This study is based on multiple data sources, collected between 1994 and 2005 in fieldwork and from extensive archival research in the United States, in Germany and at the European University Institute in Florence. Among the libraries and archives visited in Germany were the library of the German Bundestag, Bonn, the German Archive for the Press, Bonn, and the Archive for the Press at the Free University of Berlin. I visited the feminist archives of the Zentrale Einrichtung für Frauenforschung und Frauenstudien Berlin (ZE), Freie Universität Berlin, the FrauenMediaTurm, Das Feministische Archiv und Dokumentationszentrum, Köln, and at the University of Bielefeld the Interdisziplinäres Frauenforschungs/Zentrum (IFF), Information und Dokumentation. The most helpful archives for information on the German legal system were the private archive of Dr. Barbara Degen, Bonn and the library of the German Federal Labor Court in Kassel. In addition, I collected important information on the European developments in the Weibsblick Frauenarchiv Wien and in the library of the European University Institute, in Florence, Italy. Finally, the women's offices of German political parties were extremely helpful in locating official documents, reports, and communications between political actors, feminist and legal expert witnesses, and EU officials.

I conducted altogether ninety-one formal interviews and many more informal ones between 1994 and 2005. Most interviews ranged between thirty minutes and two hours.