The article explores the conceptualization of gender equality in family policies in Czech Republic, Lithuania and Slovakia from the Europeanization perspective. Through the methodology of critical frame analysis it investigates multiple meanings of gender equality concepts interwoven with care policies and reveals sources of contestation and their implication for the policy design. As family policies are often closely related to national value systems, they represent milieu of contestation of gender equality and clash with the Europeanization perspective. Comparative analysis of the three European states shows that Europeanization happens in family policies despite the fact that the domain is primarily under the competences of nation states. The EU gender equality concepts and policies are translated to domestic setting when they resonate the most and do not challenge existent gender regimes. Moreover, the meaning of policy concepts is stretched and bent in order to fit national context. As a result, already compromised gender equality goals of the EU policies are often even more distorted if combined with domestic discourses opposing gender equality from neo-liberal and/or conservative perspectives.
