Abstract

The goal for this study is to better understand the issue of inequality and to improve the likelihood of achieving gender justice in the future. The dissertation examines the primary role of legislation, which has an impact on the court process, as well as the primary role of the judicial system, which has an impact on the fight for gender equality. In looking at women and the law, the dissertation encompasses several chapters: Chapter 2 covers law and feminism; Chapter 3 looks at employment statistics affecting men and women in the United States, Canada and Europe; Chapter 4 investigates pay equity and access to employment, looking at inequality in the workplace; Chapter 5 looks at international and North American laws and court cases dealing with gender discrimination and especially the important issue of the burden of proof required in discrimination cases; Chapter 6 examines the development of the North American Free Trade Agreement; and Chapter 7 examines the implementation of the European Economic Community Treaty. The major part of the study examines equality in employment for men and women in terms of the law and the court, at both the national and international level. Since the American court system is the one most of ten compared with the European court system, the United States Supreme Court rulings on the crucial aspect of the burden of proof will be uniquely examined in depth, contrasting the racial standard with the gender standard in discrimination cases. The dissertation seeks to compare the two most important trade agreements of our day, namely the North American Free Trade Agreement and the European Economic Community Treaty, in a historical analysis. Although an important trade agreement with implications for labor, the North American Free Trade Agreement has a different system from the European system in that it has no overseeing court with jurisdiction over the respective countries. On the other hand, the European Economic Community treaty takes a different approach, in that it is made part of the domestic law of every member state, weakening past discriminatory laws and judgments, including sex discrimination in employment. The European process also goes further by actively implementing new laws such as equal pay and equal treatment in access to employment for men and women. The dissertation shows that in light of the evidence, the North American Free Trade Agreement should be amended to deal specifically with gender discrimination in employment, in dealing with the aspect of law. As well, an overseeing court encompassing several states, as does the European Court of Justice, should be implemented in the North American context, in dealing with the aspect of the courts. On the other hand, the burden of proof in the European system should be elevated to that used in the American system, to facilitate the legal process for the victims of discrimination