“The Long and Winding Road”: A Comparative Policy Analysis of Multilevel Judicial Implementation of Work‒Life Balance in Spain

ABSTRACT

This article studies how processes of policy implementation and the impact of a multilevel European legal order shape social policies. By using an interdisciplinary approach to comparative policy analysis that investigates policy implementation through the critical study of judicial litigation, the article analyses the case of García Mateos on work‒life balance in its different stages before Spanish and supranational courts. It shows that the implementation of work‒life balance policy through litigation in Spain is a “long and winding road” paved with discursive and material opportunities and obstacles. While multiple pressures, actors, and framings at different governmental levels contributed to a favourable judicial decision on gender equality, norms about the gendered division of labour limited its transformative potential.

Keywords:

• work‒life balance
• gender equality
• comparative policy analysis
• critical frame analysis
• multilevel judicial implementation

Notes

1. Source: interview with two trade unionists, Madrid, 3 March 2017.

2. In Spain 21.4 per cent of women and 18.1 per cent of men are unemployed. By contrast, the EU-28 unemployment rate was 8.5 per cent in 2016 (European Commission 2017).

3. Ley 39/1999, de 5 de noviembre, para promover la conciliación de la vida familiar y laboral de las personas trabajadoras.

4. Council Directive 96/34/EC of 3 June 1996 on the framework agreement on parental leave concluded by Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe, European Centre of Employers and Enterprises, The European Trade Union Confederation.

5. Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation (recast). It incorporates several previous directives and CJEU judicial decisions on equal employment.

6. See Consejo General del Poder Judicial, “Gender-disaggregated judicial positions” 2017, http://www.poderjudicial.es/cgpj/es/Temas/Igualdad-de-Genero/Estadisticas--estudios-e-informes/Estadisticas/ (accessed 19 August 2017).

7. In accordance with art. 46 of the European Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter ECHR) as amended by Protocols no. 11 and 14, the Committee of Ministers supervises the enforcement of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. See http://www.coe.int/en/web/execution

8. MAGEEQ (Mainstreaming Gender Equality in Europe, EC Fifth Framework Program, http://www.mageeq.net) and QUING (Quality in Gender Equality Policies, EC Sixth Framework Program, http://www.quing.eu).

9. Source: interview with one judge, Madrid 8 February 2017; interview with two trade unionists, Madrid 3 March 2017.

10. Source: interview with two trade unionists, Madrid, 3 March 2017.

11. Source: interview with one legal expert, Madrid 10 March 2017.

12. Source: interview with one judge, Madrid 8 February 2017; interview with one legal expert, Madrid 8 June 2016.

13. The last information available on the ECtHR judicial execution is from 7 February 2014: https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=09000016804b168a (accessed 1 March 2017).

14. The right to non-discrimination (art. 14 SC), unlike the freedom of enterprise (art. 38 SC), can be directly claimed before the Constitutional Court.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

MariaCaterina La Barbera

MariaCaterina La Barbera is Associate Professor at the Department of Law and International relations of Nebrija University, Madrid. Through a critical analysis of law and public policies, her research approaches human rights at the intersection of gender equality and cultural diversity. Further information at https://nebrija.academia.edu/MariaCaterinaLaBarbera

Emanuela Lombardo

Emanuela Lombardo is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and Administration 2 and member of the Instituto de Investigaciones Feministas at Madrid Complutense University, Spain. Her last book is Gender and Political Analysis (written with Johanna Kantola, Palgrave 2017). For further information see http://www.ucm.es/info/target/