Blackwell Reference Online

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At the beginning of the twenty-first century, equal rights and equality of treatment are anchored in laws of equal opportunity in many Western countries (cf. Kargl, Wetschanow, Wodak, and Perle 1997 ). Attitudes, values, stereotypes, and role-images, however, are still severely encumbered by patriarchal traditions, and inequalities of treatment in professional and public life can be found everywhere (cf. Tannen 1995 ; Kendall and Tannen 1997 ; Kotthoff and Wodak 1997 ; de Francisco 1997 ; Martin-Rojo 2000 ; Gherardi 1995 ). Political life and the political world, in particular, are dominated by men (cf. Mazey 2000 : 334). Despite the attempt to introduce the concept of “gender” into many areas of politics, including the EU (European Union), those who lead and dominate are still White men, and the agenda is still clearly determined by traditional values. For example, only one of twelve EU satellite committees, the EUMC (European Monitoring Center against Racism, Xenophobia and Anti-Semitism), is led by a woman. The legal norms on “gender anti-discrimination guidelines” are still at a developmental stage (cf. Eglström 2000), and experiences in the USA of “affirmative action” are clearly ambivalent in their value (cf. Appelt and Jarosch 2000 ). This unequal treatment of men and women in our society is manifest – apart from women's lower payment for the same work and their ... log in or subscribe to read full text