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This collection explores how pioneering gender equality policies have shaped women´s economic presence in Europe since 2000. Equal pay policies, parental leave reforms, corporate quotas and electoral quotas have raised pressing questions about the effectiveness in promoting equal participation, as researchers quote both quantitative improvement in gender diversity and qualitative lag in cultural change. The chapters in this book present interlocking cross-national and cross-policy comparisons of the three most controversial reforms: equal pay, parental leave, and quotas for political representatives. The contributors address the cultural context in which reforms arose, internally contradictory policies, and the relative effectiveness of fast-track quotas and incentives compared to long-term efforts to change the overall culture of gender. This critical examination of the new millennium´s groundbreaking gender policies will appeal to academics and practitioners interested in the progress of gender equality in the economic, political, and social welfare fields.

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1. Introduction: Re-Thinking Gender Equality since the Turn of the Millennium; Diana Auth, Jutta Hergenhan, Barbara Holland-Cunz PART I: GENDER EQUALITY IN EUROPE 2. Can We Call it a Revolution? Women, the Labor Market, and European Policy; Francesca Bettio PART II: GENDER EQUALITY IN THE ECONOMIC SPHERE 3. Symbolic Policymaking for Gender Equality: Comparing the Use of Quotas for Civil Services and Corporate Boards in France and Germany; Sophie Rouault 4. Overcoming the Gender Pay Gap: Equal Pay Policies Implementation in France and the United Kingdom; Cécile Guillaume 5. Equal Pay by Gender and by Nationality: A Comparative Analysis of Switzerland´s Unequal Equal Pay Policy Regimes across Time; Roland Erne, Natalie Imboden PART III: GENDER EQUALITY IN THE REALM OF THE FAMILY 6. Reconciliation of Employment and Childcare in Austria, Germany, and Iceland: Examples for Gender Equality in Family Life?; Sigrid Leitner 7. From Implicit to Explicit Familialism: Post-1989 Family Policy Reforms in Poland; Dorota Szelewa 8. Social Investment or Gender Equality? Aims, Instruments and Outcomes of Parental Leave Regulations in Germany and Sweden; Diana Auth, Hanne Martinek PART IV: POLITICAL REPRESENTATION 9. The French Parity Law: A Successful Gender Equality Measure or a "Conservative Revolution"?; Catherine Achin 10. Political Representation of Women in Europe: What Accounts for the Increase in the 2000s?; Gesine Fuchs, Christine Scheidegger 11. Successes and Failures of Electoral Gender Quotas in a Global Perspective; Jutta Hergenhan PART V: CONCLUSION 12. Targeted Measures versus Change of Political Culture: How can Gender Equality Best be Achieved?; Barbara Holland-Cunz

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"This collection of essays offers a timely account of a range of gender- and family- related policies in a number of EU Member States. ... Across the various chapters there is a great depth of information, and the book provides some very interesting insights into the case studies presented. One key theme that emerges across all chapters, is the role of culture in achieving or hampering the movement towards gender equality." (Muireann O´Dwyer, Journal of Common Market Studies JCMS, Vol. 56 (2), March, 2018)

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