Ann Numhauser-Henning

Ageism and Anti-Ageism in the Legal System: A Review of Key Themes

Social phenomena that have an impact on European societies, such as ageism, can be explored and better understood by looking at the ways in which the law incorporates, supports, or attempts to oppose them. This chapter – which is the first of three different contributions in this book concerned with the legal aspects of ageism in Europe – provides a descriptive overview of the inter-connections between European law and ageing. By describing and summarizing selected elements of, EU human rights and discrimination law, the chapter makes a contribution towards a better understanding of the relationships between law, ageing, and ageism.

Labour law in a greying labour market - In need of a reconceptualisation of work and pension norms, the position of older workers in labour law

An ageing population is a general demographic trend challenging economic sustainability in terms of employment and pensions as well as overall social cohesion and intergenerational solidarity. This article discusses 1) how to make people work until they reach pensionable age, 2) how to make people work beyond pensionable age, and, 3) how to facilitate access to employment for older workers. It is argued that such a desired development in terms of ‘active ageing’ implies a normative challenge questioning prevalent pension norms and non-discrimination rules as well as a reconceptualisation of work at the risk of weakening labour law from within.

EU sex equality law post-Amsterdam

Introduction This chapter focuses on the development of sex equality law since the Amsterdam Treaty. The most important feature of the Amsterdam Treaty from the perspective of this book was of course the new Article 13, providing a legal basis for Community institutions to take action to combat discrimination not only on the grounds of sex but on a whole range of other grounds and within any area of Community activities. However, Article 2, as amended, Article 3(2) and Article 141 EC (see further below) are also of special interest to sex equality law, following the Amsterdam Treaty. It is also worth mentioning the new Title VIII (ex Title VIa) on employment introducing the ‘open method of coordination’ for employment guidelines now also extended to other areas of social cohesion. Finally, there is the inclusion of the Maastricht Social Protocol and the new rules on the Social Dialogue in Articles 137–139 EC. All of these new rules play an intrinsic role for the post-Amsterdam developments of sex equality law. To understand the development of sex equality law following the Amsterdam Treaty, its relationship with Article 13 EC and action taken on this basis it is, however, necessary to start with some remarks on the unique features of sex equality regulation in an EC law context and its roots pre-Amsterdam. After introducing these features, I will continue to describe the legal developments in the field of sex equality post Amsterdam only to end up in a discussion on the future implications of discrimination law developments in general for gender equality.