Place of Women’s Rights in Supranation-Building

In both Socialist Yugoslavia and the European Union, the establishment of‎ women’s rights can be determined as an integral part of supranation-building.‎ While bearing in mind the long and unbroken tradition of patriarchy, both entities,‎ partially under the influence of feminist theory and practice, have integrated ‎the fight for women’s rights into their political agendas, using them as ‎an identity tool in establishing a clear distinction from the opposed political,‎ economic and socio-cultural systems. Imposed from the above, the introduction‎ of gender equality policies and legislation to many of their (nation) states‎ came as a shock therapy, challenging existing traditional cultural patterns and ‎norms while making the results uneven and fragile. Women’s rights policies ‎were, especially in the beginning, primarily economic in nature, concentrating ‎on the inadequate position of women in the labor market and ignoring the‎ structural reasons behind inequality.‎