University of Utah

States' Compliance with International Requirements: Gender Equality in EU Enlargement

Countries
Author(s): Olga Avdeyeva
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 63, No. 1 (Mar., 2010), pp. 203-217
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 Political Research Quarterly
Volume 63 Number 1
March 201Q 203-217

States' Compliance with ? 2010 University ofUtah

10.1177/1065912908327231
sagepub.com
International Requirements
httj)://pr4.
hosted at
http://oHline.sagepub.com

Gender Equality inEU Enlargement Countries

Olga Avdeyeva
Loyola University Chicago

The article explores government compliance with international pressures measured as policy adoption and institu
tional reform.The findings reveal that government compliance is determined by the domestic political system and
depends on the configuration of political actors mobilized in support of reform.Legislative reform is facilitated by a
strongwomen's movement and mobilized female parliamentarians. Institutional reform depends on the strengthof
thewomen's movement and its ability to form coalitions with political actors within government elites, most impor
tantlygoverning parties. Finally, the effectofwomen's movements' actors on the institutional reform ismoderated by
the ideology of political parties in power.

Keywords: government compliance; gender equality; EU accession

May 1, 2004, eleven countriesentered the
On European Union (EU) after almost a decade of
accession negotiations and considerable reform of
domestic institutions and legislation. Eight of these
newly accepted members represented countries of the
former communist block. After the collapse of com
munism across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in
1989, the prospects of achieving membership in the
EU becamea strong incentive for these countries to
implement all social, economic, and legal chapters of
governments are more likely to transpose EU equality
directives in domestic legislation than establish viable
institutions to enforce new equality policies, which
reveals a decoupling between two stages of compli
ance. To investigate this gap in government compli
ance, I propose analysis of domestic political systems
that takes into consideration multiple political actors,
their positions in the policy-making process, and their
level of mobilization in support of or in opposition to
new international requirements. In this project, gov

Community Law, including provisions on the equal ernment compliance with international requirements is

opportunities of women and men in the workplace. viewed as a government input in a policy-making pro
Despite the strong interest in achieving membership, cess rather than an outcome of the government reform.
however, national reforms on gender equality demon Thus, I concentrate on government action or inaction
strated surprising variation in terms of scope, com to change and enforce policies on gender equality in

prehensiveness, and implementation. Why did the the workplace, but I do not study the effects of the
governments of postcommunist states respond differ reform at the level of theworkplace.
ently to EU pressures to adopt policies on gender The findings reveal that five factors determine the
equality in the workplace and establish government degree of government compliance: (1) level of mobi
institutions to oversee the implementation of these lization of civil society advocates, or women's move
policies? ments, in support of compliance with international
To answer this question, I conceptualize govern
ment compliance with EU accession requirements as
a two-stage process that consists of adoption of poli Author's Note: I am grateful to Laurel Weldon, Amy Mazur,
Richard Vincent Mahler, three anonymous
cies on gender equality in theworkplace, or transpo Matland, reviewers,
and editors for their helpful comments and suggestions on this
sition of EU directives in domestic legislation, and
article. An earlier version of the article was presented at the 2006
reform, thought of as developing
institutional an
annual meeting of theAmerican Political Science Association in
institutional capacity to enforce these policies. Data Philadelphia. The data can be accessed at http://www.luc.edu/
from ten postcommunist countries demonstrate that politicalscience/publications.shtml.

203
204 Political Research Quarterly

requirements; (2) proportion of women in national the application of innovation and diffusion to institu
parliaments;(3) the ideologyof dominantparties in tional structures and cross national comparisons in
national parliaments; (4) level of countries' prepared their analysis of organizational and structural simi
ness for accession (determined by the round of acces larities across different countries (Meyer and Rowan
sion negotiations); and (5) level of unemployment in 1977;Meyer and Scott 1992;Meyer et al. 1997).This
the country (it has a negative effect). These findings research investigates the effects of wider social envi
support major explanations of government compli ronment on the goals and composition of organiza
ance with international requirements in international tions arguing that structural attributes and goals of
relations and comparative literature. one organization are correlated with structures and
The examination of government compliance by goals of other organizations at that time and lead to
stages?policy adoption and institutional reform?re structural and formal convergence (Meyer and Rowan
veals several interesting nuances of these major find 1977;Meyer and Scott 1992).
ings: different factors influence the degree of reform In general, political science scholarship recognizes
in these two stages. Four factors determine the degree three important mechanisms of policy diffusion?
of policy adoption: the strength of women's move coercion, persuasion, and acculturation (Hafner
ments, number of women in parliaments, level of pre Burton and Tsutsui 2005; Goodman and Jinks 2004).
paredness for accession, and level of unemployment. Coercion implies military measures and economic
Ideology of governing parties in parliament does not incentives and benefits in inducing change in state
matter for policy adoption. Parliaments, regardless behavior (Keohane 1984; Downs, Rocke, and
of their ideological makeup, change domestic legisla Barsoom 1996; Waltz 1979). In this regard, condi
tion in response to EU requirements. For institutional tional requirements to comply with EU Directives
reform, however, the ideology of governing parties in imposed on candidate states is a coercive measure
parliaments matters: women's movements and party that seeks to change state policies and practices
ideology facilitate the creation of viable institutions on (Kelley 2004). Persuasion is another mechanism for
gender equality. Moreover, the interaction between the inducing policy innovation and diffusion that seeks to
strength of women's movements and party ideology is change state policies
and practices through normative
statistically significant and confirms that the ideologi change among key state actors (Risse-Kappen 1995;
cal makeup of national parliaments determines the Risse and Sikkink 1999). Acculturation describes the

ability of women's groups to access the policy-making process of social pressures imposed on state actors by
process. The study advances the thesis that interna other states or international governmental and non
tional pressures are refracted by the domestic political governmental organizations that forces them to adopt
system, specifically by the configuration of actors new policies. This process relies on various strategies
mobilized in support of compliance. of social influence including, but not limited to,
social rewards and punishments (shaming, social
exclusion, publishing best and worst practices) and
Theoretical Explanations of policy emulation (mimicking policies and practices
State Compliance in other states) (Avdeyeva 2007; Goodman and Jinks
2004; Keck and Sikkink 1998).
The question of government compliance with Policy diffusion literature is not new to scholars of
international treaties speaks to the large literature on gender politics and comparative feminist policy.
policy innovation and policy diffusion that received Skocpol et al. (1993) investigated the effect of wom
much attention in political science scholarship (Berry en's grassroots associations on the enactment of
andBerry 1990;Gray 1973;Meyer andRowan 1977; mothers' pensions in the United States. Katzenstein
Meyer and Scott 1992; Mintrom 1997; Skocpol et al. and Mueller (1987) looked at the role of women's
1993;Walker 1969). Policy diffusion is generally movements in the diffusion of feminist ideas in the
defined inWalker's terms as a state adoption of a law United States and Europe. Berkovitch (1999) offered
which is new to the state (Gray 1973;Walker 1969). a detailed account of the critical role played by inter
In particular, early research on policy diffusion stud national organizations in the promotion of women's
ied the process of policy adoption in the U.S. states rights in individual nation-states. Boyle and Preves
explaining the speed, timing, and patterns of policy (2000) considered the importance of local constituen
adoption (Gray 1973; Lockard 1968; Skocpol et al. cies versus international normative influence in creat
1993; Walker 1969). Sociological accounts expanded ing and enforcing laws against female genital cutting.
 Avdeyeva / States' Compliance with International Requirements 205

Zippel (2006) investigatedtheemergenceof sexual
harassment policy in the United States and its travel
across the Atlantic, where this concept was taken up
first by the European Union, the United Kingdom,
and Ireland and latermore gradually in other European
countries.
This studywill build on theliterature
of policy dif
fusion, concentrating on states' formal response to
EU pressures to adopt policies on gender equality in
the workplace and create government institutions to
oversee the implementation of this policy. Formal
and structural similarity as a result of policy diffusion
across nation-statesis emphasized in the sociological
account of diffusion, which recognizes decoupling
between states' formal commitments to international
treaties and domestic practice (Meyer et al.
1997;
Hafner-Burton and Tsutsui 2005). Interestingly, pol
icy scholars have predicted the decoupling between
EU member-states commitments to gender equality
policies and their actual enforcement of these policies
as well (Hoskyns 1996).What this study seeks to
in states' responses to
reveal is that there is variation
the EU formal pressures to adopt policies on gender
content of public policy, changing social values, and
transforming government institutions (Dryzek 1990;
Rochon andMazmanian 1993; Weldon 2002). Scholars
of international relations have studied the effects of
transnational NGOs as promoters of policy change on
the domestic level (Clark 2001; Keck and Sikkink
1998; True and Mintrom 2001). Within the compara
tive field, the impact of civil society actors has been
studied by scholars of social mobilization and social
movements (Diani and McAdam 2003; Rochon 1998;
Rochon andMazmanian 1993; Tilly 1997).Work on
women's movements mirrors the broader social move
ment literature and relies on its theoretical foundations,
such as political opportunity structure, resource mobi
lization, and cultural framing (Beckwith 2000). Using
themodels developed by social movement theories in
sociology, women's movement scholarship concerned
itself with compiling data on specific campaigns and
movements, studying the sequence of events, and
explicating conditions formovement success and fail
ures (Beckwith 2000). Another large set of literature
links women's movement activities and women's pol
icy-generating recommendations about how to make

equality, even when the candidate states know that women-friendly policies (e.g., Kaplan 1992; Lewis
gender equality law is not high on the EU agenda. 1997;Meehan and Sevenhuijsen 1991; Singh 1998;
What thismeans is that ultimately policies and insti Hantrais 2000). Some studies use social movement
tutions matter, even if they are intended as symbolic theory to analyze a single movement (Costain 1992;
and formal responses to international pressures. Laws Ferree and Hess 1994; Hellman 1987; Lovenduski and
and policies can create opportunities for social actors Randall 1993;Ray 1999).Many otherstudiesfocuson
to demand change from state actors and enforce de movements in different countries, but they usually

jure commitments (Hafner-Burton and Tsutsui 2005; employ historical and descriptive methods and have
Keck and Sikkink 1998). relaxed criteria for comparison (e.g., Bull, Diamond,
The case of EU Enlargement is interesting for dif andMarch 2000; Bystydzienski1992;Dahlerup 1986;
fusion study for another reason: it demonstrates that Ferree and Martin 1995; Katzenstein and Mueller
conditional requirements do not explain variation in 1987). There are very few studies that employ system
state responses despite scholarly expectation that atic cross-national analysis of women's movements
coercion generates compliance. Despite all candidate and their impact on policy making and the state (e.g.,
states receiving similar incentives and facing similar Women's Movement and Reconfigured States
punishments in case of noncompliance, we find [WMRS], Research Network on Gender Politics and
variation in the levels of their domestic legislative the State [RNGS], Enlargement, Gender and
and institutional reform. I argue this variation can be Governance: The Civic and Political Participation and

explained by differences in domestic political envi Representation of Women in Central and Eastern
ronment and propose to look inside candidate states Europe [EGG], Gendered Citizenship inMulti-Cultural
to find out which factors impeded or facilitated gov Europe: The Impact of Contemporary Women's
ernment capacity to comply with international Movements [FEMCIT]; formore details on these and

requirements on gender equality. I draw on several other systematic comparative projects, see the review

important explanations put forward in comparative by Mazur 2007). Of these projects, only one focuses
politics and comparative gender policies literature, on EU Enlargement countries (the EGG project); how
which I discuss below. ever, it largely relies on descriptive analysis in examin
It is widely acknowledged that social movements ing the contribution of women's movements to
have an impact on government policy making. Social women's policies in these countries. This article
movements have been credited with changing the seeks to fill the gap in the literature and examine the
206 PoliticalResearch Quarterly

impact of women's movement actors on the levels of In general, the scholarship on social movements

government compliance with EU Enlargement require
ments in systematic comparative analysis. This leads
us to the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1: Governments are morelikely to
comply with international requirements on gen
der equality when they face a strong women's
movement, mobilized in support of adoption
and implementation of gender equality policies.
Societal factors other than women's movements
can influence government decisions to stall or pro
mote policy reforms on gender equality. Activist civil
groups in support of conservative values or groups
that embrace norms of neoliberalism focused on
unregulated market can advance ideological positions
opposite to those of women's groups. Conservative
activism can divert governments' attention from gen
der equality policies to traditional family values poli
cies, thus impeding the course of reforms (P.Watson
2000). Conservative activists include religious organ
izations, nationalist movements, conservative labor
and women's movements views political parties as a
political opportunity for explaining the success or
failure of themovement (Banaszak 1996; Bashevkin
1998; Costain 1992; Hellman 1987; Katzenstein
1987; Katzenstein and Mueller 1987; Ray 2000).
Political parties provide or deny access to political
participation by social actors, including women's
movement actors, and create realignments within the
political system, which can be negative or positive for
the women's movements. They also can bring influ
ential allies in support of women's policies. The
focus of my analysis on labor rights of female work
ers will enhance our understanding about the effects
of party ideologies on this policy issue. First, I will
examine an independent effect of political parties on
the degree of government compliance with EU gen
der equality requirements, and second, I will examine
the interaction effect of party ideology and the
strength of women's movements to test the hypothe
sis that parties provide political opportunities to
social movement actors.

organizations threatened by the expansion of wom Hypothesis 3: Governments are more likely to
en's rights on the labor market, and conservative comply with international norms on gender
public (Fuszara 2003; Lohmann and Seibert 2003; equality when left parties dominate national
Matynia 2003; Nowakowska 2000). parliaments.

Hypothesis 2: Governments are more likely to Feminist research that has emerged within politi

comply with international requirements on gen cal science has investigated issues of social represen
der equality when there is no strong conserva tation (Pateman 1988; Phillips 1995; Pitkin 1967).
tivemovement in the country. Alone the arguments that the exclusion
with of
women from the political decision making is undem
The ideological composition of national parlia ocratic, more and more research evolves around the
ments has an impact on policy outcomes. National issue of differences in interests between male and
parliaments are composed of elected deputies nomi female parliamentarians that affects their policy deci
nated by different political parties. Political parties sions (Bratton and Ray 2002; Lovenduski and Norris
have established agendas on issues of gender equality 1994; Norris, Vallance, and Lovenduski 1992; Purdy
in the workplace. Research demonstrates that the 1992; Sclozman et al.
1995; Vega and Firestone
left-right ideology influences party position on gen 1995). Women are believed to have a common inter
der equality and equal opportunity of men and est as a group that can be overlooked by male politi
women (Esping-Andersen 1993; Mazur 2002). Left cians (Wangnerud 2000). Thus, the lack of women in
parties are found to be supportive of gender equality, political decision making reflects not only a "politics
whereas right parties are less responsive to demands of presence" but also an impact generated by their
to accommodate women workers on the labor market presence (Phillips 1995).
(Christensen 1999; Costain 1992; Stetson and Mazur Some researchers credit gender with a considerable
1995).Morgan and Zippel (2003) found thatright effect on policy preferences. In their study of the
wing parties supported family care leave policies in British parliament, Lovenduski and Norris (1994)
several West European countries; similarly we can found thatwomen have more feminist and leftist radi
find that right parties supported maternity and paren cal values thanmen. They concluded that the election
tal leave policies but opposed other gender equality ofmore women to parliament makes more than "just a
policies promotedby theEU. symbolic difference" (p. 224). Similarly, Wangnerud
 Avdeyeva / States' Compliance with International Requirements 207

(2000), in her analysis of parliamentary surveys from Montgomery2003; Rene-Roe 2003; Saxonberg2000;
1985, 1988, and 1994 conducted in the Swedish Siemenska 2004; Silovic 2004). This article will inves
Rikstag, found that female politicians to a greater tigate if female members of parliaments make a differ
extent thanmale politicians advance policies on social ence in changing and enforcing policies on gender
welfare and gender equality. Gender equality policies equality in EU Enlargement countries.
are almost exclusively pursued by the female MPs.
Bochel and Briggs (2000) found that femaleMPs Hypothesis 4: Governments are more likely to
bring women's concerns for consideration of the par comply with international requirements on gen
liament and gave an example of an act against female der equality when there is a greater proportion
circumcision and an attempt to abolish taxation on of female MPs in national parliaments.

sanitary products both undertaken by female MPs in

Westminster. Numerous women-directed policies and To test the effect of these factors on the degree of

programs have been adopted by the Scottish parlia policy adoption and implementation in ten postcom
ment thanks to a strong 37 percent female representa munist countries, I propose to control for several
tion (Ross 2002). Linos (2003) finds thatnumberof additional factors that can have an impact on govern
women in power has a direct influence on the improve ments' compliance with international requirements.
ment of policies and institutions related to gender in First, I propose to account for countries' general

Spanish regional governments. Similarly, Swers (2002) readiness to enter the European Union. Cowles,
demonstrated that, even though representatives often Caporaso, and Risse (2001) argued that the degree of
vote a party line, their gender is politically significant Europeanization, or countries' ability to adhere to the
and does indeed influence policy making. Swers EU policy standards in different policy areas, depends

argued that gender ofmembers of Congress moderates on the fit between existing national policies and EU
their party identification. requirements. This proposition asserts that countries
Some other researchers are more
skeptical about where domestic policies are closer to the EU stand
the effect of gender on policy preferences of mem ards tend to quickly adopt and enforce policies pro
bers of parliaments (Reingold 1996). Esaiasson and moted by theEU Community Law (Cowles, Caporaso,

Holmberg (1996) reviewedpolicy attitudesof female and Risse 2001). All accession countries were divided
and male members of the Swedish Rikstag and con by the EU experts in two categories?early and late
cluded that overall the difference between men's and accession states depending on their relative readiness
women's attitudes was small on most of the investi for accession, which, among many factors, also
gated issues; however, regardless of party identifica accounted for the fit between domestic policies and
tion, female MPs demonstrated somewhat different the EU requirements. The European Commission
takes on policies related to social welfare, environ (EC) started accession negotiations with countries of
ment, and morals. Weldon (2002) found that a per the first round for accession (Hungary, Poland, Czech
centage of women in legislature is a weak predictor Republic, Slovenia, and Estonia) in 1998. The EC
of policy outcomes in the area of violence against started negotiations with countries of the second
women. McAllister and Studler
(1992) found very round in 1999: Romania, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania,
limited differences between female and male parlia and Bulgaria. These countries were considered less
mentarians of one party inAustralia. The only policy prepared for accession. This leads to the following
area where women's views were different from those expectation:
of men was gender-related policies. This conundrum
in the literature suggests that contribution of women Hypothesis 5: Governments are more likely to
in parliaments depends on whether female parliamen adopt and implement international requirements
tarians endorse a feminist agenda. on gender equality in the workplace in those
Most of the research on representation, interests, countries that were initially better prepared for
and policy preferences has been done on Western accession.

democratic parliaments. Research on female participa

tion in parties and parliaments in Central and Eastern
Europe largely concentrated on barriers to women's
advancements, such as institutional (electoral rules,
party strategies, women's organizations), party ideol
ogy, and cultural barriers (Matland 2004; Matland
Second, I propose to control for socioeconomic fac
tors that characterize levels of development of acces
sion countries. Gender equality policies promoted by
theEU most importantly regulate relations in the labor
and market. Thus, we can expect that in counties where
208 Political Research Quarterly
labor markets are marked by high levels of unemploy
ment, governments will be more reluctant to adopt and
implement policies on gender equality in the work
place, because the enforcement of such policies
can
produce additional stress on the labor markets.
Hypothesis 6: Governments are less likely to com
ply with international requirements on gender
unem
equality when they face high levels of
ployment in the country.
In addition, countries' overall socioeconomic devel
opment can have an impact on the speed and scope of
states' compliance with international requirements.
Gross domestic product is a good proxy formeasuring
levels of economic development and their impact on
government action/inaction over time.
Hypothesis 7: Governments in countries with
higher levels of GDP and growing levels of
GDP over time are more likely to comply with
international requirements on gender equality in
theworkplace.
Selection of Cases and Generalizability
This study examines government compliance with
international law in ten postcommunist countries of
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), all newly accepted
EU members. (The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia
acceded in 2004; Bulgaria and Romania acceded in
2007.) The choice of ten postcommunist countries is
motivated by several factors. First, their common com
munist history influenced countries' political, economic,
and social development in important ways, which
allows reference to this group as a set of "most similar
(Mackie and Marsh 1997). After the collapse of
cases"
communism, these countries underwent similar transi
tion to democratic regime and liberal market economy,
experienced political and economic instability, raising
rates of unemployment, and a reform of socialist wel
fare state. Second, these countries inherited similar
communist legacies and had to go through ideological
and cultural transition to embrace ideas, norms, values,
and practices of democratic regimes. This condition is
particularly important for capturing those ideological
struggles that evolved in postcommunist societies,
including an ideological divide around gender equality
and equal opportunities formen and women. Third, all
these countries went through a process of accession to
the European Union, which established a single stan
dard of policy across the countries.
Gender equality policies create another important
implication for the selection of cases. All postcommu
nist countries had some provisions on gender equality
in the labor market as a legacy of the communist state.
Usually these provisions implied equal access towork
and education by women and men but did not include
an antidiscrimination clause. Communist recognition
of equality was symbolic and worked only under a
planned economy of full employment. Under this
regime, individuals could not exercise their right to
employment or promotion, for instance by taking their
cases to courts if they felt discriminated; the right to
employment and education was granted by the state
and, thus, could be easily removed by the state. In terms
of specific job protection provisions, all states had
some form of maternity and parental leave either fully
or partiallypaid by thestatewith job protection;
most
states also had some form of protective labor laws for
women, for example, women were excluded from cer
taintypesof jobs,which includedheavyweight lifting
or underground work. No state had recognition of
equality for part-time workers or self-employed people.
Thus, there was some variation of pre-EU policy on
gender equality in these states, but themain principle of
a link to a command economy and full employment
was similar across these countries.
The case of EU enlargement bears implications for
the generalizability of findings. It is a unique process
in world politics. The European Union can hardly be
compared to any other international organization,
because it functions as a weak supranational and inter
governmental state with established governing struc
tures and a set of binding legislation that shapes the
functioning of this state. This article investigates a
specific process?accession of ten postcommunist
countries to the EU, by which they acquire fullmem
bership in this supranational organization. A set of
explicit conditions regulated and guided the process of
accession (a list of EU Directives can be found in the
Supplemental Materials in the electronic version of the
article). To qualify for EU accession, candidate states
had to adopt provisions of nine directives in their
domestic legislation in the following areas: equal pay
for men and women, equal treatment of men and
women as regards access to employment, vocational
training and promotion, safety and health of pregnant
and breastfeeding workers, parental leave regula
tions, equal treatment of part-time and self-employed
workers, equal treatment of men and women in occu
pational and statutory social security schemes, and a
 Avdeyeva / States' Compliance with International Requirements 209

shift of burden of proof (Commission of the European equality; this concept refers to various government
Communities 2003). Despite strong conditional institutions established to enforce policies on gender
requirements, I find variation in government compli equality. Three criteria for comparison include the
ance with EU requirements. What, then, can we expect following components: (1) The institutional status
in cases where international organizations rely on gov considers where in the hierarchy of governmental
ernment voluntary participation in treaty compliance? institutions the offices on gender equality are placed.
Very few other international organizations (IOs) can Gender equality offices placed within Ministries on
impose similar conditional requirements on their Labor and Social Affairs, or other relevant ministries,
member-states. Although the generalization of find are defined as low-profile institutions. These institu

ings can be problematic for those IOs thatheavily rely tions have very limited policy-making capacities and
on socialization strategies and states' voluntary com do not have access to other branches (the of power
pliance with treaties, the study suggests thatwe should Czech Republic). High-profile institutions are those in
expect low government compliance with such treaties the status of a ministry, or placed within the Cabinet
ifno other incentives are present (e.g., economic coop of the President or the Cabinet of the Prime Minister
eration or trade benefits). Thus, the findings of this (Lithuania, Hungary, Poland from 2001 to 2005).
research can be of interest not only to scholars of (2) Functions of gender equality offices include advi
Europeanization but also to those public policy sory, coordinating (between various government min
researchers who are interested in the interaction of istries), legislative, of legislation on
enforcement
international policy and domestic policy change. gender equality, monitoring of discrimination, and
provision of legal help to victims of discrimination.
(3) Connection and collaboration with women's non

Comparing Government Compliance governmental organizations. How open are these

institutions to women's groups? Do they have collab
The measurement ofgovernment compliance orativeprojects and meetings? The Supplemental
explores government input in policy reforms in two Materials contain details on the operationalization and
stages: legislative change (policy adoption) and insti measurement of dependent and independent vari
tutional change (measuring capacities of institutions ables.

on gender equality to enforce policies). These two

concepts will comprise three dependent variables in

this study: government compliance as a combined
Empirical Analysis
variable (policyadoption and institutional reform),
policy adoption, and institutional reform. To determine the impact of domestic political sys
Measure of policy adoption consists of three com tems on states' compliance with international require
ponents: (1) type of legal documents, which establish ments, I build three models of the data-generating
new policy; theymay include the Constitution, Labor which I estimate
process using ordinary least squares
Code, and Labor Acts. In four selected countries, the (OLS) with panel-corrected standard errors (Beck
Constitution represents the highest type of a legal andKatz 1995):
document, the Labor Code is the second major docu
ment, and legal acts represent the third-ranked docu =? + +
^ P/,+ PA ^ (1)
ment. (2) Policy comprehensiveness compares country's
policy provisions with policy requirements outlined r*= a + P^ + PA + J^ (2)
in nine EU Directives required for transposition into
=
domestic legislation of accession countries. The rft a + P/, + PA +^ (3)
assessment of this component implies content analy
sis of domestic policies and their fitwith EU require where M is the observed
level of government compli
ments. (3) Adoption of blueprint policy establishes ance as a combined
score for policy adoption and
and guarantees gender equality and equal opportunity institutional change, Y is the observed level of gov
of women and men in this country. Such a blueprint ernment adoption of policies on gender equality, T is
policy may include a national Gender Equality Law the observed level of institutional reform, Ps are
or Anti-Discrimination Act. matrices of parameter estimates, /and t are subscripts
The institutional reform is conceptualized as representing the state and the year of the observation,
institutional capacity to enforce policies on gender a is the intercept term, and jlx. is the stochastic term. I
210 Political Research Quarterly

consider two main groups of substantive variables to the activity of movement actors in regard to
test the theory. Z is a matrix of domestic political policies and government institutions on gen
system variables that I offer to test my theoretical der equality. It is assessed on a 0 to 1 scale: no
framework, and X is a matrix for all other control fac activity, lobbying for traditional family values
tors that influence levels of government compliance policies, protesting against gender equality
with international requirements. I review these groups policies.
of variables in detail below. Equations 1, 2, and 3 3. Proportion of female members in parliament:
assert that two stages of states' compliance with Measures the percentage of women in national
international requirements (policy adoption and pol parliaments for each year of observation.
icy implementation) in every observed year is a func 4. Ideology of governing party: Utilizes a tradi
tion of the strength of women's movements, the tional ideological division between parties
strength of opposition movements, ideology of gov centered on their socioeconomic policy plat
erning party in national parliaments, proportion of forms. I utilize Bugajski's (2002) operational
women parliamentarians, a series of control variables, framework of party ideology in CEE coun
and a stochastic term. The fourthmodel will present tries. It refers to ideology of the governing
the effect of all aforementioned variables and the (majority) party in national parliaments or
effect of interaction between the strength of women's governing coalition. This variable is assessed
movement and the ideology of ruling majority in on a scale from 0 to 4: right, center-right,
national parliaments on institutional reform. Thus, it center, center-left, and left.
will test for specific links between these two factors
and possible effects of this link on the level of state Control variables. I introduce three control vari
ables identified by scholars as having effect on states'
compliance with international requirements.
To estimate parameters, I employ the linear cross compliance with international requirements. Two of
sectional times-series random effects models because these variables measure socioeconomic development:
the data set ismore suitable for random effects mod gross domestic product of the country and level of
els as it has an equal number of cases and periods, unemployment. The third one describes overall coun
tries' preparedness for accession: those countries that
whereas data sets with relatively fewer cases and
signed the accession agreement early are considered
larger periods are suggested for fixed-effects analy better prepared for accession; those that signed acces
sis. The Hausman test supports the use of random sion agreements with EU later are considered second
effectsmodels: I receive insignificant p-values, prob. > round accession countries.
= =
X2 larger than .05 (prob. > %2 1.000; prob. > %2 .06; A variety of primary and secondary sources was
> =
prob. %2 .2735). used tomeasure these variables. Original data were
collected during my field research in Poland and
Czech Republic (spring2005). They include inter
Independent Variables and Data
views with governmental officials and officers in
Domestic labor inspections and trade unions; interviews with
political systems (Z). I introduce four
variables that measure dimensions of the domestic activists from nongovernmental organizations; and
political system that can have impact on states' com interviews with scholars and experts on gender and
pliance with EU accession requirements: social policy. A broad array of documents surveyed
in this study include transcripts of
parliamentary
1. Strength of women's movements: Following debates pertaining to gender equality issues and
Stetson and Mazur (2003), it concentrates on EU directives in this area. Governmental programs
the activity of women's movements actors. and electoral platforms of governmental officials
This operationalization is centeredspecifi and winning parties and party coalitions in regard
cally on the activities of women's groups in to the social policies in question were analyzed in
regard to policies and government institutions all ten countries. Independent monitoring reports
on gender equality. It is assessed on a 0 to 1 and EU monitoring and assessment documents in
scale: no activity, symbolic cooperation with regard to domestic gender politics and statistical
governments, lobbying for powerful institu information on socioeconomic development in the
tions, protesting against government inaction. ten countries of analysis were obtained from the
2. Strength of conservative movement: Follows International Labor Organization and the World
similar operationalization concentrating on Bank.
 Avdeyeva / States' Compliance with International Requirements 211

Table 1
Cross-Sectional Times Series Analysis on Government Compliance with
EU Accession Requirements on Gender Equality, 1995-2004

Model 1 (Government Model 3 (Institutional Model 4 (Institutional

Compliance) Model 2 (Adoption) Reform) Reform and Interaction)

Party ID 0.143* (.067) 0.065 (.059) 0.077** (012) 0.05** (.013)

Women's movement 1.78** (.467) 1.42** (.410) 0.316** (.077) 0.123 (.099)
Conservative movement 0.485 (.36) 0.360 (.319) 0.114* (.059) 0.212* (.076)
Proportion of MPs 0.122** (.02) 0.115** (.018) 0.005 (.003) 0.004 (.003)
GDP -0.002 (.002) -0.02 (.002) 0.0008* (.0003) 0.0002 (.0004)
Unemployment -0.157** (.02) -0.135** (.019) -0.018** (.004) -0.017** (.004)
Preparedness 0.483** (.144) 0.620** (.13) -0.141** (.038) -0.148** (.044)
Interaction 0.124* (.044)
Constant 1.860** 1.695** 0.145* 0.206**

R-squared .4929 .4852 .4732 .5173

*p<.05. **p<.001.

Results across policies on gender equality: they supported

parental leave policies inHungary, Lithuania, Slovakia,
Table 1 displays my major findings. Four out and Slovenia, but they did not do so in Estonia and
comes are striking. First, the strength of women's Poland. This partially supports Morgan and Zippel's
movements is positively correlated with both stages (2003) findings on right-wing promotion of care leave
of government compliance with EU accession require policies inWest European countries. All parties regard
ments on gender equality; it produces statistically less of ideology delayed harmonization of social

significant positive effects on government compli security systems, which is explained by states' commit
ance as a combined score of policy adoption and ments to maintain communist pension privileges to
institutional change, and it is a statistically significant working women, who did not establish personal pen
effect for each individual process?policy adoption sion plans.
and institutional reform in candidate countries. This Thethird finding of the analysis develops along

finding is remarkably consistent with scholarly expec similar lines: female members of parliament have
tations about the role of social movement actors in stronger influence over legislative changes rather

ensuring government compliance with international than the creation of institutions on gender equality.

agreements overall. This finding is quite intuitive, because we can expect

Second, ideology of governing parties is not statisti that in parliamentary systems (CEE states are parlia

cally significant in explaining the scope of policy adop mentary systems), members of parliament have deci
tion, but itdoes matter for government compliance as a sion-making power on the legislative agenda; but the
combined process and for institutional change in the institutional enforcement of new laws, including the
direction thathas been expected inmy hypothesis: left establishment of government institutions that oversee

parties tend to facilitate the reform of policies and insti
tutions on gender equality in ten EU candidate states.
This finding suggests an interesting observation: to
facilitate the accession process, ruling parties in parlia
ment change national legislation regardless of their
the implementation of policies, is a prerogative of the
executive branch. Thus, women parliamentarians are
effectively excluded from ensuring institutional
reforms on gender equality by the political system
itself. Case study analysis reveals that it is not only

ideological stands, but they tend to stall institutional the number or female parliamentarians, but also their
reform if gender equality policies are not consistent organization within parliament, thatmatters for pol
with their ideological positions. This observation is icy change. In Poland and Lithuania, where female
very important for emphasizing the usefulness of a two MPs were catalysts of policy reform, theywere orga

stage conceptualization of government compliance: nized in activist Women's Parliamentarian Group,

change of legislation and institutional enforcement of which participated in policy debates on behalf of
new legislation. Case study analysis demonstrates that women's groups and this way changed the agenda of
there is some variation on right-wing parties' positions the parliaments. In Bulgaria, where women MPs had
212 Political Research Quarterly

the largest presence in parliaments?26 percent? The level of countries' economic development
theywere not organized in support of gender equality expressed in GDP does not influence states' compli
reform, which explains the state failure to adopt ance with EU accession requirements on gender
equality legislationinBulgaria by 2004. equality. The level of countries' preparedness for
The fourth important finding is the significant accession positively affects government compliance
interaction between ideology of the ruling parties in as a whole and for the process of
policy adoption, but
parliaments and the strength of women's movements it produces counterintuitive results for institutional
on the level of institutional reform in EU accession reform: better prepared countries are less likely to
countries. This finding confirms my hypothesis that establish strong institutions to ensure the implemen
women's movement advocates are not single actors on tation of gender equality principles. This puzzling
the domestic political arena: the impact of their activ result has yet to be explored.
itydepends on other political actors, most importantly
the ideology of governing parties. Thus, parties in
parliaments moderate the impact of women's move Ideology of Governing
ment actors on the degree of government compliance Parties and Women's Movements
with international requirements, specifically on the
degree of institutional change in accession countries. It is simplistic to assume that all right-wing
parties
This finding is consistent with evidence from feminist are not supportive of gender
equality policies and insti
comparative policies literature, which views political tutions and all left-wing parties are supportive of them.
parties as political opportunity for women's move The examples of Bulgaria, where ex-communist
parties
ments (Bashevkin 1998; Costain 1992; Katzenstein were quite strong, but gender were not
equality policies
andMueller 1987;Ray 2000). implemented and an institution on gender issues was
Among other findings, it is interesting to note that not created until 2004, and Lithuania, where
right-wing
conservative movements have a statistically signifi parties initiated several important reforms in the area of
cant positive effect on the degree of institutional gender equality, pose several questions: (1) Under
reform on gender equality. This puzzling effect can which circumstances do left-wing parties support gen
be understood in the context of Poland, Hungary, and der equalitypolicies and institutions?
(2)Underwhich
Slovenia, where we find strong conservative move circumstances do right-wing parties oppose reforms in
ments inspired by the Catholic Church. Case studies the area of gender equality?
demonstrate that oppositional movements can pro In this section, I analyze the interaction between
duce activating impact on women's movements, as ideology of ruling parties in parliaments and the
happened, for instance, in these three countries: when strength of women's movements and its effect on the
the conservative sentiment intensified, it led to a levels of institutional reform. Close analysis of country
clash between liberal and conservative camps. Thus, cases reveals that strongwomen's movements are able
paradoxically, strong conservative movements can to influence government decision when they find ideo
have positive effect on the maturation of women's logical supporters within the government, specifically
movements inCEE countries which reinforced social when themajority in parliament does not oppose their
contestation and better policy enforcement. demands. This finding supports my argument thatgov
Another interesting finding is that levels of unem ernment compliance with international
requirements is
ployment influence both stages of government com determined by the configuration of political actors
pliance with EU requirements in the area of gender mobilized in support of new policies. Specifically,
equality in the workplace in the predicted direction. institutional reform can be understood through the
Higher levels of unemployment lead to lower levels process of coalition building between social movement
of policy adoption and institutional change. This actors and government actors. Case study of policy
finding confirms the importance of socioeconomic reforms supports this conclusion.
factors for the degree of state compliance with inter Changes of parties in power from left-wing to
national requirements, but it has a specific implica right-wing explain notable variation in women's
tion for gender equality policies. When countries movement access to policy making in Poland and
experience high unemployment rates, they become their outcomes for the status of government office on
reluctant to adopt equality principles from their labor gender equality. The first Polish Government
regulations (almost all EU directives on equality per Plenipotentiary forWomen was established in 1986
tain to labor market regulations). under the communist government, but in the past
 Avdeyeva / States' Compliance with International Requirements 213

decade it transformed several times. The

changes resisted the transposition of the EU directives on gen
reflected ideological disputes around the issue of sta der equality into domestic legislation (Commission of
tus of women in family and society, reproductive the European Communities 2003). As a result, in 2001

rights, and personal freedoms. After the revolutionary the European Commission sent an official warning to
events of 1989, a right-wing government reorganized the Polish government that itwas not going to con
the office on women's affairs into the Government clude accession negotiation with Poland in the area of

Plenipotentiary for Family andWomen, reflecting the social policy if thePolish governmentdid not adjust
importance of the family component in policymaking legislation to the EU standards in the area of equal
(GovernmentPlenipotentiary2004). In 1992 the opportunities for women (N. Watson and Lindberg
office was closed down on the grounds that there was 2002). Although the conservative government reacted
no gender discrimination in Poland and, therefore, to the EU warning and initiated a legislative change, a
there was no need for such office (Nowakowska new office on gender equality was opened only under
2000). Ironically, the first female prime minister of the left-wing government that won parliamentary
Poland, Hanna Suchocka, proposed to shut down the elections at the end of 2001. A left-wing government
Government Plenipotentiary forWomen and Family. established theGovernment Plenipotentiary forEqual
In 1993, new elections brought a reformed ex Status forWomen and Men in accordance with its
communist party back to the Polish
Sejm. For left electoral program. Initially the new
government
parties in Poland, the connection with women's orga planned to place this office in theMinistry of Labor
nizations is traditional: Polish left-wing parties, and Social Affairs, but under the pressure from liberal
including postcommunist parties, relied on the sup women's organizations, the Council of Ministers
port of women's organizations, which made the Polish established the plenipotentiary in the rank of the sec
left susceptible to their demands. Under pressure from retary of the state, as part of the Chancellery of the
women's organizations, ex-communists reestab Prime Minister, which became one of the highest
lished the office on women and family in 1994 before ranked offices in the region. The very name of the
the Beijing Conference on Women. The Beijing office expressed on gender equality and
its focus
Conference became a catalyst for the office develop equal opportunity and reflected the change in policy
ment. It legitimated the activity of women's organiza agenda (Wilkowska 2003). The role of women's
tions, which put pressures on the government to act in groups in promoting policies and institutions on gen
accordance with the UN requirements. The office der equality in Poland was important.Without wom
became quite active in establishing connections with en's NGOs demands and active lobbying, left-wing
international and domestic women's organizations in government would not have established a high-status

preparation for the Beijing Conference and follow-up office.

strategies and plans (Government Plenipotentiary In countries with weak women's movements, left
2004; Nowakowska 2000). Itdraftedand adopted the parties in parliament did not ensure the implementa
National Plan of Action in response to the Beijing tion of policies on gender equality. In 1998, Czech left
Platform forAction and established the Forum for the social-democratic parties came to power and estab
Cooperation of the Government Plenipotentiary for lished the first office on gender equality. Pursuant to
the Family and Women's Affairs and of Non Government Resolution 8/98, theMinistry of Labor
Governmental Women's Organizations. and Social Affairs has been charged with special com
But it all changed when the 1997 elections brought petence to coordinate policy concerning the status of
right-wing parties back to power, which had an imme women in society. As a result, theMinistry of Labor
diate effect on the office. A conservative right-wing and Social Affairs established the lowest organiza

politician was
appointed the plenipotentiary. The tional office?Unit for Equality between Men and
office name changed to the Plenipotentiary for Family Women?within theministry as part of theDepartment
Affairs. Most of the programs were shut down, includ for Integration to the European Union (Maksova
ing cooperation with women's NGOs, the UNDP Tominova 2003; Linkova 2003). The very status of this
program against domestic violence, work on the adop unit suggests that ithas been established to satisfy the
tion and implementation of the National Plan of EU conditional requirement for the accession, not to
Action, development of the regional network of gov promote gender equality principles. It is not surprising
ernment offices on gender equality, as well as the bill that in three years of its existence, the government has
on equal status of women and men (Zielinska 2002). accepted only one recommendation of theCouncil?to
Overall during this period, the Polish government publish a methodology on gender budgeting, which
214 PoliticalResearch Quarterly

Table 2
InstitutionalReform by StrengthofWomen's Movement and Ideology ofRuling Party
Party Ideology

Women's Left
Movement Center-Left Center Center-Right Right

Strongwomen's movement High (Poland,Hungary) High (Slovenia) Low (Slovenia) Low (Slovakia,
Poland, Hungary)
Weak women's movement Low (Czech Republic, High (Lithuania) Low (Estonia) Higha (Lithuania) Low (Latvia,Bulgaria)
Romania, Bulgaria)

a. Lithuania is an exception with right parties in power initiating and promoting gender equality policies and institutions.

was prepared by the Ministry of Finance (Haskova women's advocates.

The moderating effect of parties
2005). Czech institutions created to oversee the imple in parliament for the success of policy reforms in the
mentation of gender equality principles have critically area of gender equality cannot be overlooked as these
limited functions; none of them have the power to case studies demonstrate.

assign tasks, issue binding directions, and effectively

inspect other government bodies (Haskova 2005). Conclusion
None of them havethe competence to independently
assist victims of discrimination as required by Article This article explored theoretical foundations of gov
8a of Council Directive 2002/73/ ernment compliance with international requirements. I
EC. Fragmented women's groups divided between old argue that government compliance with international
communist-type mass organizations and more liberal pressures is a complex two-phase process that consists
academic women's organizations failed to pressure left of adoption of policies promoted by international orga
government to establish effective institutions to over nizations and institutional reforms that ensure the
see the implementation of gender equality policies. implementation of these policies on the domestic level.
Political parties in CEE countries moderated the This differentiation is important because, as my find
effect of women's movements on government compli ings reveal, there is a gap between legislative reform
ance with EU requirements on institutional reform. and institutional reform: governments of theEU acces
Table 2 summarizes the interaction between the sion countries are more likely to transpose policies on
strength ofwomen's movement and ideology of ruling gender equality than to establish strong institutions
parties on government's implementation of policies on thatwould enforce these policies. Thus, under interna
gender equality. tional pressure, governments transpose policies into
In Poland, Hungary, and Slovenia, left govern domestic legislation but delay their implementation.
ments under pressure frommobilized women's NGOs International pressures do not ensure comprehensive
created offices on gender equality with strong institu government compliance with EU requirements, but
tional capacities. Left and center governments failed change in domestic practice is possible under several
to promote gender equality institutions in the Czech conditions in the domestic political system, most
Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, and Estonia. Strong important the configuration of domestic political
women's movements in Poland, Slovakia, and actors mobilized in support of promoted policies. The
Hungary could not affect right parties' decision to dynamic of policy decoupling is important, first, for
restrict powers of gender equality offices. Right and theorizing the mechanisms of policy change on the
left parties in Lithuania were successful in brining domestic level and, second, for furthering our under
domestic institutions in line with EU requirements. standing of domestic policy processes under interna
The analysis of policy and institutional development tional pressures.
inCEE countries demonstrates the importance of two The article develops models for explaining govern
factors in ensuring the creation of strong institutions ment compliance with international pressures as a two
on gender equality: (1) the existence of strong wom stage process that includes policy adoption and
en's movements actively engaged in dialogue with institutional reform. I argue that international pressures
governments and voicing their policy positions; and and states' interest to join international organizations
(2) the presence of the left-wing majority in national do not explain the full variation in government
parliaments that are responsive to the demands of responses tomembership requirements. Despite strong
 Avdeyeva / States' Compliance with International Requirements 215

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