Discriminación por razón de sexo y Derecho contractual en la Ley Orgánica 3/2007, de 22 de marzo, para la igualdad efectiva de mujeres y hombres

The application of the prohibition against discrimination based on gender issues in private law relationships and, more in particular, in contractual relationships submitted to general private law, raises a conflict of paramount importance between two fundamental principles emerging from Spanish law and all our neighbouring regulations, including also the EC law: on one hand, the freedom of contract, and on the other hand, the principle of equality on the grounds of sex. The brand new Spanish Act Ley Orgánica 3/2007 para la igualdad efectiva de mujeres y hombres’ is supposed to promote the effectiveness of equality between men and women. Moreover, the lawmaker has not been sufficiently explicit in the resolution of the mentioned above divergence, being this feature the departing point in the present paper. Summarizing, the aim of this study is to analyse the prerequisites and legal consequences derived from discriminatory conducts in the private law field and to consider the remedies available to the victim in order to eliminate the adverse effects related to the prior unfair behaviour.