A cuestión sen resolver das políticas de igualdadea conciliación da vida persoal, familiar e laboral como principal obstáculo á promoción profesional en condicións de igualdade

Abstract

This paper is aimed at examining the legislative policies developed in order to promote equal opportunities and equal treatment between men and women; and the reconciliation of parental and professional responsibilities for working parents. We argue that conciliation is today the main obstacle to real and effective equality in the professional promotion of women. However, the legal treatment of conciliation has contributed, precisely, to consolidate the discrimination suffered by women in their professional promotion. The legislative policy of conciliation has always been oriented towards co-responsibility, which does not avoid the negative effects of the assumption of family responsibilities in professional promotion. It only extends that risk to men. In addition, to see conciliation as a matter of discrimination based on sex, consolidates the idea that it is women who must take on family responsibilities. In this context, our main point is that gender-parity measures that encourage promotions attending only to sex constitute a double discrimination against women who reconcile their work and family life.