assess the extent to which the result of judicial implementation is the transformation of gender roles towards equal sharing of care.