European Union against GENder Inequality Action
Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world, as stated by many United Nations documents and declarations. It has been incorporated within the 2030 Agenda, as one of the Sustainable Development Goals, which the EU has committed to implement, both in its internal and external policies. Equality between women and men is a common value of the European Union (EU) that is enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty. Pursuant to the Treaty on the European Union, promoting gender equality is one of the Union’s tasks (Article 3). In all its activities, it aims to eliminate inequalities and to promote equality between women and men (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Article 8). In the field of gender equality, the European Union adopted significant legislation. Member states of the European Union are obliged to implement these directives. In addition to the legally binding directives, the European Pact for Gender Equality (2011-2020) and the Gender Equality Strategy (2020-2025) represent a clear commitment to promote gender equality within the EU and a catalogue of measures to achieve this objective on EU and Member State level.
The role played by the European Union in promoting gender equality is not well known and it is very often under-valued by the EU citizens, including civil society and professional categories. The general objective of the project is to increase awareness in students, lawyers, and civil society on the role European Union in promoting gender equality. To this purpose, several teaching activities will be organized, targeting different groups of people. All activities will be based on the Department of Business and Law of the University of Siena, taking advantage of the competence developed by a group of female professors, of the courses they are already teaching and of the agreements existing with professional and civil society organizations and with universities in non-EU members States.
The teaching activities proposed can be summarized into five groups:
1) The inclusion, within the existing courses of Public Law and International and Advanced EU Law (taught in English), Istituzioni di diritto pubblico, Diritto dell’economia, Diritto del lavoro, Diritto europeo della banca e della finanza (taught in Italian), for bachelor and master courses, of a specific module on “EU Gender Equality Law”. .
2) The organization of a course on “EU Gender Equality Law”, as part of the training of lawyers, with the support of the Siena Bar Association (Ordine degli avvocati di Siena).
3) The organization of a course on “EU and Gender Equality”, with the support of Trade Unions (CGIL Siena) and NGOs (Atelier Vantaggio Donna). Targets: civil society; local policymakers.
4) The inclusion, within the International Summer Program in “Democracy and Development” organized by the Research Group DIPEC, within the Department of Business and Law, of a module on “EU Gender Equality Law”.
5) The organization, twice a years, of annual lectures with invited speakers.
“OLD COURSES” (BACHERLOR AND MASTER STUDENTS)
“NEW COURSES” (CIVIL SOCIETY AND LAWYERS)