Mujer e igualdad de tratoanálisis de la maternidad en la Unión Europea

Abstract

There is no denying that men and women are equal in capacities, rights and duties. However, to seek or to promote identical actions, obliging all –both women and men- to have the same behaviors would be a rather inappropriate aim, in fact, one that would be impossible to achieve. Actions in favor of equality should respect, even protect the inequalities that are given to us by our own nature, and that includes maternity. This book intends to progress in the knowledge of maternity among the states of the European Union. After a thorough analysis, it seems that mothers are a group subjected to a double discrimination: for being a women and a mother. Data shows that European women are being pushed to renounce to maternity and the traditional expression of “double yes”–many women say ‘yes’ to maternity and ‘yes’ to work- is no longer a reality. Maternity should not be a barrier to women’s paid work, but neither should paid work be a barrier to maternity. In this work, we quantify and analyze changes in the behaviors of European women regarding maternity and present indicators that make some inequalities they face visible. We also present some lines of action for family public policies that will push forward the acknowledgement of the work carried out by mothers, even if they do not receive any payment for it.