The debate about equal treatment between men and women has a long tradition in Europe
and is a fundamental principle of the European Union (EU, para. 4).1 The current EU gender
equality law is a combination of “Treaty provisions, legislation and the case law of the
European Court of Justice” (ECJ) (p. 1).2 The origin of gender equality dates back to
the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) of 1957. Article 119 of
the EC Treaty (now, after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, Article 157 of the
Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)) enshrines “the principle of equal pay between
men and women for equal work” (p. 2).2 Not all countries had integrated this Article into
their national legislation by 1 January 1962 as planned. A 2011 ruling of the European Court
of Justice (ECJ) reaffirmed the fact that there were “a number of existing legal instruments
for the implementation of the principle of equal treatment between men and women in
matters of employment and occupation” (Section 3, para 15)3, for example Council Directive