First defined in the 1970s, policies aiming to promote the status of women share many formal similarities from one country to another. However, a comparison of two national cases (France and Quebec) casts doubts on this hypothesis of uniformity. French and Quebec policies are guided by different systems of reference, one centered on professional equality, the other based on economic autonomy as the key to women?s emancipation. Both systems of reference reflect the influence on the definition of the cause of women of previous modalities guiding the political construction of the concept of the family.