In the United Kingdom, the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 has been widely used as a platform for enforcing remedies for gender based discrimination in the field of work or official, public service posts. In the civil law jurisdictions, constitutional guarantees to equality have also been the basis upon which employment legislation has been built.

Employment legislation guaranteeing equal pay for equal work has in some jurisdictions pre empted international policy. For example, in the United Kingdom, the Equal Pay Act was enacted in 1970.

This form of legislation however appears to be developed according to the situation of a given state. For example, in some jurisdictions, such as Austria, equality in employment has developed more recently, thus there is a clause in the Equal Treatment Requirement providing for allowances to be made in favour of the gender with less equality at work, to be given more favourable treatment as a temporary measure to bring about equality in accordance with CEDAW.

Importantly however, sexual harassment in some civil law jurisdictions has been enacted as part of employment legislation as a viable ground for an action against sex discrimination. To take Austria as an example, here, the complainant may also make an allegation of sexual harassment and the burden of proof is then shifted on the alleged perpetrator. Here also sexual harassment has a wide application and is based on the subjective view of the victim. As part of the Equal Treatment Law, sexual harassment here is also acknowledged as a form of gender inequality.

As civil jurisdictions adopt employment legislation as part of their codified systems, these remain less flexible and detailed than those laws in the common law jurisdictions that enact laws more specifically according to jurisprudential, social and political developments, piecemeal. For example, while equality legislation in considered an umbrella in many civil law jurisdictions, law such as the Paternity Rights legislation has been adopted in the United Kingdom to specifically deal with equality of treatment for fathers.

Within the European Union, however, directives have also played a significant role on employment law within member states.

The main obstacle however in achieving equality and fairness is the issue of equality of opportunity. While, men and women are given equal salaries for equal work, what happens when some fields of work are largely composed of female workers? Without any proper comparatives, these areas have been found to be awarding significantly lower remuneration than what should be objectively paid. In addition, where there has been progressive policy to enable parents, usually and traditionally, the mother, to rear children at home with state assistance, these workers find it difficult to return to employment after the gap during the child rearing years. Another issue is the social attitudes to career development in societies that are more traditional.

It is these imbalances that form the hidden obstacles to real equality despite positive employment legislation.

Analysis provided by Soraya Pascoe, Legal Expert on Gender.