INTRODUCTION

Why this guide?

Gender mainstreaming is a tool to better understand the causes of inequalities between women and men in our societies and come up with appropriate strategies to tackle them. The goal is to achieve equality between women and men.

But the concept has left many confused. It has been criticised for being too abstract and difficult to understand especially for non-English speakers.

What does it actually mean? How will I benefit as an organisation or even as an individual? Is this just another administrative requirement that I have to comply with?

This guide sets out to provide some of the answers. It explains gender mainstreaming in simple terms and shows the benefits it can bring. It also highlights that gender mainsteaming is a process.
The link with the EQUAL Community Initiative

This guide has been written with the EQUAL Community Initiative in mind. This is because gender mainstreaming is an integral part of EQUAL which is exploring new ways of tackling the problems common to different types of discrimination and inequality.

Under the EQUAL Community Initiative, gender mainstreaming is not optional. It cannot be something you add on to make your application more acceptable by saying for example “we don’t discriminate” or “we treat everyone the same” or “we are an equality project so this does not apply to us” or that “men and women are working together, so there is no need to focus separately on their respective needs.”

It should be a guiding principle for all partners in a Development Partnership, irrespective of the thematic priority you have chosen, and for those managing the EQUAL programme.

Gender mainstreaming is not an additional issue to other factors that you need to take into account when planning or implementing your Development Partnership such as financial efficiency, accounting, transnationality, empowerement, coordination and so on. The guide illustrates how gender mainstreaming is an essential part of all these aspects of your Development Partnership.

You cannot strive to tackle inequalities without embracing the gender mainstreaming concept. Whether you are the coordinator or a partner, you will need to gain sufficient understanding of gender mainstreaming.

The result is that you will gain time and improve quality as you can better target your Development Partnership and its activities and results.

Who is the guide for?

The guide has been written primarily for all who are involved in the national EQUAL Programmes – the Development Partnerships, the National Support Structures , the Managing Authorities , the evaluators at national and Development Partnership-level, as well as the Monitoring and Selection Committees.

However, it can be useful to all individuals or organisations interested in learning more about gender mainstreaming and how it can be implemented in project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

How do I use this guide?

This guide has been designed to provide you with maximum flexibility. It contains a series of briefing notes. You can pick and choose the notes you need. You do not have to follow the order or read all of them.

They can be grouped as follows:

• Briefing notes targeted at all readers giving theoretical and factual information on gender mainstreaming and practical exercises to build up your organisation’s and your partnerships’ understanding of gender mainstreaming
• Briefing notes specifically addressing Development Partnerships
• Briefing notes specifically addressing National Support Structures and Managing Authorities
• Briefing note containing examples of EQUAL Development Partnerships and a list of resources

Don’t be put off by the task at hand. Gender mainstreaming is a process. The guide can help you start and can accompany you as you become more familiar with gender mainstreaming and the huge potential it has for making your Development Partnership more effective.

UNDERSTANDING GENDER MAINSTREAMING

Equal participation of women and men in all aspects of society is crucial for lasting growth and democracy. It also symbolises a society’s level of political maturity.

This ambitious goal, however, is far from being a reality despite substantial progress over the last 40 years spearheaded by the European Union.

Women’s relation to the labour market remains largely mediated by men whether as family members, employers or even suppliers of credit.

The labour market still favours men over women and reflects and reinforces men’s and women’s perceived roles in the home, polarising existing divisions despite clear evidence that the lifestyle of the majority of women but also of many men no longer fits into these tight compartments.

For example, demand for more balance in work and family life is coming from women and men yet policies to reconcile these two areas continue to focus largely on the mother.

The failure to transform women’s (and thus also men’s) position has led policy makers and those in the equality field to question the impact of equal opportunities policies. They realised that society’s structures and practices and the relationship between women and men needed a radical rethink to root out the deep-seated and often hidden causes of inequality. They named this tool, the gender mainstreaming approach.

Challenging the mainstream

Gender mainstreaming recognises that initiatives specifically addressed to women, which often operate at the margins of society, although needed, are insufficient on their own to bring major change. While many are innovative and benefit the women who participate directly, they do not affect in a sufficient way the services or resource distribution of mainstream policies and projects and so do little to reduce or end inequalities between women and men.

Gender mainstreaming challenges these mainstream policies and resource allocations. It recognizes the strong interlink between women’s relative disadvantage and men’s relative advantage. It focuses on the social differences between women and men: differences that are learned, changeable over time and vary within and between cultures. For example, the unequal use of time by women and men has a direct impact on work patterns and, eventually their life choices. Typical male paid work patterns – full-time continuous employment across the life cycle – impose a constraint on family time budgets. Women provide the flexibility.

It is women who reduce their working hours or opt out of full time careers as and when the family needs dictate.

The result is that women continue to form the majority of the unemployed, of the poorly paid, of the carers and so on.

Valuing difference

The root cause of the problem lies in the social structures, institutions, values and beliefs which create and perpetuate the imbalance between women and men. The issue is not how to “add” women to various processes but to reshape these processes to create the space for women’s and men’s involvement.

Understanding Gender Mainstreaming

Gender mainstreaming starts with an analysis of the everyday life situation of women and men. It makes their differing needs and problems visible ensuring policies and practices are not based on incorrect assumptions and stereotypes. It also shows that women and men are not a homogenous group. In addition to their gender, their religion, ethnicity, education, disability, sexual orientation, class and so on also marks them reinforcing or giving rise to further inequalities that need to be addressed under EQUAL. For example, a university educated woman from a middle-class background does not start from the same position as working-class woman with few qualifications especially if she is also a member of an ethnic minority group. Although both may face discrimination in the world of work, their needs are different.

Policy-makers and programme managers can ensure better policy targeting, more effective delivery and greater equality if they take account of the different situations of women and men.

Equality can mean treating all categories exactly the same (for example when it comes to wages) and treating categories differently in recognition of their differences (maternity).

It can mean introducing specific actions targeted at women or at men to tackle persistent inequalities or changing mainstream policies to accommodate a diversity of circumstances.

Gender mainstreaming can clear the way to seek common ground and meet the needs of each person, as a group and as an individual, avoiding a vision of the world that is defined solely by the unilateral dominant culture.

Part of the problem is that equality is often perceived as a struggle between one group, in this case men, giving up power and advantage in favour of another group, in this case women.

The real challenge is to show that all can benefit from a more equal society build on recognition of difference, which addresses and values individual and group needs.

Two approaches under the microscope

A woman focused approach views women’s lack of participation as the problem

The focus:	Women
The problem:	The exclusion of women
The goal:	More efficient, effective development
The solution:	Integrate women into existing structures
The strategies:	Women only projects, Increase women’s productivity, income and ability to manage the household

A gender-focused approach is people-centred

The focus:	Relations between women and men
The problem:	Unequal relations that prevent equitable development and the full participation of women and men
The goal:	Equitable development with women and men sharing decision-making and power, opportunities and resources
The solution:	Transform unequal relations and structures; empower the disadvantaged and women
The strategies:	Identify and address practical and strategic needs determined by women and men to improve their condition.

Source: Gender Analysis and Gender Planning Training Module for UNDP staff.
http://www.undp.org/women/

GENDER MAINSTREAMING – A CLOSER LOOK AT THE CONCEPT AND TERMS

The concept

Gender mainstreaming is not:

• A Women only issue
• It is not just about improving access or of balancing the statistics
• About having well written statements
• About blaming anybody for the inequalities which exist
• About only women taking action
• About only women benefiting from it
• About stopping or replacing gender specific policies and projects targeted at either women or men

Gender mainstreaming:

• Is about reducing poverty, boosting economic growth and strengthening citizenship
• Is a pro-active process designed to tackle inequalities which can and do discriminate against either sex
• Targets major economic and social policies that deliver major resources
• Makes good economic sense ensuring that women as well as men are active, using 100% of the productive labour force
• Represents a further step in the search for equality
• Recognises that gender is one of the most fundamental organising features in society and affects our lives from the moment we are born
• Presupposes a recognition of male and female identities
• Recognises that differences exist in men’s and women’s lives and therefore our needs, experiences and priorities are different
• Involves a willingness to establish a balanced distribution of responsibilities between women and men
• Needs determined political action and support with clear indicators and targets
• Will not happen overnight, it is a continuous process

Gender mainstreaming means:

• That differences between women and men may never be used as a ground for discrimination
• A radical rethink of the way labour markets work and their impact on women’s and men’s employment
• Long-lasting changes in society, transforming parental roles, family structures, and the organisation of work, time and even institutional practices
• Reshaping the mainstream rather than adding activities for women at the margins
• A partnership between women and men to ensure both participate fully in society’s development and benefit equally from society’s resources
• Responding to the root causes of inequality and putting remedial action in place
• Ensuring that initiatives not only respond to gender differences but seek to reduce gender inequality
• Asking the right question to see where limited resources should be best diverted
• More attention to men and their role in creating a more equal society

Gender mainstreaming covers:

• policy design
• decision-making
• access to resources
• procedures and practices
• methodology
• implementation
• monitoring and evaluation

The terms

Sex: the biological difference between women and men that is universal.

Gender: the social differences or roles allotted to women and to men, roles that are learned as we are growing up, change over time, and depend on our culture, ethnic origin, religion, education, class and the geographical, economic and political environment we live in. These models of behaviour set the standard and influence who we are apart from our sex. For example, while only women can give birth (biologically determined) biology does not determine who will raise the children (gendered behaviour) nor do the domestic chores. So gender describes the set of qualities and behaviours expected from men and women by their societies and forms their social identity. An identity that differs from culture to culture and at different periods in history.

Gender equality: that the different behaviour, aspirations and needs of women and men are equally valued and favoured and do not give rise to different consequences that reinforce inequalities.

Gender relations: the interdependent relations between women and men. This implies that changes for women will require changes for men and vice versa.

Mainstream: the principal, dominant ideas, attitudes, practices or trends. It is where choices are considered and decisions are made that effect economic, social and political options. It is where things happen. The mainstream determines who gets what and provides a rationale for the allocation of resources and opportunities.

Gender mainstreaming: to make gender equality part of this dominant (mainstream) trend in society so that women and men benefit equally. It means looking at every step of policy – design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation – with the aim of promoting equality between women and men.

Gender impact analysis/assessment: examines policies and practices to ensure they have equally beneficial effects on women and men. It identifies the existence and extent of differences between women and men and the implications of these differences for specific policy areas. It assesses policies and practices to see whether they will affect women and men differently so as to neutralise discrimination and provide equality. To carry out this analysis, statistics and indicators disaggregated by sex are needed.

Specific/positive action: favours particular groups of women, or men, and is required in addition to gender mainstreaming policies to remove inequalities which have been identified or address particularly resistant problems.

THE FORMAL DEFINITIONS

“Gender mainstreaming involves not restricting efforts to promote equality to the implementation of specific measures to help women, but mobilising all general policies and measures specifically for the purpose of achieving equality by actively and openly taking into account at the planning stage their possible effects on the respective situation of men and women (gender perspective). This means systematically examining measures and policies and taking into account such possible effects when defining and implementing them.”
“The systematic consideration of the differences between the conditions, situations and needs of women and men in all Community policies and actions: this is the basic feature of the principle of ‘mainstreaming’, which the Commission has adopted. This does not mean simply making Community programmes or resources more accessible to women, but rather the simultaneous mobilisation of legal instruments, financial resources and the Community’s analytical and organisational capacities in order to introduce in all areas the desire to build balanced relationships between women and men. In this respect it is necessary and important to base the policy of equality between women and men on a sound statistical analysis of the situation of women and men in the various areas of life and the changes taking place in societies.”
European Commission. Communication: “Incorporating equal opportunities for women and men into all Community policies and activities” (COM(96)67final). In electronic form, only in French.
“Gender mainstreaming is the (re)organisation, improvement, development and evaluation of policy processes, so that a gender equality perspective is incorporated in all policies, at all levels and at all stages, by the actors normally involved in policy-making.”

Council of Europe, Gender mainstreaming: conceptual framework, methodology and presentation of good practices. Strasbourg. 1998.

Gender mainstreaming is “…the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in any area and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic, and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally, and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.
United Nations. ECOSOC, 1997.

A SHORT HISTORY OF EUROPEAN UNION POLICY AND GENDER MAINSTREAMING

For many years, there has been an assumption that equality is mainly a women’s issue. This assumption has been made by politicians, policymakers and even women themselves.

1970s – The period of individual rights

The European Union (EU) started the long road to achieving equality between women and men in the 1970s although provision for equal pay was already made in the 1957 Treaty of Rome.

The demand for equal treatment dominated this era which addressed the individual’s right to equality.

In 1975, the first European equality directive was passed covering equal pay.

This was shortly followed in 1976 by a directive on equal treatment in access to employment, training, promotion and working conditions. In 2002, this 1976 law was strengthened and extended to include a formal ban against sexual harassment.

Other directives followed: equal treatment in statutory social security schemes (1978); in occupational social security schemes (1986); for the self-employed and their assisting spouses (1986); on maternity leave and health and safety conditions for pregnant women and nursing mothers (1992); on the organisation of working time (1993); on parental leave and leave for family reasons (1996); on the burden of proof making it easier to prove discrimination in cases before the courts (1997); and on part-time work (1997).

Equal treatment laws were effective in combating overt discrimination but not enough to ensure equality. Their starting point was that women and men should be treated the same. But as women and men do not start from the same position, equal treatment did not always lead to equal outcome. Apparently neutral policies had different results.

1980s – The period of specific action

The 1980s saw the introduction of specific/positive actions addressing the disadvantages experienced by women. It was the start of women oriented policies, be it at the margins. They focused on what women “lacked” – the implicit assumption being that the problem rested with women, and so women needed to change.

The EU, recognising the shortcomings of equal treatment legislation to tackle differences between women and men, co-financed specific actions for women especially in training.

It also adopted a string of EU recommendations and codes of good practice in areas such as education and training; childcare; combating sexual harassment; positive action; discrimination in the media; and improving women’s access to decision-making posts.

1990s – The period of mainstreaming

Specific actions in favour of women also proved to be a partial solution. They prepared women for operating in a male dominated culture but did not challenge it.

This led to a new period, the period of gender mainstreaming, where the focus shifted to systems and structures themselves, to the relationship between women and men and to their individual needs. This approach gained world-wide acceptance at the 1995 UN fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.

Gender mainstreaming recognises that existing structures are not gender-neutral but favour one sex or another in a variety of subtle and not so subtle ways. The result is that apparently gender-neutral policies can in fact reinforce divisions and consequently further disadvantage women or men.

With gender mainstreaming came the call for policies that accommodate a diversity of circumstances accepting that age, ethnic origin, disability and sexual orientation, for example, also have implications for a person’s ability to compete equally.

The EU adopted its gender mainstreaming approach in 1996.

Introducing this change, the European Commission said it wanted to implement a gender perspective into the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all EU policies and actions to evaluate their impact on women and on men.

In 1997, the Treaty of Amsterdam confirmed the importance of promoting gender equality and formalised the commitment to gender mainstreaming.

GENDER MAINSTREAMING – SOME FIGURES

It is generally accepted that women have experienced systematic and persistent discrimination which reproduces itself giving rise to differences in women’s and men’s access to jobs, to resources and to power.

We can see this clearly in labour market developments over the last two decades.

In the EU of 15 Member States, since the 1980s and even earlier, there has been a huge entry of women into the labour market but this has not been accompanied by a break down of sectoral, occupational or job segregation. Most women still work in a cluster of sectors and occupations, dominate part-time jobs, are largely excluded from senior jobs, are paid less than men, are more likely to be unemployed and are more at risk of poverty than men.

Women’s active participation in the labour market and the reduction of gender gaps in all spheres of life are key to the EU’s competitiveness, economic growth and social cohesion. The Lisbon target of achieving a 60% female employment rate by 2010 will not be reached without further effort in the field of gender equality. At least 6 million women must enter the labour market by 2010 to meet this target.

Some data:

Employment

• Women’s employment rates have increased more than men’s. It now stands at 55.6% compared to less than 50% in the first half of the 1990s. But the gap with men remains high. It is still some 17.2 percentage points below the male rate in EU-15 and 16.3% in the EU-25.
• Occupational and sectoral gender segregation remains stable but high. Women dominate in health care and social services, education, public administration and retailing, while a disproportionate number of men work as technicians, engineers, finance professionals and managers. Although more women are entering high level jobs, men are still twice as likely as women to be in managerial positions and over three times as likely to be senior managers. Significantly fewer women than men have jobs with supervisory responsibilities and the gap widens further amongst older workers.

Unemployment

• In most Member States, the unemployment rate remains higher for women than for men (1.8 percentage points higher than male unemployment in the EU-15 and 1.9 % in the EU-25) and women continue to be more vulnerable to unemployment and economic inactivity than men.

Pay

• There is still a gender pay gap – arguably one of the most visible inequalities faced by women at work. On average, women in the EU earn only 84% of men’s wages – 89% in the public sector and 76% in the private sector.
• Women make up 77% of the EU’s lowest paid workers and men 23%. The risk of poverty is 3% higher for women compared to men.

Part-time work

• Women are over-represented in part-time work. In the EU-15, 34% of women work part-time and 30% in the EU-25. In contrast, only 7% of men work part-time in the EU-15 and the EU-25.

Work and family life

• Women still do the majority of work in the home and for the family. This has an impact on their work patterns and limits their opportunities to take up occupations that are comparable to the average occupations of men.
• Women with children work 12 hours less than men with children in the EU-15 and 11 hours less in the EU-25. They also have a lower employment rate of 12.7 percentage points compared to women without children.
• Men with children show 9.5 percentage points higher employment rates than men without children.

Education

• Women are better educated than men. The gap between women and men aged 20-24 attaining secondary educational level is 6 percentage points in the EU-15 and 5 percentage points in the EU-25. They represent the majority of graduates in the EU (55%) although their study choices still show traditional gender stereotyped patterns – in 2001, 36% graduated in the fields of sciences, mathematics and informatics and 21% in the fields of engineering.

Source: Report on equality between women and men, 2004. European Commission.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/equ_opp/com_04_115_en.pdf