Book excerpt: Equality in law between men and women in the European Community is an integral part of the EC's social policy and crucial to its economic and social cohesion. This 15-Volume Encyclopedia analyses the legal framework for equal opportunities which now exists in the Community due to the adoption of EC Directives on equal treatment, equal pay and social security, and to the work of the European Court of Justice in this area. It looks at how the EC Directives have been implemented and interpreted in each Member State, and at the other legislative and constitutional provisions affecting the principle of equality. All the principal legal provisions are reproduced or translated. Extracts from or digests of national case law are also included. Each volume is structured so that Member States's provisions on equality can be directly compared. The editors of this Encyclopedia are Michel Verwilghen, Professeur ordinaire à la Faculté de Droit, Université catholique de Louvain, and Ferdinand von Prondzynski, Professor of Law and Dean of the Law School, University of Hull.