Equality between women and men in working life within framework of European Union's policies

Regulations on equality between women and men in the European Union (EU) has made progress starting from the area of employment, followed by social policies and today shaped by the approach of gender mainstreaming. In line with this development process, the EU respectively has benefited from the principles of equal treatment and equal opportunity, positive discrimination practices and approach of the gender mainstreaming. In the early years of the emergence of the European Union as an European integration project, predominant economic concerns led to the regulations of equal pay for equal work between women and men. The main objective in here is balancing of labor costs. In the following process, the EU has tried to get to workforce to full capacity in order to gain a competitive global advantage by giving women more access to work. As a result, it became aware of the relationships between the inclusion of women in the workforce and economic development. Therefore, gender equality policies in the EU is mostly implemented in the labor field. Those which contribute the most in terms of binding in these implementations are the provisions of founding treaties and international treaties to which the EU and member states are parties. Furthermore, directives that regulate gender equality in working life are essential in terms of providing a detailed framework. Nowadays, with the influence of gender mainstreaming, although it has been concentrated on regulations on gender equality in other areas beyond the labor market, the role of females in the workforce has been paramount to the EU. Keywords: European Union, Working Life, Gender Equality, Discrimination, Gender Discrimination.