Equality at Work, Is legislation alone enough?

After a raft of legislation precluding employers and employees from partaking in discriminatory actions and policies, the question as to why inequality between men and women still exists within the work place, has yet to be fully explained. Feminist jurisprudence mirrors the difficulties forced upon women through acceptance of laws. It explains and highlights the difficulties women face while attempting to be accepted, on the same, equal, footing as men, to become a party to employment contracts which are in themselves reinforced by legal systems and law. Feminist scholarship has delivered a wealth of analyses of women's situation and realised much by way of attaining legal and political restructuring. As a result of, but not limited to, membership of the European Economic Community, now the European Union, and influenced by feminist legal theory, the Irish legislature has introduced a number of measures to improve workplace equality between men and women. Discrimination within the workplace and for those seeking to secure employment should not exist, however according to the reported figures; discrimination still exists as a barrier to certain groups of persons and especially women who wish to fulfill their employment goals.