Taking Women Seriously: Equal Opportunities and Romania's Accession to the European Union

Since 1989, the twofold transition to both market economy and liberal democracy has led to fundamental changes in Romania, affecting women in both the public and private spheres. These transformations are due to both internal and external pressures. As an external factor, the impact of the European Union's position on equal opportunities has led Romania to bring about changes in its legal and institutional framework.

However, while undoubtedly beneficial, the influence of the European Union is also limited to a specific range of issues, namely those prioritized in EU legislation and policy-making (primarily employment and social policy). This is where factors internal to Romanian society and politics come into play. In this article, the author suggests that "taking women seriously" involves addressing inequalities in both public and private spheres, in contradistinction to the overall emphasis placed by the European Commission on the public sphere alone.