Gender
Mainstreaming
How Can We Successfully
Use Its Political Potential?
Gender
Mainstreaming
How Can We Successfully
Use Its Political Potential?
Heinrich Böll Foundation
Regional Office Warsaw
Warsaw, December 2008
2
The publication was elaborated within the framework of the
project „Reflections on Gender Mainstreaming” supported
by the Program „Globalisierung, Entiwcklungsfinanzierung
& Gender”, Heinrich Böll Foundation.
Editor: Agnieszka Grzybek
Proof-reading: Justyna Włodarczyk
Project coordinator: Agnieszka Grzybek
Graphic design: Studio 27
Published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation Regional Office Warsaw.
Printed in Warsaw, December 2008.
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors alone.
They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
ISBN: 978-83-61340-08-9
Copyright by the Heinrich Böll Foundation Regional Office Warsaw.
All rights reserved.
This publication can be ordered at:
Heinrich Böll Foundation Regional Office Warsaw,
ul. Żurawia 45,
00-680 Warsaw, Poland
phone: + 48 22 59 42 333
e- mail: hbs@boell.pl
3www.boell.pl
Contents
Agnieszka Grzybek, Agnieszka Rochon
Gender Mainstreaming. How to Use
Its Potential Effectively? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Barbara Unmüßig
1. Gender Mainstreaming – Possibilities
and Limits of a Radical Social Concept . . . . . 13
Claudia Neusüß
2. The Strategy of Gender Mainstreaming
in the EU and Germany – Two Steps
Forward and One Back? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Martina Kampichler, Katerina Machovcova
3. Gender Mainstreaming in the Czech
Republic: a Critical Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Ewa Rutkowska
4. Gender Mainstreaming in Poland
– A Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Olga Pietruchová, Paula Jójárt
5. Gender Mainstreaming in Slovakia:
Rather Down than Top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
About the Heinrich Böll Foundation
Regional Office Warsaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
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GENDER MAINSTREAMING.
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Gender Mainstreaming.
How to Use Its Potential
Effectively?
Agnieszka Grzybek, Agnieszka Rochon
The fact that gender mainstreaming, or the incorporation of the issue of gender
equality into mainstream politics and activities, also translated – depending on the
context – as gender equality politics, has caught on in new EU member states, is
largely a result of EU accession. Even though all countries signed the Beijing Platform
for Action, the document ending the Fourth World Conference on Women which
took place in 1995, they did not treat the obligations resulting from this document
in a binding way. However – as Barbara Unmüßig1
emphasizes, the Beijing
conference was a milestone for the development of the women’s movement,
1 Barbara Unmüßig, Nachdenken über Gender Mainstreaming. Bilanz einen radikalen geselleschaftspolitischen
Konzepts zehn Jahre nach der Weltfrauenkonferenz in Peking, HBS concept
paper, 2005.
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GENDER MAINSTREAMING
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because the Platform for Action, adopted by 189 countries, was a type of “historical
consensus”. Representatives of governments and the civil society unanimously
agreed that, firstly, women’s rights are human rights; secondly, that just relations
between the sexes are a basic condition for socially and ecologically sustainable
development and an inseparable element of democracy; thirdly, that all countries
should systematically implement policies aiming at achieving gender equality. As it
later turned out, the last item was the most difficult one to realize, especially in
places where conservative forces were in power. In countries which were going
through a period of political transformation (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia),
and which later joined the European Community, gender equality politics had
never been a priority. Gender politics lost with economic reforms, making up for
delays in the economic sphere, so that these countries would be able to “catch up
with Europe” as quickly as possible. It was women’s organisations, women’s rights
activists, who repeatedly called upon provisions of the Platform for Action, trying to
enforce on governments the realization of gender equality policies which would
improve the situation of women. They pointed out that the European Union is
consistently developing gender equality politics through introducing subsequent
legal regulations which are supposed to ensure equal opportunities for men and
women; that adjusting national legislation for acuis communitaire, but especially
later enforement of legislation and taking up real activities leading to improving
the situation of women, should be conditions for accessing the EU. Yet, it always
turned out that there were other priorities, more important than improving
women’s quality of life.
As Unmüßig points out the idea of gender mainstreaming “is a radical
concept that could change gender relations since it potentially obliges all actors
in a political field, an enterprise, an organisation.” Gender mainstreaming was
supposed to provide a philosophical framework and, at the same time, a tool for
effective change in the sphere of politics, economics, social relations and culture;
a tool providing men and women with true equal treatment and full participation
on equal terms in all spheres of life. Ten years after the Beijing conference
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we have reached a time of evaluation and critical analysis. Numerous analyses
and studies concerning the realization of the principle of gender mainstreaming
were published as part of preparations for the UN special session “Beijing
+ 10” (2005). On the one hand, achievements and successes were pointed
out, but, on the other, weaknesses and limitations, which – as it seems – are
inherent to this concept, were also sought. Gender mainstreaming was criticized
both by supporters of this concept, who were sure that if certain corrections
were made, the effectiveness of this instrument would increase, and by its opponents,
found mostly among feminist theorists. They pointed out that basically
the entire concept is based on a false and simplified understanding of gender
equality, which does not allow for a radical critique of existing power relations
and for thorough changes2
. When evaluating the realization of gender equality
politics it was pointed out that one of the main barriers is lack of political will,
which causes it to remain only in the sphere of declarations, which are not
followed up by any activities initiated in institutions. These weaknesses were
tied mostly to the institutional character of gender mainstreaming, which, from
the outset, was supposed to be a top-down policy. This caused researchers,
theorists and feminist activists to question the future of gender equality politics
and the justification of using gender mainstreaming as a tool for its realization. In
spite of the developed EU legislation, framework strategies for gender equality
adopted for periods of several years (including the newest one Road Map for
Gender Equality 2006-2010) and the reports about equality of men and women
in the European Union submitted annually by the European Commission, the
situation is practically not changing. Specific problems still remain unsolved: lack
of consciousness, lack of expertise and lack of money3
. Additionally, in some
2 Olena Hankivsky, Gender vs. Diversity Mainstreaming: A Preliminary Examination of the Role and
Transformative Potential of Feminist Theory, [in:] “Canadian Journal of Political Science”, 2005,
4 (38), p. 977-1001, 2005.
3 Teresa Rees, Gender Mainstreaming: Misappropriated and Misunderstood?, 2002.
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European countries, gender equality politics is used by right-wing political forces
and neoconservative governments to promote information strengthening traditional
relations between the sexes and the traditional division of gender roles.
Yet, in spite of these weaknesses, gender mainstreaming still remains
a key strategy of the UN, the European Union, other multilateral organisations
and many countries. This can be clearly seen on the example of the European
Union which, in the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997, adopted provisions promoting
gender equality politics, later confirmed in the Treaty establishing the European
Community. Gender mainstreaming has caused significant changes on the decision-making
level of politics: the belief that gender matters and that analyses of
activities establishing their effects for men and women are necessary has become
common. Gender mainstreaming is a tool enabling the institutionalization
of gender equality politics, therefore, it is important to perform its critical analysis
and reflect on reformulating the strategy in such a way which would make it
possible to achieve the goals this concept was supposed to serve.
Such critical analysis of gender mainstreaming has never before taken
place in new EU member states (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia) or in border
states (Ukraine). Usually gender mainstreaming is promoted as a tool for realizing
gender equality politics and a tool for putting pressure on governments
to undertake actions in this field, by emphasizing that it is an offficial EU policy.
Gender mainstreaming itself was never analysed critically during preparations for
the Beijing + 10 conference, only the politics of governments in this sphere
were evaluated. Studies and publications devoted to these issues which are
currently being prepared as part of projects realized using EQUAL Community
Initiative funds, the European Social Fund (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia) and
preaccession funds (Ukraine), promote gender mainstreaming without deeper
reflection. There are not enough publications describing how to use this tool in
practice. Two publications published by UNDP Poland: Gender Equality Politics in
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Practice and the reports created on the basis of this publication Gender Equality
Politics. Poland 20074
are a praiseworthy example.
Being aware of the contradictory reflection accompanying the evaluation of
gender mainstreaming , it is worthwhile to ask the question regarding the strategic
potential of this tool and the future of institutional gender equality politics. The study
mentioned at the beginning of this introduction, Barbara Unmüßig’s Reflections on
Gender Mainstreaming: Taking stock of a radical social-political concept ten years after
the Beijing World Conference on Women [Nachdenken über Gender Mainstreaming.
Bilanz einen radikalen geselleschaftspolitischen Konzepts zehn Jahre nach der
Weltfrauenkonferenz in Peking], which was presented at the international congress
“Femme Globale”, organised by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in September 2005
in Berlin, became a starting point for the publication which you are not holding and
which was prepared as part of the project “Reflections on gender mainstreaming”.
We invited experts from the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Germany to
cooperate with us. They have analysed the realization of gender equality politics in
their countries, trying to answer, among others, the question of to what extent the
application of gender mainstreaming has helped in implementing actual changes in
gender relations. The experts point out both achievements and failures, at the same
time formulating a number of recommendations which would make it possible to
take better advantage of the potential of gender equlity politics. The English language
version of the publiction contains texts by Barbara Unmüßig and Claudia Neusüß,
which provide an introduction to gender mainstreaming, and four case studies written
by experts from the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. It is accompaned by
publications in Czech, Polish and Slovak, which are slightly restricted in scope and
which contain, in addition to the two introductory texts, also the case study concerning
the given country.
4 See: Polityka równości płci w praktyce [Gender Equality Politics in Practice], UNDP, Warsaw
2006 oraz Polityka równości płci. Polska 2007. [Gender Equality Politics. Poland 2007.]
Report, UNDP, Warsaw 2007.
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GENDER MAINSTREAMING
HOW CAN WE SUCCESSFULLY USE ITS POLITICAL POTENTIAL?
Claudia Neusüß’s introductory text presents the historical development
of gender mainstreaming, rughtly pointing out that the nineties were the
“golden age”, when the women’s movement managed to achieve the most
within the European Union, which was significantly influenced by the fact that
the European Union was enlarged by “women friendly” countries – Sweden,
Finland and Austria. Considering the limitations of gender mainstreaming, Neusüß
points out that it is mostly the lack of a precise definition of this concept which
“makes it compatible with different ideas of equal opportunity”, which means
that practically every country can choose a convenient variant which best suits
the local tradition of understanding gender equality. The analysis of the situation
in Germany is particularly valuable, as it includes many analogies with the situations
in new member states. In both cases we are dealing with a regression in
the field of gender equality politics, or rather with an offensive of conservative
politics, which also uses gender mainstreaming, but as an instrument to promote
pro-family policies. “Gender equality politics has ceased to be a priority for the
government” – writes Neusüß – „women’s politics has been reduced to profamily
policies and gender equality initiatives have been restricted.” Financial and
human resources are being limited. We can find similar observations in Czech,
Polish and Slovak analyses, whose authors unanimously state that gender equality
politics was never a priority for their governments, but is now – due to the
influx of EU funds – being used by conservative governments to promote solutions
strengthening the traditional division of gender roles.
For this reason we need to ask questions about strategies for defending
gender equalilty politics from being abused by neoconservatve governments to
promote ideas which contradict its basic concepts. It is difficult to treat gender
mainstreaming as a miracle cure which would enable the achievement of gender
equality in practice, but surely this concept can still play an important role
as a complementary strategy. However, in order for that to happen the issue of
gender equality needs to be repoliticised and – as Neusüß points out – the current
“deadlock” in gender equality politics needs to be broken by forming new
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alliances and initiating new activities by female and – very importantly! – male
representatives of the world of science, politics, the civil society. At the same
time, we should become aware of the fact that gender equality politics and its
main tool – gender mainstreaming – should be a long-term process of transforming
national politics.
Agnieszka Rochon, director of the Heinrich Böll
Foundation Regional Office in Warsaw
Agnieszka Grzybek, coordinator of the Regional
Program “Gender Democracy/Women’s Politics”
Translated by Justyna Włodarczyk
1.
Gender Mainstreaming.
Possibilities and Limits
of a Radical Social
Concept
Barbara Unmüßig
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GENDER MAINSTREAMING
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Gender mainstreaming:
A radical idea
Gender mainstreaming is, at its core, a radical sociopolitical concept for achieving
gender equality and equal opportunity.
Why is it radical? Gender mainstreaming is a strategic approach that
initially obligates governments, as well as businesses and other institutions, to
systematically introduce a gender-oriented perspective for every political and
economic decision. This is a very radical idea. Something of this dimension has
never been seen before. Gender mainstreaming attempts to examine and analyse
all political, policy and economic decisions with regards to their effects in
relation to gender. In this way gender mainstreaming finally does away with the
myth that something like gender neutrality exists. There is no gender neutrality.
Every political decision, as well as all economic and business decisions and measures
have effects on the genders and the relationship between them. There is
no sector – whether tax or other fiscal policies, foreign affairs or security policy,
labour market or healthcare policy – that can be excluded from this type of
gender analysis.
What are the origins of gender
mainstreaming?
To start, the concept of gender mainstreaming originated in a women’s and
development policy context, notably in the World Conferences on Women in
the 1980s and 1990s. In these contexts women discussed the fact that achieving
gender equality and developing equal opportunities between the genders cannot
solely be accomplished through policies for women and/or families, but that
elements of these concepts must be integrated into all fields of politics – thus
the term mainstreaming. Mainstreaming means integration into the prevailing
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structures, thus it is nothing less than introducing such gender policies as a point
of intersection across all political arenas.
The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 marked
a milestone – it was a huge success for international women’s policies and the
trigger for countless national initiatives for more gender equality and equal opportunity.
Not only is the principle of gender mainstreaming anchored in the
Beijing Platform for Action, but it is also this document which included the category
of gender for the first time. The Platform for Action from Beijing is thus
the first international document that strove to define this concept. It went on to
be ratified by 187 national governments.
What does the category of ‘gender’ mean? What is ‘gender’ in the first
place? Gender roles and the relationship between the genders are embedded
in the relative social, political, cultural and economic contexts of respective societies.
This makes it clear that our gender roles depend on society, they are
socially and culturally constructed. At the same time it also makes us conscious
of the fact that gender roles and the relationship between the genders are in
a constant state of flux. Societal change is created; it is politically and economically
‘made’. This clearly shows, especially to women and feminist activists, that
they can influence the relationships between the genders. We must not accept
the status quo of gender roles. Instead, we can actively influence and change
them. These ideas experienced a breakthrough on an international level with
the Beijing Platform for Action.
Another important victory in Beijing was the codification of the fact that
the surmounting of inequalities and undemocratic relationships between the
genders is something that is not exclusively the concern of women, but also
a concern for men and a task for society as a whole. Those who wish to
change the relationships between the genders must get men on board. In fact,
they need the whole society on board. What became clear is that policies for
gender equality – and this is the core statement – cannot be limited only to
women and women’s organisations, but must also be an objective for men.
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What has happened with the idea
of gender mainstreaming over
the past twelve years?
First, for the record, gender equality policies achieved a breakthrough around
the world in the 1990s. The institutionalisation of women’s and gender policies
was always one of the central political demands of international women’s
movements and networks. The Beijing Platform for Action and the principle of
gender mainstreaming were very supportive of this institutional approach, as it
called for governments to allocate the institutional, financial and personnel resources
necessary for the implementation of gender mainstreaming. In this way
the Beijing Platform for Action was able to provide a further impetus for political
initiatives that have improved the legal framework for women’s equality in many
countries around the world.
However, despite these indisputable advances – both nationally and globally
– there are hierarchies, power differentials and conditions of dominance
between the genders that have not yet been dismantled.
Discrimination, disadvantages and violence are still defining factors for
the living situations of millions of women in all regions around the globe. There
are hardly any international documents, nor international (women’s) conferences
that do not confirm that the structural inequality between the genders has
more likely been increased, rather than decreased in many societies. Women
are still frequently excluded from political decision-making processes. Their legal
situation is precarious. The economic differences experienced by women have
hardly abated despite the increase in their gainful employment – on average
they are much more likely than men to be in precarious working conditions or
hold part-time jobs, as well as work in underpaid trades. among other reasons.
However, men are also affected more than ever by unemployment, violence
and marginalisation.
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Nevertheless, it can clearly be said that the 1990s were very good years in
getting legal regulations around the world off the ground. The Beijing Platform for
Action and UN conventions like CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women) are important political frameworks that
supply the foundations for appeals and claims for gender-equitable policies.
In the context of the European Union, for example, some speak of
a ‘golden age’ of gender equality policies because so many initiatives for equality
have been passed. One example of what has happened in the EU is that
the principle of gender mainstreaming was anchored as a responsibility for all
member states in the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997. The treaty codified that all
member states and all European bodies are required to consider gender perspectives
and analyses at all levels of decision making, to develop and establish
gender-focused processes in all phases of decision making. Within the EU they
developed a five-year road map identifying core political fields where gender
mainstreaming was to be implemented on a priority basis. For example, in the
current action plan, the road map for the period 2006-2010, these core fields
include the equality of men and women in industry and in the labour market.
The latter is especially concerned with nations providing appropriate services
that make possible the compatibility of family and career, as well as the compatibility
of caretaking and career.
This EU road map also includes suggestions beyond this, recommending
that each country adopt initiatives and create the conditions necessary to assist
in overcoming traditional gender stereotypes. It includes requests that countries
like Germany and Poland, Austria and Italy do more – institute gender training,
put together handbooks and provide numerous other forms of support. All in
all, these are good approaches, and in actuality the concepts and principles of
gender mainstreaming have been able to accomplish many positive things in
numerous institutions, administrations and in furthering learning processes.
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Institutional learning
Gender mainstreaming can achieve many positive effects where the political will
to make it a reality exists. It makes a huge difference whether or not bureaucracies
are required to think about the gender dimensions of their political decisions using
the principles of gender mainstreaming. This in and of itself is very positive, as it
can change awareness in institutions. Gender mainstreaming challenges people to
increase their knowledge about gender. Usually there is only little, if any, information
about how political decisions affect gender relations. The majority of statistics
collected around the world are gender neutral, which is why collecting genderdifferentiated
data is necessary. Using the principle of gender mainstreaming there
has been much success in creating this sort of knowledge and collecting the appropriate
data. This has brought about the realisation, for example, that women
and men are affected very differently by healthcare policies, by therapies, etc.
Now,newinstrumentsandmethods,likegenderanalysisorgenderbudgeting,contribute
to new (socio)political insights and perceptions of the gender-related consequences
of policies, creating innovative standards of knowledge for policies and administration.
When the political will exists to provide financial and personnel resources,
then gender mainstreaming can set processes of change in motion, start
processes of awareness-raising and make institutional learning possible. These
can all lead to new actions, as well as new administrative behaviours. There are
many positive examples for the numerous positive effects that gender mainstreaming
can have, especially in Europe.
Limits of gender mainstreaming
1. The lack of political will
Moving on, there are several critical points to be made. On the one hand,
there was a gender-political awakening in the 1990s that can be summarized
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as follows – there has never really been so much gender. Everyone was being
forced to move, to act on the concepts of gender mainstreaming. Because the
EU took up this principle it became a very, very important frame of reference in
order to move forward national gender non-discrimination policies, especially
for EU newcomers like Poland.
But in this millennium we have experienced a gender-equality political
standstill. This includes Germany, which I will get back to later. What are the
reasons for this standstill? Firstly, there are several general political causes. The
European Union has grown from 15 to 27 member states, which has led to
shifts in majorities. Additionally, within the EU there have been changes in
national governments – as is the case in my country – where conservative
parties have come into power. These conservative EU-member-state governments
try to water down progressive objectives and/or implement EU
gender-equality policies either hesitantly or halfheartedly. In many regards,
these governments strengthen a rather conservative view of gender roles in
public discourse. In some countries, like Poland, homophobic and xenophobic
attitudes have increasingly come to the fore, which also makes it difficult to
publicly discuss sexual orientation, ethnicity and culture as discriminatory elements.
Overall there is a more hostile environment for the debate about antidiscrimination
and a more hostile environment for discussing gender-equality
policies overall.
A second cause for the political standstill for gender equality can be found
in the fact that gender-equality political approaches are much too heavily and
almost solely directed at the compatibility of family and career. This makes them
subordinate to family policies, or even completely replaced by such.
In Germany, on the other hand, we have witnessed quite a phenomenon.
Of all people it’s the Federal Minister of Family Affairs and Women, Ursula
von der Leyen – a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union
(CDU) – who has managed a breakthrough of mobilising more funds and infrastructure
for childcare nationally. This shows that there are also conservative
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politicians who can initiate a push for modernisation, at least in family affairs policies.
But in Germany there are hardly any other additional attempts at promoting
political gender equality from the current government beyond family affairs
policies and debates about reconciling the needs of families and careers. In fact,
at the moment our government is dismantling nearly every programme that
was established to promote gender mainstreaming. A steering committee of
ministers that was supposed to organize gender mainstreaming activities across
all ministries no longer exists – it has been abolished. Policies for the promotion
of women are hardly visible to the public, or concentrate for the most part on
women’s career advancement. Overall, whether at a national level, in the EU
or UN, programmes related to budgeting for women’s advancement are being
slashed or cut in their entirety.
In fact, there is a lack of political will to truly seize the radical core of gender
mainstreaming and to examine political decisions in regards to their genderpolitical
consequences. In the everyday business of politics, gender mainstreaming
is hardly ever practiced, both within governments and within institutions
and both nationally and internationally. This instrument was never really utilised
beyond a few pilot and showcase projects. Gender mainstreaming needs to
be reintroduced into the political discussion at a national level, especially in the
majority of EU member states.
2. Limits of the concept?
Along with these underlying political conditions and the lack of political will, there are
also other factors that may have hampered, and continue to hamper, the success of
gender mainstreaming, specifically the methods used for its realisation. For some time
now there have been discussions about whether or not gender mainstreaming is
a good, positive instrument at all in helping us reach gender equality and break down
gender hierarchies. From my point of view this basically radical concept was much too
narrowly defined and politically interpreted, especially by institutions and also partly by
women’s organisations. We were not successful in bringing gender policies forward in
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important, so-called hard fields of politics, like economic and labor force policies, pension
plans and social policies, and creating public discussions about the topic.
Looking at the EU, it would have been interesting, for example, if the
Structural Funds and the regional EU programs, which set the course for economic
and social policies and invest large sums into poorer regions within the
EU, were analysed using the principles of gender mainstreaming to see how
they have been influenced by gender policies. There are studies showing that
gender mainstreaming played absolutely no role whatsoever in these relevant
economic decisions and processes.
In the end, we focused very strongly on institutions and left out the
spheres of economics and economic decisions that play a direct, important role
in the relationship between the genders, simply disregarded them. For example,
Germany – putting aside gender mainstreaming – recently passed labour market
reforms that have increased the interdependence of the genders on one another
in the case of welfare payments. This is a setback for demands such as men
and women being able to remain autonomous in securing their basic needs.
Gender mainstreaming has not successfully intervened in large policy areas,
in important decision-making processes. In my country, in Germany, there
are really just pilot projects. Pilot projects were started here and there, they
allowed a bit of ‘toying’ with the idea, but it never got beyond this phase. The
previous Social Democratic-Green Party coalition government commissioned
a feasibility study on the topic of gender budgeting. The examination of budgets
according to gender criteria would have been a true breakthrough for influencing
decisions from the perspective of gender. Initially the government did not
even want to publish the results of this study. It was predominantly women who
applied public pressure to urge the publishing of the results. Now the federal
government has placed the study on the Internet. However, the government
refuses to engage in any political discussion about how gender budgeting could
be accomplished in German municipal and federal budgets.. The political risk is
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apparently too great, as it would revolutionise decision making processes, and
not just from a gender-political point of view.
A second point of critique is that we were too one-sided in our focus on
institutions. To start, it is correct that decision makers in ministries, in institutions
like the World Bank or in city halls and in corporations must have the will to implement
gender equality policies and create more gender equality. Similarly, the
top-down approach is a central prerequisite for the successful implementation
of gender mainstreaming.
However, institutions and companies are not neutral in their actions.
They do not act in a sphere free from domination and self-interest. Institutions
are directed to follow their own interests, just like governments and all other
establishments. Commercial enterprises have long since discovered women as
an economic factor and support gender mainstreaming and/or diversity processes
in this way. They consider women solely as an economic factor and are
less interested in gender hierarchies and gender roles.
Often times we acted as if we could tell these institutions what to do, but
forgot that these institutions reflect the constructions of power and domination of the
society at large and thus also reflect the common perceptions of gender roles. Who
defines what a traditional gender role is? Who gets to define what is considered ‘fair
for women’ and ‘fair for men’? Who articulates needs and goals and, more importantly,
with which negotiating power? Who has the power to define this within institutions?
Institutions and bureaucracies are certainly not areas that are sensitive
to gender considerations per se. Additionally, decision making structures and
practices are hierarchical in structure and business cultures are often still characterised
by ‘old boys networks’. They are dominated by rules and systems
that are based more on confidentiality than geared toward transparency and
a culture of open debate. Thus it is hardly surprising that gender mainstreaming
pilot projects in ministry bureaucracies and other institutions were more likely
to result in handbooks, criteria and checklists and that these processes were,
especially in the beginning, often technocratic in nature.
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Without wanting to throw out the baby with the bathwater, it is clear that
institutions can promote learning processes. It is true that we need well functioning
institutions that implement political ideas, including emancipatory ones.
But from my point of view – and this is one of my basic theses – we also need
a society-wide movement from the grassroots level, we need political pressure
from the society at large, so that these institutions transform themselves.
Political decisions will only change in character when the need for change comes
expressly from society itself. Only then will institutions have to implement the
political and policy specifications. I think many of those who believed and believe
that institutions would/will be able to straighten it all out somehow have lost
sight of this correlation. To influence institutions and bureaucracies through lobbying
is one thing. Organising societal pressure through the media and general
public, through noisy protests, is another.
Gender equality policies that focus solely on institutions through the instrument
of gender mainstreaming have hit a massive political wall. This is especially
true where there are no women’s or gender-political organisations that
have negotiating power to influence parliaments and public opinion from the
outside and thus also indirectly influence institutions. In many countries this has
been successful. Whether in South Africa, Kenya, in Mexico or Brazil, women’s
political organisations have been able to take advantage of political upheavals in
their countries during particular transition phases and successfully introduce the
principles of gender mainstreaming as found in the Beijing Platform for Action.
Ultimately, how gender political topics are organised within a society is decisive
in all countries.
Finally, and many know this is a different problem, a number of institutions
have misused the concept of gender mainstreaming to block the financing
of other women’s political initiatives. Gender mainstreaming was used as the
excuse, so to speak, to stop funding other women’s projects, using the explanation:
‘we’re now taking care of gender issues via gender mainstreaming’. This
has been and still remains a disastrous exploitation on the part of political and
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other institutions. From the beginning, gender mainstreaming clearly stated that
we need both – we must strengthen and foster women’s political and economic
participation in society, while at the same time getting the men on board for
gender-political issues. The fact that women’s projects have fallen to the wayside
has led to a decline in solidarity with these concepts, instead of strengthening
them. There is a great deal of disassociation and critique of gender mainstreaming
worldwide. The idea in its practical political application has suffered a loss of
its radical core for a variety of reasons.
In conclusion
To me, gender mainstreaming clearly remains a radical social concept. If it was
taken seriously and truly succeed in bringing gender perspectives into all political
decisions, it would be a breakthrough for more gender equality, for more
equity and – from my perspective – would bring about totally different policies
and politics overall. We want changes with gender perspectives in taxation, in
foreign and security policies, in labor policies, etc. The problem is that we were
too focused on technical and bureaucratic solutions within institutions. We all
have work to do to again make gender policies a topic for society as a whole
and one that is not only discussed in specialised circles. Gender equality must be
propagated throughout society and we have to organise more political pressure
from the bottom up. Policies for gender equality, including gender mainstreaming,
are just one of many instruments within the EU that remain an extremely
important frame of reference for national policies as well. I feel that women and
men who want equality in many EU countries should feel fortunate that there
are EU directives forcing national governments to act. I believe that we have no
reason to lower our sights. We need this framework. But in addition to this legal
framework we also need bottom-up policies, a strengthening of initiatives that
target equality and we, furthermore, need more men on board. We need role
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models, male role models, who are willing to advocate for gender equality in
society, in administration, in industry and in unions. It cannot remain the domain
of women alone to do the work needed to fundamentally change the relationship
between the genders.
Translated by Anthony B. Herric
2.
The Strategy of Gender
Mainstreaming in the EU
and Germany – Two Steps
Forward and One Back?
Claudia Neusüß
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Origin and development of gender
equality politics
Gender mainstreaming is a policy concept which originates from the context of
development policy and which has been internationally advanced and popularized
at the UN level. GM was discussed for the first time at the Third UN World
Conference on Women in 1985 in Nairobi and adopted as a new strategy for
achieving equal opportunities at the Fourth World Conference on Women in
1995 in Beijing (see also Wichterich 2000, von Braunmühl 2000). The Platform
for Action (PFA)1
agreed upon there comprises measures to reduce discrimination
of women and build gender equality. Twelve areas of action (among others:
women and poverty, women and health, women and the economy) were
agreed on.
While the term “gender equality politics” is not directly found in the
Platform for Action, almost all thematic areas contain a passage, which de facto
defines gender mainstreaming: “Governments and other actors should promote
an active and visible policy of the consequent inclusion of a gender perspective in
all policies and programs, so that effects of decisions for women and men can be
analyzed before decisions are made” (BMFSFJ 1996, P. 37).
The inclusion of such a cross-cutting perspective of gender equality politics
into the Platform for Action represented a great success of the international
women’s movement. At the same time, the critical perspective on power relationships
between the genders and the vision of a different, better world expressed
by many feminists reached much further than >mere< integration into
the mainstream. The often cited call of feminist Bella Abzug, “I don´t want to
be mainstreamed in a polluted stream!” clearly illustrates this. Feminist criticism
1 http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/
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of various forms is always itself a driving force for fundamental change of society:
“The power relationship between men and women was not only to be challenged,
it was to be abolished” (Bereswill: 2004:52) – a new, better world was
to be created!2
Still, the implementation of even the “moderate version” of gender
mainstreaming turned out to be a challenge. Regina Frey points out that the
Platform for Action makes far-reaching demands, also in terms of gender policy,
on the ratifying governments. According to Frey and “ it functions until today as
a measuring instrument for critical evaluation of the implementation of gender
equality policy by governments” (Frey: 2004:32).
Is gender mainstreaming only
a toothless tiger?!
Within the Follow-Up Processes of the Fourth World Conference on Women
(Beijing + 5), women’s non-governmental organisations submitted so-called
shadow reports, which commented critically on the official reports of the governments.
Such organisations in Germany demanded in this context a double
strategy of empowerment of women and gender mainstreaming (see also
Heinrich Böll Stiftung 1999, P. 91).
Five years later, in preparation for the “Beijing + 10” UN Special Session,
women’s organisations again took stock of the situation. It turned out that all over
the world the agreed upon measures to reduce discrimination of women and build
gender equality were often not implemented. Furthermore, there was even risk
of regression in what had already been achieved, especially in the area of sexual
2 I am grateful to Jette Knoblich for helpful suggestions!
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and reproductive rights. In addition, the international political climate was shaped
by a conservative mobilisation against women’s rights (so-called backlash). From
the end of February until March 11, 2005, the UN Commission on the Status of
Women (CSW) convened in New York and dealt with the many cases of the lack of
national implementation of the Beijing Platform in the 191 signatory states.
Historical development gender
equality policy in the EU
International developments of the 1980s, and especially the 1990s, in the area
of gender mainstreaming also influenced the development of EU equal opportunity
policy, which is still restricted to certain areas and which had been, for
a long time, restricted only to employment policy. After the founding of the
European Economic Community, equal opportunity policy activities were at first
aimed at the creation of a common economic area. The principle of‚ equal pay
for equal work was, for forty years, the only reference point in the European
Community convention for equal opportunity policy and was mainly restricted
to the area of occupation (Erbe:2002:11).
The second phase of European equal opportunity policy until 1991 is
described as “piecemeal equal opportunity policy” (Erbe 2002:12). In 1974 the
Minister of Employment and Social Affairs passed the social political programme
of the community. Aspects of employment, improvement of living and working
conditions, as well as the participation of social partners in social and economic
policy decisions of the European community were at the center of the discussion.
In this context, directives that defined and further developed the principle of equal
pay were adopted.Some of the greatest successes were reached via the various
possibilities of filing suit at the European Court of Justice (see also Berghahn 2002).
Later, in 1982, the first action programme for equal opportunity was initiated, the
second followed in 1986. Both were to improve the professional opportunities of
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women, thereby preventing unemployment among women. Another initiative of
the community, NOW – New Opportunities for Women, also pursued this goal
from 1991 onwards (ibidem:12 f).
Incentives for a progressive
women’s and gender equality
policy
In the beginning of the 1990s – parallel to the increased global network of
women’s organisations – a new phase began, which was shaped by coordinated
activities in the area of women’s policy. New women’s organisations
were formed all over Europe, lobbying at the European Parliament and the
Commission. In 1990, the European Women’s Lobby was founded and the
Network of Decision Making was formed in 1992 (ibidem:13).
At that time, in addition to the Maastricht Treaty, eleven states (with
the exception of the United Kingdom) signed the Protocol of Social Policy..
It committed the community to working for equal opportunities in the labor
market, and allowed states to use “positive discrimination” measures to level
disadvantages, which, however, did not have a noteworthy impact (ibidem:14)
(see also Holz/Neusüß 2006)
A further “push” for the progressive development of European gender
equality policies came with the accession of the “women friendly” states –
Sweden, Finland and Austria. From 1995 on, the possibilities to shape and act for
an equal opportunity policy improved notably (Lemke 1999: after Erbe 2002:14,
Roth: 2007). Further guidelines were passed from 1992 to 1999. The subsidies
and funds of the EU are one area in which the principle of equal opportunity for
women and men was passed. In 1996 the Commission published for the first time
the results of an evaluation of the measures and drew conclusions from them. The
fourth action programme was then not limited to the area of employment, but
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was also supposed to change societal attitudes and structures. “Gender mainstreaming”
was introduced as a central element of the programme.
The programme DAPHNE (1995), which provided information about
violence against women and children, and Action Plan STOP (1996), a programme
against human trafficking in women and children, can be pointed to as
signs of women’s issues moving from an economic to a political context (see also
Klement/Junemann 2005: 9). However, the measures did not consider the structural
context of the discrimination of women. Furthermore, in 1996 the Council
issued a recommendation to the member states about “balanced involvement of
women and men in the decision-making process”, with which the topic of political
participation of women moved on the agenda. However, the EU institutions have
no binding decisions or quota regulations so far (Erbe 2002: 14f).
The EU has been very successful in the area of legal norms, in the form
of European guidelines (directives) for the realization of equal opportunities for
men and women via judgments of the European Court of Justice. Even though
there were setbacks, “ reforms have established to a large extent equal opportunity
in the legal orders.” (Berghahn: 2001, ed. Holz/Neusüß 2006)
Amsterdam Treaty
– (The strategy of) gender
mainstreaming enters EU-policy
In the past European equal opportunity policy had concentrated mainly on the
area of paid labor and the action and framework programmes. Gender mainstreaming
was the next step which was supposed to help secure equal opportunities
for women and men on all political levels and in all policy areas (see also
Frey 2004, Holz/Neusüß 2006).
The strategy of gender mainstreaming was codified in the Amsterdam
Treaty of 1997 and passed into law in 1999, which can be seen as a turning
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point in gender equality policy, because it expanded the approach of gender
equality to all areas. Gender mainstreaming is a binding task for member states
of the European Union as well as for EU institutions. It is part of the common
rights and ownership, the acquis communitaire, regulating rights and obligations
of all member states and comprising all valid treaties and legal acts.
In article 2 of the EC-Treaty, equal opportunity of men and women became
the community objective:
“It is the task of the community, with the building of a common market
and an economic and currency union as well as with the implementation
of the common policies and measures in the community, as in article
3 and 4, (…) to promote the equal opportunity of men and women (emphasis
by author).”
Article 3 now included the principle of gender mainstreaming, which
aims to abolish any gender discrimination in all areas of the community and
directs all activities of the EU towards the promotion of gender equality:
“The community acts in all activities mentioned in this article towards the
abolishment of inequalities and the promotion of equal opportunity of
men and women.”
What has so far been discussed as gender mainstreaming, is here legally
bound. It is thereby binding for European institutions to always include and actively
promote gender equality. The precise understanding and the objectives of gender
mainstreaming vary in different contexts (for example, they can berather abstract:
equal opportunity, gender justice, gender democracy; or concrete: the change
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of organisations)3
. The EU Commission also speaks of “equal opportunity” in the
context of gender mainstreaming (Frey 2003), while the Council of Europe defines
gender mainstreaming as follows:
“Gender mainstreaming consists of the (re)organization, improvement,
development and evaluation of political processes with the goal to consider
a gender perspective in all political concepts on all levels and in all
phases via the inclusion of all actors that participate in political decisions.”
(after Behning 2004:123)
Article 13 obliges the member states to pass anti-discrimination laws accordingly.
Article 141 is the only one with direct effect. Paragraph 4 explicitly enables
positive measures “for the ease of occupation of the underrepresented gender”.
In addition, the Stability-Growth Pact (1996) led to higher unemployment
of women as well as the increase of precarious employment for women,
so that the member states must take measures to reduce the unemployment
gap between the sexes. In this context, also the compatibility of family
and professional life is promoted. The principle of gender mainstreaming
also entered the area of structural funds (1996), where a new community
programme, EQUAL, was introduced (Erbe 2002: 16-18). Gender mainstreaming
became more concrete also in the area of development policy
(2000) (see also Rodenberg 2003).
3 In addition to the complex discussion on the concept of “gender” within feminist theory (see
for ex. Frey 2003).
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The start of the EU guidelines
and road map
For the time period of 2001 to 2005, a new frame was created in the 5th
action programme, which considers all EU policy areas in order to promote
gender equality. It includes structural changes in economic life, participation
and representation, access to social and civil rights, as well as proposals
and measures for the change of gender roles and stereotypes. At the Nice
Summit 2000 the European Council underlined the necessity to pass a directive
for the promotion of equal treatment of women beyond the area
of occupation before 2003. In 2004 such a directive (RL 2004/113/EC)
was accepted. It also demands equal access to the provision of services
(Young 2005:2008). Further, the European Council proclaimed the Charter
of Fundamental Rights of the EU, which contains equal opportunity policy
articles. However, this charter is not yet legally binding. The 6th Framework
Strategy for Equal Opportunity was adjusted until 2006 (see also Holz/
Neusüß 2006).
The Road Map for Gender Equality, agreed upon for the time frame
of 2006-2010 as a 5-year programme, formulates five core areas for the implementation
of gender mainstreaming. These include: gender equality in the
economic sphere, civil participation, social rights, the promotion of civil rights
and awareness-raising regarding gender roles and stereotypes. The question of
balancing family life and professional life plays an increasingly prominent role.
Along with the EU expansion process from 15 to 25 member states
(2004)4
and the addition of two new countries, Bulgaria and Romania ,in 2007,
the balance of power in the European Parliament also changed. A conservative
4 Women’s and gender equality policy aspects entered the political agenda only late in the negotiations
with the new states (Roth 2003).
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image of women, a potentially homophobic attitude and a conventional view of
gender, where women are portrayed as mothers and caregivers, gained weight.
A policy which fits this view is one which is formulated as a family policy and
defined along conventional, gender-specific division of labour.
In recent years a new change can be noticed as part of European antidiscrimination
laws. While in the 1990s policy changed from a women’s to a gender
equality policy, it is now moving towards an anti-discrimination policy, which
considers further structural aspects (aside from gender, class, ethnicity/culture, age,
disability, sexual orientation, religion). Thereby, the question of how these complex
inequalities can be politically shaped belongs on the political agenda.
There have not been any new gender equality plans on the agenda recently.
Instead of new laws, the current concern is the deepening and evaluation
of the achievements so far. Some women’s policy actors, for example Green
EU representative Elisabeth Schrödter, call the current situation “gender equality
policy stalemate” (2008)5
.
The “Golden Age” and women’s
organisations
Experienced feminists and experts in the field of European relations speak of
the 1990s as the “golden age” of equal opportunity policy in the European
Union (Helfferich:2003). The number of women increased notably within
the Commission and the European Parliament. Especially the Commission
began to increasingly consider the aspect of “gender gaps”. Never before (and
5 At a conference on „Frauenfragen sind Männerfragen sind Geschlechterfragen. 40 Jahre Neue
Frauenbewegungen. – Und jetzt?“ Conference from June 12 – 14, 2008 at the Ruhr-Universität
Bochum.
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also never afterwards!) were European standards in equal gender opportunity
shaped normatively with such intensity!
Especially in the 1990s, European women’s organisations played an important
role in the integration of gender mainstreaming into European treaties
(Schmidt 2000, Roth 2007), and here namely the European Women’s Lobby.
Helfferich, who was at that time chairperson of the European Women’s Lobby
(EWL), underlines the important negotiating position of the women’s lobby in
the context of treaty negotiations and successful alliance politics mainly with
the European Trade Union Confederation (Helfferich 1998).
During the eastward expansion of the EU regional networks which
saw their identity and roots in middle and Eastern Europe, including the neighboring
states, intevened increasingly often. The work of the KARAT coalition
or also of ASTRA, an organisation concerned with sexual and reproductive
rights of women, should be mentioned. These women’s networks place pressure
on their national governments with the help of progressive EU standards
and as part of the expansion process.
Silke Roth points to specific feminist strategies and mobilisation that
show the impact of the “boomerang” effect on policies of equal opportunity
(Keck and Sikking 1998:12 after Roth: 2007). These patterns appear when
channels between states and their national, civil society actors are blocked.
In such situations international support can be used, for example that of the
EU or UN, in order to increase pressure on states. As part of the expansion
process, in which aspects of women and gender policy were only placed on
the agenda from the side of the EU (Roth 2004, Choluj/Neusüß:2004 ), there
exists the so-called “ping-pong effect”, when “policy action often cycles back
and forth between the EU and the national levels” (Zippel: 2004:59, after
Roth:2007).
Today we can observe noticeable pluralisation, differentiation, specialisation
and professionalisation of women’s policy actors and women’s
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organisations. The autonomous women’s movements increasingly network
with each other in Europe in their fields, e.g.on violence (WAVE), health,
gender, migration, gender budgeting and thereby attempt to increase their
assertiveness.
The concept of gender equality
When gender equality is mentioned in the European context, one can assume
that the concept carries different connotations in different languages (Verloo:2007).
Different women’s and men’s policy actors have different ideas of the world, its
gender order and their strategies for overcoming gender hierarchies. Verloo
emphasizes the necessity to keep an eye on the respective “framing” and its
effects on equal opportunity goals.
“The meaning of gender equality is shaped through a variety of discursive
processes. In these, the concept of gender equality is fit into existing policy
frames, being broadened, narrowed down, watered down, or even
submitted to other goals than that of gender equality. As particularl(y)
discussions of the issues of domestic violence and family policies show,
the issue of gender equality can undergo processes of ‘de-gendering’
where a gender equality focus that was previously present in
the framing of an issue gets lost during the policy process by
shifting the emphasis on other actors (e.g. children or families,
rather than the relation between men and women) or other goals (e.g.
shifting the meaning of family policies from the goal of sharing to that of
reconciling work and family life, where the goal becomes an efficient
and competitive labour market rather than challenging traditional gender
roles” (see for more Verloo P. 281:2007).
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Reservations against and hopes
for gender mainstreaming
Since the legal binding of gender mainstreaming in the Amsterdam Treaty,
women and gender researchers, feminists and women’s policy activists
have been trying to answer the question of whether and under which
conditions, the policy approach of gender mainstreaming can successfully
promote equal opportunity policy – or if it (at times) could also lead to
the opposite effect. Among the stated concerns is the fear that competition
for scarce means, and the privileging of the “new approach”, could
even lead to a reduction of (already insufficient) structures of financial support
for women’s policy (see also Holzer/Karadenizli/Specht/Windchurch
2002; Woodward 2003). The European Commission also reacted to this
concern, emphasizing the significance of a double strategy of the approach
of gender mainstreaming, in combination with women’s empowerment
(Commission's Report 1998).
Since the legal binding of gender equality policy in 1999, skeptics also
fear that the fact of it being merely “soft law” and not an EU directive will lead
only to problems with implementation. Breaches could not be punished with
noticeable sanctions (see Schmidt 2000; Maier 2003). In addition, gender mainstreaming
is hardly ever applied outside of the current focus on equal opportunity
in the field of employment (Helfferich 2003). For the important area of
European structural funds, criticism concentrates on gender mainstreaming not
having been integrated into programme planning and on fundamental systematisations
still missing. Lack of conceptual clarity about the place of implementation
and about the details of the relationship to women’s policy is said to exist
(Meseke 2003).
An analysis covering all of Europe examined the aspect of gender policy
in European regional programmes (EFRE), analysing which investments for
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regional development in regions with lacking infrastructure are (co-)financed
(Frankenfeld/Mechel 2004). Authors arrive at pessimistic results. Even though
a systematic policy for equal opportunity of men and women is among the main
principles of European regional policy, it is difficult to recognise any attempts
at the integration of equal opportunity aspects ( (ibidem:1). They suspect that
aside from known factors, like “idleness of institutions” or “male dominance”
(ibidem:3), there are problems that are part of the strategy. These problems are
connected to the overburdening of the participating actors and they are difficult
to harmonise with the core objectives of the regional funds – to give regions
lacking infrastructure an opportunity to change. The authors see positive starting
points, for example, in situations where it is possible to evaluate investments
positively when these affect the number of jobs for women: for example, by
giving female founders of new businesses favorable conditions (ibidem:6, see
also Holz/Neusüß:2006).
Other critical feminist voices fear that harmonising real conflicts of interest
rather blurs the image of existing inequalities between the sexes and limits
the formerly active and visionary approaches of feminist policy to bureaucratic
action that is subordinate to economic goals (Bereswill 2004).
More optimistic views see an advantage in the rather imprecise understanding
of gender mainstreaming, since it leaves room for the pursuit of national
paths and policies. It is mainly the indefiniteness of the concept that makes it
compatible with different ideas of equal opportunity. Every member state could
thereby pick the version that is convenient and that it sees fitting for its own
equal opportunity tradition and culture. Since the precise details remain subject
to the member states, the supranational level merely has a role of coordination,
idea giver and example (a.o. Behning 2004). In addition, those who subscribe to
this view hope for a paradigm change that would act deeply and fundamentally
in all structures, consider both sexes – men and women – and thereby help
overcome the seemingly deficient areas in analysing the position of women
(see Choluj/Neusüß 2004).
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Success can also be seen where the concept or aspect of gender mainstreaming
has been explicitly named and described and where it results in wellprepared
and published data, even if until now this has not happened sufficiently
often.. One example is found in the synthesis reports of member states, which
demand that the “gender gap”, for example in the area of wage development,
must be named (Helfferich 2003) or in European economic policy. Although
in the latter it plays mainly a role when women are concerned as a resource
to be mobilised (Maier 2003). Altogether, notably the gender mainstreaming
approach with focus on distribution aspects of budget policy and financial uses
is seen as an especially interesting and possibly powerful tool in gender equality
policy’s “tool kit” to act against distribution inequalities of public resources
(Helfferich 2003, Villagomez 2004, Erbe 2004).
Gender mainstreaming in
Germany – Obstacles, successes
and current developments
Since the EU guideline on the implementation of gender mainstreaming in 1998
has taken effect, many diverse activities and measures, mainly of public administration
and organisations in the countries of the European Union, have developed.
Germany, being (regrettably) only in the middle field of equal opportunity
in comparison with the rest of Europe, has gained experience with the strategy
as a goal of its policy since the end of the 1990s on a communal level and with
the agreement of the Cabinet of 1999 since the beginning of 2000 also on
a national level.
The governmental programme “Modern State – Modern Administration”
(Moderner Staat – Moderne Verwaltung) started in December of 1999 and ended
in 2002. This programme aimed to help the federal administrative body in its
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comprehensive reform under the concept of the activating state. The three
pillars of the program were: modern administrative management, bureaucracy
reduction and e-government. Gender mainstreaming was adopted as a priority
of the governmental program.
So far, a number of pilot projects (conclusion of pilot phase at the
end of 2003) have been tested. Among other things, the estimation of legal
ramifications under the gender perspective, such as the development of
tools or the aspect of gender-just public offers of reward, belong to this.
In 2000, the inter-ministerial working group “Gender Mainstreaming” (IMA
GM) of the federal government was constituted, directed by the State
Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women
and Youth. The coordination of IMA GM lies with the department Gender
Mainstreaming / Gleichstellungsgesetze of the Federal Ministry of Family
Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. The IMA GM works with the
tool of working agreements to formulate its goals and plans in cooperation
and with a high degree of commitment. The working group is to implement
gender mainstreaming into the current work of all departments and
thus presents the first step of a process of implementation. Also in 2000,
the common rules of procedure / Gemeinsame Geschäftsordnung (GGO) of
the federal ministries were renewed. The new § 2 GGO states as follows:
“The equal treatment of women and men is a continuous leading principle
and is to be promoted in all its areas in all political, norm-giving and administrative
measures of the federal government (gender mainstreaming)”.
(see also Gender Kompetenz Zentrum) As a result, the federal law of equal
treatment (Bundesgleichstellungsgesetz), which incorporated the concept of
gender mainstreaming, was passed (2001), a center of gender competence
(Gender Kompetenz Zentrum) was founded at the Humboldt-University in
Berlin (2003), a comprehensive web site was built and, in 2005, an annotated
report on the equal treatment of women and men in Germany was
produced (see appendix).
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At the same time it can be noticed that, independent of the stated
activities, the large societal reform plans such as the labor market reform of
the red-green coalition were mostly implemented without gender mainstreaming
and retouched somewhat only after strong protests of women’s
organisations. In daily politics, in the area where the important political plans
are decided, gender mainstreaming as something given is still missing ! Yet,
compared to the rather hesitant implementation of “traditional” equal opportunity
policy for women, gender mainstreaming is at first look a success.
Gender mainstreaming reactivated the slowing political debate on gender
and increased public interest in the gender question. One reason for it is
that also men increasingly think about gender aspects and question their
traditionally assigned roles.
Recently, a public debate, partly informed and partly traditionally
shaped, on gender mainstreaming has broken out in the media in Germany.
The strategy itself is being negotiated, whether it is not in reality a “waste
of taxpayers’ money” or an “ educational reform programme”. But this debate
also opens possibilities for a counter view. In any case, “mainstream”
media have been reached. While this sounds promising, there are also critical
voices: based on different reasons, some female proponents of “classical”
women’s policy and feminist theorists articulate skepticism towards the
policy of gender mainstreaming. Among other things it is feared that gender
mainstreaming could degenerate into “over-bureaucratization”. The strategy
could possibly promote conservative or traditional tendencies, when, for example,
the emphasis on differences between women and men reproduces
bipolarity instead of reducing it. Another criticism comes from the observation
that economic incentives often are door-openers for equal opportunity
measures in institutions and that gender mainstreaming thereby also allows
neo-liberal policy. There is also the concern that other normative values are
pushed to the sidelines, such as gender justice (see Meuser/Neusüß 2004.
Heinrich Böll Stiftung 2005).
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“Gender and diversity”
– Opportunity for a comprehensive
equal opportunity policy for
women and men?!
A new challenge has appeared in recent years. With the recognition of “multiple
diversity” of our living situations, differences along various social aspects
within the genus groups of women and that of men become clearer. The
strategy of “managing diversity” calls for hopes as well as concerns. Could
gender and the equal treatment of women be neglected or at least marginalised
due to the “larger pot” of diversity? Or can diversity help to bolster the
fight against discrimination – within strengthened anti-discrimination laws –
and even open new doors?
Proponents of gender mainstreaming see the opportunity for comprehensive
and sustainable change of structures of gender relations. The expectation
is based, among other things, on gender mainstreaming having to be
legitimised “top-down” and being conceived of as a cross-section task, which
concerns and potentially binds all actors in a political area or an organisation.
The expectation is also fed by the view that gender mainstreaming is
not only concerned with levelling the opportunities of men and women. It
enables change to be initiated also by men and supports men who are willing
to change and whose lives are, for example, not solely geared towards
paid labor and career. Especially in many organisations, gender mainstreaming
has contributed to a more relaxed and future-oriented discourse about
gender aspects and hierarchies between women and men, which was not
possible before the discussion on gender mainstreaming. In the view of many
women policy activists there has appeared hope of formulating new organisational
routines and strategic alliances with men (see also Neusüß 2002).In the
framework of gender trainings, which aim among, other things, at increasing
gender sensitivity and building of gender competence, there are increasingly
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pairs of trainers or advisors, who aim for cooperation (male/female) and experience
it as an advantage. Also in train-the-trainer seminars, there are increasingly
more (though still not enough ) men, who want to integrate gender in
their professional profile as trainer and advisor.
A team of male and female trainers shows that men and women are equally
responsible for gender equality. In addition, such a training team offers ideas for involving
men. Stereotypes can be dealt with using a greater number of tools.
But the team must be aware that work in a mixed gender team could
also strengthen gender role dichotomy. Therefore, a conscious, reflective and
playful way of dealing with gender role patterns must be part of the competence
of gender teams.
In the activities of the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the context of gender
democracy (Forum Men) as well as in the Gender&Diversity Association6
,
there are experts of both genders, unified by the implementation of gender
mainstreaming and diversity and the reduction of gender hierarchies in federal
organisations and institutions.
Overall, one can hardly speak of something like “the men’s movement”.
But there is a small men’s policy scene in Germany. Men’s policy, or – to phrase
it differently – topics related to masculine identity, can be found in the areas
of working with boys, advice for fathers, men’s studies and, especially, in the
debate on hegemonic masculinity (Cornell), in the work with men by churches
and in men’s health. The project “New paths for boys” (Neue Wege für Jungs),
realised by the Federal Ministry of the Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women
and Youth is trying to create new paths. Part of the project is a pilot study that
analyses violence against men.
6 http://www.gender-diversity.de
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Gender mainstreaming
as an instrument of institutional
reorganisation
According to my experience, the “success story” of gender mainstreaming,
and especially its relatively high acceptance, results from the fact that gender
mainstreaming is legitimized as part of the European treaty work, and also
from the fact that it is discussed and implemented across Europe and the
world. But it probably also rests on the ambivalence of the concept. Gender
mainstreaming is part of (intra-institutional) negotiation processes, of organisational
and administrative reform and is “charged” with various expectations.
People and groups that have had so far hardly anything to do with gender or
aspects of equal opportunity are beginning to deal with this approach. Their
motivations vary. Sometimes the interest is simply due to a directive “from
above”. At times it is money: the wish to work with European funds and
the fear of one’s application being rejected otherwise. The often mentioned
“win-win perspective” is also proving useful for the strategy. In addition, men
recognise that, for example, the new law for the protection against radiation
(Strahlenschutzverordnung) of the German government has advantages both
for women (protection of the ability to bear children) and for men (protection
of the ability to procreate).
From the promotion of women
via selective equal opportunity
work to gender mainstreaming
– An example
My work with and in a large German and internationally active welfare association
reveals highly complex meanings.For a few years the association
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has been trying to reformulate its gender focus.. There existed a mix of
interests, which was led by the desire for incorporating equal opportunity
work into the organisation, the integration of more men and a greater responsibility
and inclusion of the upper management. Staff members were
supposed to become more open to the idea of change and part-time
work and child-raising was to be made more attractive for men. But also
personnel resources were to be reduced, in order to contribute to a cost
decrease.
After many intra-institutional discussions, some changes and the
training of top management, the next step was to get “middle management”
involved in the new strategy. According to my observations, middle management
is important in the operationalisation and implementation, and their
role has so far been underrated. Processes of change can be significantly
slowed or blocked at this point. It was of special importance to integrate
gender mainstreaming into the processes of intra-organisational quality assurance.
An important goal is to let gender become a quality criteria for
good work and integrate it into organisational controlling processes. It leads
to acceptance and shows itself thereby as an “ice breaker” for the participating
men. It was also decided that there was to no longer be a gender equality
appointee, but rather a special group of staff members whose role would
be to support the implementation of gender mainstreaming as well as other
tasks, directly subordinate to the leadership level. The future will show if the
abolishment of the function of the gender equality appointee combined with
the goal of spreading the responsibility for equal opportunity will succeed.
The reorientation offers opportunities, because new strengths can be won
for equal opportunity work. It also has risks, because spreading responsibility
onto many people can also result in ambiguity about responsibilities,
especially if the new (responsible) persons do not have the necessary competencies
(yet). Evaluations and monitoring of the processes are therefore
important for further work.
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Can gender equality policies
and diversity policies strengthen
or hinder each other?
My answer is: both. Basically, I see a systemic approach that considers the respective
organisation and its specific situation as helpful, rather than prefering “on principle” one
of the approaches.. Whether one or the other approach is effective or a combination
of both depends, among other things, on the respective organisational culture,
knowledge and experience, political will, ability to learn as well as available resources.
Gender equality policy is an approach that is theoretically more developed. Research
on women, men and gender offers a broad basis of empirical and theoretical work. .
The interdisciplinary character of recent research on gender, which discusses gender
difference on several levels, is an important development in this area.By taking into
consideration diversity and intersectionality of gender identity this approach makes it
possible to prevent multiple discriminations and consider the diversity of the sexes.
On the other hand, the approach of diversity seems to me so far potentially
under-theorized. Although I do see the danger of narrowing this approach down
to strictly economic reasons or reasons connected to costs of labour, this risk does
not necessarily have to come true. For one, this strategy also has roots in certain
movements, such as the human rights movement in the U.S. and movements supporting
rights of immigrants. Therefore, it would be a question of the framing and
reference points.
Economic arguments can be door openers in organisations and not only
for equality of the sexes. But their danger is that gender equality could, in the
future, only count if it promotes working ability and “human capital”, that is
when it transfers into financial resultsI see further danger in the arbitrariness and
the danger of a “backlash”. When governments want to limit sexual and reproductive
civil rights, invoking local specificity and the diversity of the European
community, then the community needs to emphasise the universality of human
rights and women’s rights as part of human rights.Negotiating gender implicitly
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within the approach of a strategy of diversity has the advantage of high acceptance,
especially in the private economy. The more current legal practice can
be included as support, because it emphasises not only gender but also other
aspects of difference (Krell:2008).
Gender mainstreaming in Germany
in the context of conservative
women’s policy
The importance of gender mainstreaming in Germany has increasingly weakened
on the governmental level in the last years. Clear statements about its value
and significance are missing; at the same time resources and competencies are
reduced. A steering committee on the ministerial level that coordinated activities
among the different ministries in the past has been abolished and personnel
and financial resources in the responsible department of the Ministry of Family
Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) have been reduced.
This can also be seen in the 6th Report of the Federal Republic of Germany
on the agreement of the United Nations to eliminate any form of discrimination of
women (CEDAW). Clear statements or declarations on commitment to the strategy
are missing. Gender experts that have unified in the initiative “Gender Mainstreaming
Experts International” criticize in an open letter to Minister von der Leyen that the
report interprets gender mainstreaming “wrongly (…) as a trigger for resistance
against gender equality and, therefore, promises a conceptual reorientation of gender
policy for the Federal Republic”. It is also criticised that this reorientation remains
vague, that the changes of structural conditions and concrete gender political strategies
are not formulated as objectives (see also offener Brief GMEI: 2007)7
.
7 www.gmei.de
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Furthermore, achievements in the area of implementation of gender
mainstreaming are negated or simply not mentioned, such as the results of the
scientific monitoring of gender mainstreaming processes of federal offices; the
many, precisely operationalised working aids in the administrations or the diverse
activities of the communal administrations, associations and institutions.
The female experts of GMEI suspect that “if they had comprehended the concept
[...], they would have offered a solid basis for commitment to the continuation
of the gender mainstreaming strategy”. But this, as they suppose, is not
desired at the moment.
A feasibility study on gender budgeting, which was contracted by the
ministry in the past red-green governmental period, to see if and how gender
budgeting can be applied in the federal offices, was finally – after many inquiries
by actors in women’s and gender policy – put online in October 2007. But
nothing more occurred.
The study defines gender budgeting as part of a strategy of gender mainstreaming
that relates to gender-specific, economic, fiscal and financial aspects of
state action and that signifies the “systematic testing of all incoming and outgoing
money in the budget process in the disposition, execution and accounting as
well as all budget-relevant measures in terms of the economic effects for women
and men as well as societal gender relations” (2007:5). It attests that gender
budgeting has a special role in the implementation of gender mainstreaming and
it shows that gender budgeting is an appropriate approach for the modernization
of current budget processes. It also shows the relevance of budget decisions
for gender equality effects. The next step was planned as a testing phase,
with the “long-term goal of transparency in federal expenditures” (2007:5). As
the study correctly notes, the most important condition for the implementation
of gender budgeting on the federal level is the necessity of an “agreed upon
implementation” (2007:16).
There had never been widespread, public application of the concept.
The conclusion declares briefly, “the federal government comes to the
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conclusion that there is still a need for clarification in fundamental questions”8
.
The long-term goal seems too removed at the moment.
Also the continuation of the center on gender competence – clearly
decided on in the coalition agreement – is no longer specifically mentioned.
We can note that there is a decrease ine-addressing of GM on the federal
level. At the moment, agreements on the further implementation can hardly be
noticed!
Conclusion and current challenges
Altogether, several different and somewhat irritating phenomena can be observed
in Germany at present. On the one side, one can say that there was had
never been as much gender-consciousness as today – equal status has become
a societal norm.
Paid employment of mothers, following from the current family policy reforms,
is declared an accepted norm on the political level, and the responsibility of
fathers for child-raising and care is placed on the political agenda. Wage equality,
lack of day nurseries, paternity leave for fathers are often discussed. Conservative
women’s policy – framed as family policy – has been significantly modernized9
.
On the other side, gender mainstreaming is decreasingly less addressed
on the governmental level and women’s politics has been reduced to pro-family
policies while gender equality initiatives have been restricted.
8 Machbarkeitsstudie GB auf Bundesebene (10-2007)
9 The introduction of wages for parents (Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeitgesetz), amounting
to70% of the former income, enables mothers and fathers to care for a baby in the first 12
months after the birth. When partners share childcare, the time increases to 14 months, otherwise
the 2 months are forfeited. Since the introduction (2007) of this measure, the number of
men caring for their babies has increased, even if it is mostly for 2 months.
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There are currently many book publications, which have led to a public
discussion in the media. Topics include “alpha girls” and the “F class”. It
is often recalled that many goals of the women’s movement have still not
been reached. At the same time, the female authors distance themselves from
more radical feminist ideas. But the knowledge about the historic developments
in the past four decades seems less present. Young women may possibly
fall prey to the trap of wanting to solve the political privately, because they
see themselves as emancipated, they believe that equality has already been
achieved and, therefore, they prefer to act individually. The public sphere also
lacks male (!) role models.
Politically, there is a need of a re-addressing gender mainstreaming on
the governmental level in Germany and especially further engagement and
political decisions. An offensive (of education) in terms of gender (and diversity)
competence could become part of the discussion on needed educational
reforms.
On the EU level, there is a need for clarification of responsibility, appropriate
means of pressure, an increase of the share of women in all decision-making
committees, a closer dialogue with NGOs as well as the development
of measures for monitoring and sanctioning (see also Holz 200810
, Holz/
Neusüß 2006). Strengthened re-politicisation and the pressure of a coalition
of science, politics and civil society could add movement into the European
“deadlock”.
It should be noted that due to the multiple dimensions of diversity,
“solidarity in difference” (Axeli-Knapp:2008)11
is to be practiced. We must
10 At a conference on „Frauenfragen sind Männerfragen sind Geschlechterfragen. 40 Jahre
Neue Frauenbewegungen. – Und jetzt?“ Conference from June 12 – 14, 2008 at the RuhrUniversität
Bochum.
11 At a conference on „Frauenfragen sind Männerfragen sind Geschlechterfragen. 40 Jahre
Neue Frauenbewegungen. – Und jetzt?“ Conference from June 12 – 14, 2008 at the RuhrUniversität
Bochum.
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learn more from each other and discover our potential. In our countries,
within Europe and internationally we need a dialogue for the exchange of ideas
between different (gender equality) actors in science, economics and (political)
practices. We need stronger coalitions between different women’s policy
actors and between women and men, as well as more strategic planning and
consultation. Furthermore, we need a new feminist offensive to (again) point
to the structural dimension of inequality in the best feminist tradition!
Appendix
(Source: Gender Kompetenz Zentrum)
Bundesgleichstellungsgesetz
The new federal equal opportunity law (Bundesgleichstellungsgesetz) is applicable
since November 30, 2001. The goal of the law is the equal opportunity
of the woman in the federal administration and in the federal courts. The new
regulation promotes the actual implementation of equal opportunity of women
and men and abolishes existing disadvantages. § 2 shows the basic principle of
gender mainstreaming. Key aspects of the new law are:
• Women with the same qualifications are – with consideration of the
individual case – preferably considered in training, employment and
promotion where they are under-represented.
• The compatibility of family and career will be improved (entitlement to
part-time employment, telecommuting jobs or special working time
models).
• The rights of gender equality appointees will be strengthened.
• Plans for equal opportunity will be expanded to become effective instruments
of modern personnel planning.
• The guidelines for equal opportunity plans now guarantee an unchanged
percentage of women also in case of cutbacks.
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Trade unions also support the new law. In 2001 ver.di trade unions integrated
gender mainstreaming as a task in the statutes and introduced a gender
appointee in the federal board.
2002
Gender mainstreaming on the Internet
April of 2002, gender mainstreaming of the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs,
Senior Citizens, Women and Youth goes online under: www.gender-main-
streaming.net.
Gender mainstreaming in the coalition agreement
On October 16, 2002 the coalition agreement between SPD and Bündnis 90
/Die Grünen is signed. Chapter VII (Equal opportunity of women and men)
mentions: “Gender mainstreaming is to be sustainably integrated as a method
for the implementation of article 3 of the Basic Law in all departments of the
federal government. (... ) We will build a center of gender competence (GenderKompetenzzentrum)
that supports the introduction of gender mainstreaming in
all policy areas, initiates research, concentrates knowledge and trains experts of
both sexes.
“Taking stock of the governmental program Modern State – Modern
Administration” (“Moderner Staat – Moderne Verwaltung”)
In 2002, the federal government in the governmental programme “Modern
State – Modern Administration” praised gender mainstreaming as a factor for
the successful completion of the programme. It was also noted that an effective
administration that is oriented to needs and services cannot afford inequality of
men or women. On the basis of this conclusion, the fourth step of the implementation
process was introduced: gender mainstreaming was to be established
as an element of modern administration in the departments.
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2003
Opening of the Gender Kompetenz Zentrum
The Gender Kompetenz Zentrum is established as an independent research
and consulting institution at the Humboldt University in Berlin and opened on
October 27, 2003 by the Federal Minister Renate Schmidt. The center is an
externally funded project at the Lehrstuhl Fr. Prof. Dr. Susanne Baer at the law
faculty, financed by the Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und
Jugend.
End of pilot project phase of federal ministries
Until December 2003, a total of 33 pilot projects on the implementation of
gender mainstreaming were conducted at the federal ministries. These projects
were to include equal opportunity aspects with precise examples, covering,
towards the end, the entire breadth of politicaladministrative actions. The results
of the pilot projects were introduced in the IMA GM by the respective
departments as “best practice” examples and discussed, especially in light of the
aspect of transferability to all departments. Cross-departmental working tools
and check lists as well as the Wissensnetz Gender Mainstreaming are important
results. The pilot project phase presented the second step of implementation of
gender mainstreaming in the federal government.
2004
New Web site of the federal government on gender mainstreaming
Since March 8, 2004, a modernized Web site on gender mainstreaming is available.
It contains links to several departments of the ministries and to the federal
states. It shows the implementation process of the federal government with the
key results such as a web of knowledge (Wissensnetz) and working tools. In addition,
visitors to the gender mainstreaming web site have the opportunity to ask
questions or give tips to the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens,
Women and Youth.
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2005
Coalition agreement of CDU/CSU/SPD
On November 11, 2005, the coalition agreement between CDU, CSU and
SPD was signed. Chapter VI (Family-Friendly Society) is concerned with “equal
opportunity and women’s policy”. It also says: “We want to strengthen gender
competence and will assure the effective implementation of § 2 GGO and make
sure thatappropriate tools are available, for example the GenderKompetenzZentrum”.
Once in each legislative period we will “present a report on the equality
of women and men and in a following governmental declaration point to the
progress, show the remaining deficits and the resulting consequences”.
Report on the equal opportunities of women and men in Germany
On November 29, 2005, an annotated data report on the equal opportunities
of women and men in Germany was published. The data report was compiled
by the Jugend vom Deutschen Jugendinstitut (DJI) and contracted by the Federal
Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. It contains
a comprehensive and current status description on equal opportunity on the
basis of official and representative data. The report shows the situation of men
and women with different backgrounds in different areas (paid employment,
training, compatibility of family and career, social protection, health status and
concernment of violence). The report also concludes that the situations and
participation opportunities women and men have in many areas are converging,
but that there are still significant differences, for example in the area of employment,
in political and social participation.
Translated by Sybille Reinke de Buintrago
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einer gender-bewußten Ökonomie in der erweiterten Europäischen Union.“
Frauenakademie
München/Harriet Tayler-Mill Institut 16.12.2003 in Berlin.
Villagomez, Elisabeth (2004): Gender Responsive Budgets, Good Practices and Policy Options,
Regional Symposium on Mainstreaming Gender into Economic Politics, 28-30 Jan.
Machbarkeitsstudie Genderbudgeting auf Bundesebene (10-2007), contracted by
Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Gesundheit, presented by
Forschungsgemeinschaft Competence Consulting, Prof. Dr. Christine Färber (Projektleitung)
2004, Geneva.
59
THE STRATEGY OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN THE EU
AND GERMANY – TWO STEPS FORWARD AND ONE BACK?
www.boell.pl
Meseke, Henriette (2003): Gender Mainstreaming in den Strukturfonds. Dokumentation
des Fachgesprächs „Zukunft Europas – Perspektiven einer gender-bewußten Ökonomie in
der erweiterten Europäischen Union.“ Frauenakademie München/Harriet Tayler-Mill Institut
16.12.2003 in Berlin.
Miethe, Ingrid/Roth, Silke (Ed.) (2003): Europas Töchter. Traditionen, Erwartungen und
Strategien von Frauenbewegungen in Europa, Opladen.
Meuser, Michael/Neusüß, Claudia (Ed.) (2004): Gender Mainstreaming. Konzepte –
Handlungsfelder – Instrumente. BpB Band 418, Bonn.
Neusüß, Claudia (2002): If men are part of the problem, they have to become part of the
solution – gender democracy: a collective project of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, in: Roth,
Silke/Lennox, Sara: Feminist Movements in a Globalizing World. German and American
Perspectives. American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, The Johns Hopkins
University, p. 30-42.
Rodenberg, Birte (2003): Gender Mainstreaming in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit der
Europäischen Kommission: Rahmenbedingungen, Konzepte, Umsetzung. Assessment
contracted by Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung.
Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungshilfe (DIE), Bonn.
Roth, Silke (2004): Gender Mainstreaming – eine neue Phase der Frauenbewegung in
Deutschland, in: Meuser, Michael/Neusüß, Claudia (Ed.): Gender Mainstreaming. Konzepte
– Handlungsfelder – Instrumente, BpB 418, Bonn, p. 40-51.
Roth 2007, Sisterhood and Solidarity? Women´s Organization in the Expanded European
Union, Oxford Journals, November 24, p. 460-487
Schmidt, Verena (2000): Zum Wechselverhältnis zwischen europäischer Frauenpolitik
und Europäischen Frauenorganisationen, in: Lenz, Ilse/Mae, Michiko/Klose, Karin (Ed.),
Frauenbewegungen weltweit, Opladen, p. 199-231
Verloo, Mieke (2007): Multiple Meanings of Gender Equality, A Critical Frame Analysis of
Gender Policies in Europe, Budapest – New York
Wichterich, Christa (2000): Aus Erfahrung lernen: Gender Mainstreaming, in: NROFrauenforum
Info-Brief 2/2000, Stuttgart, p. 7-9
Woodward, Alison (2003): European Gender Mainstreaming: Promises and Pitfalls of
Transformation, in: Review of Policy Research 20, p. 65-88
Young, Brigitte (2005): Widersprüche zwischen der Europäischen Makroökonomie
und Gender Mainstreaming. Unüberwindbare Widersprüche? In: Jünemann, Annette/
Klement, Carmen (Ed.): Die Gleichstellungspolitik in der Europäischen Union./The Policy
of Gender Equality in the European Union. Baden-Baden 2005, P. 7-16. [Schriftenreihe des
Arbeitskreises Europäische Integration e.V. Vol. 52]
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GENDER MAINSTREAMING
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Online Sources
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/Platform/
www.gmei.de
www.gender-mainstreaming.net
www.gender-diversity.de
www.genderkompetenz.info/
www.gender-politik-online.de
www.glow-boell.de
3.
Gender Mainstreaming
in the Czech Republic:
a Critical Perspective
Martina Kampichler, Katerina Machovcova
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GENDER MAINSTREAMING
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Gender mainstreaming (GM) is a contested concept – it can be analysed, on
the one hand, from feminist theoretical points of view mainly concerned with
the concept’s relationship to other approaches to gender equality as well as its
potential to promote these goals, and, on the other hand, from the point of
view of its practical implementation and usefulness at the various levels of policy
actors (see, for example, Walby 2005, Rees 2002, Daly 2005). In theory and
practice we find a large number of differing definitions of the concept (Rees
2002) and recently also a cumulation of critical surveys of problems occurring in
the practice of gender mainstreaming as well as of their theoretical implications
(see for example Walby 2005, Daly 2005, Booth, Bennett 2002).
Mary Daly (2005) for example sees this ambivalent situation partly as
a result of the quite specific development of gender mainstreaming as a concept,
mainly “under the auspices of policy organizations” (pg. 434). She argues that
due to this it is hard to differentiate accounts on GM that aim to promote it as
a policy approach and those contributions which further the approach theoretically.
Though this does not necessarily have to be a problem, Daly points out
that it puts the development of specific aspects of GM in the foreground.
Indeed the key players in GM’s introduction and development were
international or supranational organization such the United Nations, the Council
of Europe and the European Union. Gender mainstreaming is said to have its
roots in the development programs of the UN, where it was put forward as
a tool to ensure better integration of women into such programs in order to
make the positive effects of development work more accessible to women.
GM was first mentioned at the 1985 UN World Conference on Women held
in Nairobi and, after its following diffusion within the UN and its programs, GM
wasconfirmed ten years later as the key strategic approach of the Beijing Platform
for Action (Council of Europe 1998). In the course of the preparations of the
1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing, as well as during its aftermath,
gender mainstreaming also became a central part of the EU’s gender equality
policy discourse (Stratigaki 2005) and finally, through the Treaty of Amsterdam
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(which came into force in 1999), got embedded also in the Treaty of the EU as
one of the EU’s activities (Art. 3). As a result, new member states of the EU (for
example, the Czech Republic joining in 2004) had to implement GM not only
as part of the Beijing Platform for Action, but also as part of the EU’s acquis communautaire
(which has far more legally binding character). The general conceptualization
of GM (also in the context of the EU) received significant input from
the Council of Europe expert group on gender mainstreaming (see Council of
Europe 1998). However, parallel to these developments, emerged also feminist
theoretical interest in the conceptualisation as well as critical analysis of GM.
Today we find a diverse mixture of practical definitions of the strategy –
e.g. in handbooks, policy documents etc. (for example, European Communities
2005) – as well as attempts to make sense of the concept from a feminist and
often more theoretical point of view (as shown, for example, in the special issue
of Social Politics 12 (3) on Gender Mainstreaming). Related to that, we also find
a number of ways and degrees of the implementation of GM, differing not only
among nation-states, but also among the various institutions and organisations
within them (Daly 2005, Rees 2002).
This situation constitutes the point of departure for the current publication
of the HBS, which aims to contribute to the discussions of the conceptualisation
and usefulness of GM by shedding light on current developments of the
strategy in the region where the Heinrich Böll Foundation Warsaw operates.
Inspired by Barbara Unmüßig’s (2005) Reflections on Gender Mainstreaming,
we aim to discuss examples of the use of GM in the Czech Republic not only
from the point of view of the stage of its implementation, but also from the
angle of what these developments can tell us about the quality and sustainability
of GM as a strategy to achieve gender equality. In order to create a broader
context for developing the case study of the Czech Republic, in the first part of
the article we provide a concise overview of some feminist critical discussions of
GM – both from the point of view of its theoretical conceptualisation as well as
its practical implementation mainly among the EU member states.
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The conceptualisation of GM
The central point connected to the conceptualisation of GM, however also
to its implementation and radical potential in promoting and achieving gender
equality, is how this strategy is being defined. As already suggested, the UN1
,
the Council of Europe2
as well as the EU3
are three key organisations which,
to a certain extent, in the past decades led the way of defining GM. All three
definitions vary in their range and focus. While the UN’s definition puts its main
emphasis on gender impact assessment, the Council of Europe’s definition as
well as the EU’s are more encompassing: both explicitly refer to gender equality
as the aim of GM and demand an active approach to policy change.
It is important to bear in mind that defining GM within a certain organisation
is not necessarily a one-time job, but more a matter of negotiation and
development. Maria Stratigaki (2005) for example points to the ambivalent use
and development of the concept within the European Commission. While in
the run-up to the Beijing conference the EU actively supported GM, later on
(according to Stratigaki mainly under Commissioner Pádraig Flynn) the concept
1 The Beijing Platform for Action defines GM as follows: “Governments and other actors should
promote an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies and
programmes so that, before decisions are taken, an analysis is made of the effects on women
and men, respectively.” (United Nations 1997-2005: para 202)
2 “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
1998: 12)
3 “Gender mainstreaming is the integration of the gender perspective into every stage of policy
processes – design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation – with a view to promoting
equality between women and men. It means assessing how policies impact on the life and position
of both women and men – and taking responsibility to re-address them if necessary. This
is the way to make gender equality a concrete reality in the lives of women and men creating
space for everyone within the organisations as well as in communities – to contribute to the
process of articulating a shared vision of sustainable human development and translating it into
reality.” (European Communities 1995-2008)
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was used to undermine and cut down positive action programmes rather than
to actively promote gender equality. However, the critical reactions of several
actors within the EU or associated with it (e.g. the Committee on Women’s
Rights in the European Parliament and the European Women’s Lobby4
) led to
further developments, which supported a twin-track approach (integrating GM
and positive action approaches).
Moreover, it is not only interesting what these definitions include, but
also what they exclude. With regards to that, Mieke Verloo (2005), who chaired
the group of experts that developed the definition of the Council of Europe,
provides a critical analysis of the definition from this point of view. In her critique,
she points, among others factors, to a lack of space for oppositional politics.
Mainly through limiting GM to “the actors normally involved in policy making”
the definition excludes non-governmental and other organisations associated
with the women’s movement from active involvement or attributes to them
only the role of “external actors” providing expert knowledge at most. According
to Verloo (2005) this not only presents the struggle for gender equality as a quite
apolitical matter and an allegedly consensual goal, but also reduces the potential
for empowerment. Furthermore, as also highlighted by Unmüßig (2005), this
exclusion makes GM especially vulnerable in the context of poorly functioning
institutions and a lack of political will.
As these accounts, together with the considerations of Barbara Unmüßig,
show the conceptualisation of GM constitutes a kind of development process
and there is still large (feminist) potential for its further improvements. However,
large potential for improvements lies also in the implementation of current conceptualisations
of GM within policy making, as well as the integration of GM
principles into various public and private organisations.
4 Online: http://www.womenlobby.org/site/hp.asp?langue=EN
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Critical feminist views on
implementing GM
A central problem with regards to this, is an often found lack of analysis of the
concrete state of gender inequality in a given context and, connected to that,
the absence of formulating concrete gender equality goals (Verloo 2005, Daly
2005). After examining the use of the Council of Europe’s definition by various
policy actors, Verloo (2005) argues that in many cases, the definition is cited
without any further reference to or operationalisation of what “a gender equality
perspective” means. This is often related to a rather technocratic understanding
of GM, which sometimes confuses the strategy with the simple application of
certain tools associated with GM (see for example Rees 2005). Closely related
to that is also the problem of a certain dilution of efforts on positive action, based
on the assumption that GM simply substitutes previous policy approaches to
gender equality (Unmüßig 2005, Stratigaki 2005).
With regards to the implementation of GM we also find discussions
about the final impact of GM – whether this strategy is limited to merely
integrating gender equality issues within existing policy fields or whether it
implies agenda setting in the sense of challenging and changing existing policy
priorities (Jahan 1995, Squires 2005). Related to that, feminist critiques also
discuss matters of strategic framing of GM or, to put it another way, the linkage
of GM to other goals (e.g. pursuing modern policy approaches, efficiency
etc.) (Verloo 2005, Daly 2005, Unmüßig 2005). The questions arising here
are to what extent such framings help to get GM accepted in certain organisations
and, on the other hand, to what extent means this a co-optation of the
concept – especially when such other goals do not fully comply with the goal
of gender equality (Verloo 2005, Daly 2005). From this point of view, strategic
framing bears the risk of leading to rather integrationist implementation
of GM, where the strategy loses its transformative potential of putting gender
equality on top of the policy agenda.
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Apart from these considerations, there are also feminist critical voices
that challenge GM and mainly its potential to achieve gender equality even more
fundamentally. Daly (2005), for example, criticises the strategy for its lack of
a profound theory of social change. GM departs from the assumption that public
policy (which GM is related to) is not gender neutral and supports and reproduces
certain gender inequalities in society. Therefore GM through changing
the policy making processes towards promoting gender equality is supposed to
make a difference. However Daly (2005, pg. 447) asks a central question: “...
it is not clear how change in governance translates into soci(et)al change. What
is the relation between public policy and social structure organization?” So even
if we know that certain public policies limit the promotion of gender equality in
society, can we expect that these policies are also in the position to fully remedy
these inequalities? And what about the inequalities not related to public policy?
Consequently, according to Daly, we cannot expect GM to completely eliminate
gender inequalities in society.
Therefore, central questions within all these discussions about the potential
of GM appear to be: What do “we” (from a critical feminist point of view)
expect to achieve with GM? Profound social change towards gender equality?
A broader approach to policy making? Raising gender-awareness in policy making?
And to what extent is GM in its current conceptualization as well as “the
actors normally involved in policy making” able, willing and in the position to fulfil
these expectations? And how do we know that the outcomes of GM are not just
empty rhetoric, but at least point into a feminist direction?
Towards a feminist reading of GM
Though in their article, Gender Mainstreaming in the EU – Incorporating a Feminist
Reading? Emanuela Lombardo and Petra Meier (2006) do not provide a definite
answer to these questions, they provide at least some orientation for a feminist
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reading of GM, which seems important for evaluating and further developing
this strategy. For them a feminist use of GM implies 5 central shifts in policy making:
1) using a broader approach of gender equality that problematises gender
inequalities within a larger structural context and allows for multiple causes of
gender inequalities; 2) a transformational use of GM, prioritizing gender equality
issues over competing objectives (agenda setting); 3) an equal representation
of women and men, challenging the unequal gender distribution of resources;
4) changes in institutional and organisational cultures that integrate gender expertise
and analysis of how gender inequalities are created and reproduced; 5)
“empowerment” and “displacement”, understood as more active participation
of women’s organisations and civil society, as well as going beyond the dichotomy
of “sameness/difference” in gender equality policy making.
These five shifts imply a high level of what has been referred to as gender
competence with everyday policy makers. The GenderKompetenzZentrum5
at
the Humbolt University Berlin provides a useful definition and outline of this
kind of competence: “...the ability of people to recognize gender perspectives
in their work and policy fields and concentrate on them towards the goal of
gender equality.” This is connected to three central features: intention, knowledge
and ability. Intention refers to the readiness of a person to treat others in
a fair manner, meaning the motivation to actively contribute to gender equality
and gender mainstreaming. This encompasses both individual as well as political
will for change. Knowledge implies the integration of the broad range of findings
about how gender structures our society as well as about the living conditions
of women and men, with expert knowledge of a certain subject area or policy
field. Related to this is not only a continuous up-date and further development
of relevant data, but first and foremost a critical and reflective use of gender
as an analytical category – as, for example, pointed out by a group of authors
5 Online: http://www.genderkompetenz.info/genderkompetenz/
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from Germany in their GenderManifesto6
. There they point to the dangers of
using gender in the sense of women/men dichotomy, concentrating on and
therefore reproducing differences in the sense of two homogeneous groups of
men and women. Instead, they call for a use of gender to undo gender – which
means not simply “allowing” for differences, but going beyond the dichotomies
of men/women or sameness/difference (see also Verloo 2005). Finally, the third
factor of gender competence,is the ability to use gender mainstreaming, in the
sense of resources and other conditions provided for applying relevant tools
and measures.
The following sections present several examples of gender equality as
well as the implementation and use of gender mainstreaming in the Czech context,
which will be later on evaluated based on the feminist reading of GM
outlined above.
Equality between men and women
in the Czech context
Considering the terminology, the term “equal opportunities of men and women”
is found far more often than “gender mainstreaming”. On the one hand,
this is reasonable, because this term can be more easily approached and understood,
as gender mainstreaming is a foreign term, which can be confusing
unless accompanied by a precise definition. On the other hand, this language
practice obscures the complex strategy and goals of gender mainstreaming, thus
contributing to its sometimes misleading implementation.
6 For more see, online: http://www.gender-mainstreaming.org/, http://www.gender.de/main-
streaming/GenderManifesto_engl.pdf
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The very first state policy document on equal chances of women
and men was Priorites and Procedures in Promoting Equality between Men
and Women7
, published in 1998. Since then a similarly structured document
is published on an annual basis, followed by a summary of activities
undertaken by the government and individual ministries.
In the 1998 edition the principles of equality between men and
women lack thorough definition. At the very beginning of the document it is
stated: “Equality of citizens without regard to their sex is a part of basic principles
of democratic society... (Government) shows its own level of engagement
in the combating of stereotypes looking on the role of women in the society and
family“. Briefly, there are three biases to be seen here. First of all, arguing
for equality “without considering sex“ gives rise to so called “gender neutrality“
policies, which, as plenty of gender analyses and researches show,
easily lead to, for instance, maintaining the very same standards for everybody
and thus contribute to indirect discrimination. The paradox of equality
lies in the fact that sometimes the same and sometimes different standards
need to be considered. Second of all, the main focus is obviously put on
the position of women in society, male-related stereotypes are currently
not being acknowledged. Last but not least, as Pavlík (2008) also points out,
using “sex” instead of “gender” in some cases strengthens biological determinism
and distracts attention from culturally and historically shaped gender
roles and gendered structures. Obviously, these issues are supposed
to be addressed by equality policies aiming at societal change. However,
when such policies acknowledge biological determinism at the same time,
this does not seem to be possible. Furthermore, as for example argued
by Bacchi (1999), concentrating on stereotypes presents inequalities as
7 Priority a postupy vlády při prosazování rovnosti mužů a žen, online: http://www.mpsv.cz/files/
clanky/654/zprava.pdf
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a problem linked to the attitudes of individuals instead of dealing with them
as results of structures embedded in society and institutions.
The 2007 issue of the Priorities again does not bring any initial definition,
but is far more focused on both genders. However, while the document
includes some positive action towards women (especially in the area
of access to economic activity), it does not identify the relevant need in
the care domain considering men. Furthermore, in the section devoted to
reproductive rights, it reinforces the women = reproduction stereotype.
So again, some of the most obvious gender stereotypes can be identified
in the very document that is supposed to function as a platform for challenging
them.
In addition as Pavlík (2008) argues there are other misunderstandings
on the conceptual level. The term gender equality is used as if synonymous
with equality of women and men. In fact gender equality encompasses
a wider area of all gendered identities (e.g. gay, lesbian, transgender,
queer). Generally the whole framework of equality issues in the Czech
Republic is based on heteronormative preconceptions and therefore risks
homogenizing women/men. Further on in the text it will be shown how
these misreadings support confusion in the other processes of the implementation
of gender mainstreaming, especially with regards to projects financed
from the European Social Fund.
Equality machinery
in the Czech Republic
On the governmental level the responsibility for gender equality is assigned
to the ministry responsible for human rights and national minorities. The appointed
minister is at the same time the head of the Government Council for
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Equal Opportunities for Women and Men8
. which constitutes an advisory board
of members of various state institutions as well as nongovernmental organizations
and other interest groups such as trade unions. The Department for Equal
Opportunities of Women and Men9
is a part of the Office of the Government
and provides services for the Minister and the Coucil. Furthermore, it fulfils
other tasks like initiating research, the coordination of educational activities and
is held responsible for the collection of documents for the summary on the
governmental Priorities.
There are other advisory bodies and working groups dealing with related
issues (work-life balance, domestic violence etc.), but none of them have
any specific powers to monitor equality politics. This institutional provision goes
along with the establishment of gender focal points by each ministry, which
usually means one part-time worker who is responsible for the equality agenda
besides other duties.
There are no gender equality bodies on county and/or other local levels.
Minor activities are supported by initiatives stemming from the nongovernmental
sector, which found acceptance at the ministerial level. Since 2007 competitions
promoting equal opportunities, like Office of the Year „Fifty fifty“10
, and,
since 2008, Family Friendly Community11
are being announced.
These institutional provisions have been criticized widely. For instance in
the Final recommendations for the report on the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 200612
and in the
Shadow Report(s) on equal treatment and equal opportunities of men and
8 Official website: http://www.vlada.cz/en/rvk/rovneprilezitosti.html
9 This department used to be part of Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs until the end of 2007.
10 Online: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/archiv2008/sprava/priprava/uradroku.html
11 Online: http://www.obecpratelskarodine.cz/
12 Online: http://www.vlada.cz/assets/cs/rvk/rlp/dokumenty/mezinarodni_umluvy/
cedaw/3CEDAW_Z_v_re_n__doporu_en__CZ.pdf
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women repeatedly published by a group of gender experts from academic and
non-profit institutions13
. The main concern expressed in both documents is that
the status quo lacks a systematic approach and that the government fails to fulfil
its own declared goals (Appeltová, 2008). Experts persistently call for expanded
competences and capacities of the equality bodies.
The limited activities of the government are followed by a lack of gender
sensitivity on the level of institutions like labour offices, labour inspections and
courts. Several court cases were ruled out as having nothing to do with gender
discrimination, including the infringement of the principle of equal pay and the
right to part time work for caring parents14
.
Moreover, the antidiscrimination bill, first introduced in 2004, was in its
reduced version vetoed by president Vaclav Klaus in 2008 on the grounds of it
being useless and counterproductive15
. While there is growing understanding
that inequalities and discrimination on the labour market do exist, society seems
to be anxious of providing victims of discrimination with more powerful tools,
as, according to prevailing public opinion, such instruments could be misused
against employers.
These findings also show that the approach to GM embraced by the
Czech government to a large extent lacks the 5 shifts towards a feminist reading
of GM outlined above. The lack of an overall approach to gender equality,
which not only hinders the problematisation of gender inequalities within
a larger structural context, but also the transformational use of GM, seems especially
problematic.The limited changes in institutions and organizations, which
point to a lack of political will, are another central problematic point. Related to
that is also the repeated refusal to cooperate with NGOs more actively on that
13 Online: http://www.proequality.cz/res/data/005/000588.pdf
14 Eva Fialová, Soudní ochrana před diskriminací je v České republice stále neúčinná, online:
http://feminismus.cz/fulltext.shtml?x=2091940
15 The Czech Parliament will deal with the bill again in the autumn of 2008.
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topic (e.g. based on the findings of the shadow reports), which limits possibilities
for empowerment. From the point of view of gender competence, apart
from the already mentioned deficit in political will, an important problem is the
lack of a critical and reflected understanding of the gender concept, as the findings
point to a use of the word “gender” that remains stuck in the men/women
dichotomy.
The application of gender
mainstraeming in social projects
Before we turn to the implementation and use of gender mainstreaming in
Equal projects in the Czech Republic, we should take a short critical feminist
look at the EQUAL Guide to Gender Mainstreaming issued by the European
Commission (European Communities 2005), which is aimed at presenting and
introducing the gender mainstreaming concept to Equal beneficiaries. All in all,
this guide shows some positive evidence of promoting a feminist reading of GM
(e.g. discussing social structures as the basis of inequalities between women and
men (pg. 7), or pointing out that other factors, apart from gender, also influence
the position of men and women in society (pg. 7) or promoting cooperation
with NGOs (pgs. 20, 25).
However, there are also elements that point in the opposite direction.
The presented definition of 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” (pg. 10) might
be seen as problematic. This definition remains in a gender dichotomy of preinscribed
differences between women and men and, consequently, does not actively
allow for undoing gender in the sense of challenging the currently prevailing
social categories or identities of men and women and creating space for new
and alternative ones (see also Verloo 2005, GenderManifesto). Furthermore,
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the guide as a whole very much concentrates on techniques of implementation
and only very shortly discusses what to implement – that is gender equality.
Nevertheless, an even more important question is how these principles
have been implemented within concrete projects.
The most outstanding application of gender mainstreaming is to be
found in the projects jointly supported by the European Social Fund and the
Czech national budget16
, especially in those projects within the Community
Initiative Programme Equal17
. While the projects financed through other pro-
grammes18
were obliged to include equal opportunities as a horizontal priority,
Equal projects operated with the gender mainstreaming concept. That means all
projects had to include gender mainstreaming, plus there was a specific group of
projects focused directly on equal opportunities of men and women.
Let us again take a look at the Guide on Gender Mainstreaming19
available
for Equal beneficiaries. As one of the first claims it points out: „Equal participation
of women and men in all aspects of society is crucial for lasting growth
and democracy“ (pg. 5). Unfortunately, in many projects this was transformed
into the mere monitoring of the quantitative male – female participation in the
offered activities20
. While gendered statistics are important for the start of any
activity, they are far from being a sufficient equality tool on their own.
16 Online: http://www.esfcr.cz/clanek.php?lg=1&id=1
17 It is referred to the projects supported in the II. round of CIP Equal, active in years 2005 –
2008, online: http://www.equalcr.cz.
18 Namely: JPD3 NUTS2 Praha (The Single Programming Document For Objective 3, Prague),
OPRLZ (Operational Programme Human Resources Development )
19 English version online: c.europa.eu/employment_social/equal/data/document/gendermain_
en.pdf, for the text the Czech version was evaluated, online: http://www.equalcr.cz/files/clan-
ky/7/GENDER_mainstreaming_guide.pdf
20 Author (K.M.) has participated in numerous activities within CIP Equal projects, including the
evaluation of gender mainstreaming principle initiated by the Ministry of Labour and Social
Affairs, website of the evaluation team leader: http://www.regiopartner.cz, the final report
shall be online on www.equalcr.cz in October, 2008.
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Considering access to resources/services, the approaches undertaken
by developmental partnerships21
often have two characteristics:
• men are tolerated, not encouraged to participate
• a majority of women is unconditionally interpreted as equality
This means that a number of activities were “open” for men to join, or it
was said “if men applied, we would not reject them”, but there were no specific
measures taken to support an active/equal participation of men. Especially in
CIP Equal projects this means a failure with regards to the innovation principle22
.
Sometimes we also find examples of gender stereotypes: where, for example,
at the beginning of the project, the term “persons on parental leave” was used,
but in the course of the project this turned into “mothers”. So linguistic barriers
for male participation obviously persist and this language use confirms that
childcare is still not seen as an issue “for boys”.
Another problem is that situations where women represent the majority
are often simply interpreted as proof of equality without any regards to vertical
and horizontal segregation, not to speak of the importance of male representation
among both project experts and beneficiaries.
Given the statistical data on the position of women in the labour market23
,
it is understandable that within a framework of a twin-track gender mainstreaming
approach (Moser 2005), women are addressed in more projects. Activities
within the Fifty-Fifty project24
, which succesfully aimed at father’s participation in
parenting, are one of the rare examples of positive action towards men.
21 CIP Equal projects are realized by a number of partner organizations who formed so called
developmental partnership usually coordinated by the recipient of the grant.
22 There are basically 7 main principles obligatory for the projects: partnership, transnational
cooperation, innovation, common decision-making, mainstreaming, thematic approach and
gender maistreaming.
23 See Czech Statistical Office, online: http://www.czso.cz/eng/redakce.nsf/i/home
24 Online, e.g.: http://www.vega-eu.org/, http://www.pulnapul.cz
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Nevertheless, the track of mainstreaming cannot be left out completely
from the overall perspective, which unfortunately is the case in most projects.
Two problems can be identified here: an unclear understanding of the interconnection
between public and private life and a homogenisation of women/men.
Although these issues are addressed clearly in the guide, for instance when
it points out: “...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” (pg.5), it is not properly reflected on the practical level. Though the
guide also emphasises that “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”
(pg. 5), this again remains unacknowledged in numerous projects.
With regards to further evaluation of the goals of projects, the categorisation
proposed by Niemanis et al. (2007) proved to be useful. The authors
define two different sets of goals:
• corrective: seek to address the needs and concerns of both genders.
If men or women are disadvantaged in the given situation, the policy goal
should seek to redress this imbalance. These goals aim to correct genderblindness
(pg. 31).
• transformative: these are concerned with transforming the institutions
and structures (social, political, economic, cultural etc.) of the policy
context, so that full gender equality can be more readily achieved
(pg. 31).
As suggested above most of the projects address corrective goals with
regard to decreasing inequalities concerning women. Only some of them do that
with a feminist consciousness and as an active choice, being aware of the possibility
and necessity of other options and/or measurements, which would focus on
a more structural level and which should be carried out when the timing is right.
The problem of homogenisation was previously mentioned. The Guide
deals comprehensivey with the differences between women/men, although for
some unclear reason the chapter waluing difference holds a different name in
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Czech: Estimate of Difference. It is specifies that both women and men possess
different characteristics and are located in different societal positions, which
need to be considered, so GM is not only about differences between men and
women, but also about differences among men and among women.
However, a number of projects failed to effectively consider such differences.
To give practical examples, some projects were focused on parents (mothers) re-entering
the labour market after their maternity leave. A significant amount of activities
were focused on providing labour market orientation (how to write curriculum vitae,
wheretofindjobpostingsetc.),teachingbasicPCskillsand,insomecases,motivational
trainings (soft-skills etc.) were offered. Only a small number of projects were considerate
enough to provide for instance advanced courses on information technology – an
outstanding example with regards to that, provides the project EVYNA coordinated by
the Czech Agricultural University25
. Another persisting problem are offers of gender
stereotypical re-skilling trainings, usually for assistant positions26
or in the care sector27
.
This is not to disclaim projects which operate with more traditional male/female identities
and needs, but in the whole picture we see too many projects like this and they
often lack any sort of reflection towards the various other options available.
Repeatedly these projects refer to the connections “women – care”,
“women – low self-esteem”, “women – work-life balance”, do not offer any alternatives
and shrug at the low participation of men in such activities. As a consequence,
inequality structures prevailing in the society are being reinforced instead
of challenged. Furthermore, as Rees (1998) points out, patriarchally structured institutions
remain unchanged and women only move from exclusion towards segregation
(e.g. within specific segments of labour market). Gender mainstreaming
25 This activity is supported through JPD3 and OPRLZ scheme, online: http://evyna.pef.czu.cz
26 See for example project Reintegration of Mothers, online: http://www.mostkevzdelani.eu/
maminky/jicin/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9&Itemid=6
27 See for example project Development of Social Care Services and Reintegration of Women
on the Labour Market in small rural communities, online: http://www.charita.novyknin.net/
index.php?id=19
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was designed as a strategy to overcome these risks, so these experiences and
analysis point to a inappropriate application of GM.
Another part of this problem is the persisting focus on alternative and
flexible work arrangements in connection to mothers. As Fodor (2006) emphasizes,
the possibility for women to work part-time changed their behaviour, but
barely affected the organisational structures. Women now work even harder to
fulfil their caring tasks and simultaneously reach a certain economic independence.
This is a risk that only a small number of projects acknowledge, through
adopting e.g. a flexicurity framework or other ways of warning about the risks of
flexible working arrangements.
Of course, also good practices with regards to the application of gender
mainstreaming exist and those are especially, but not solely, represented
by partnerships that are primarily focused on promoting gender equality and
involve organizations with background knowledge in women’s rights and feminism.
Such good practice examples are to be found especially in the context of
the projects Breaking the Waves28
and Fifty-Fifty29
, because these initiatives have
a strong focus on structural changes. For example, one working programme of
the BW project is concerns politics and contains activities like: writing regular
shadow reports on the governmental equality reports, gender audits for local
municipalities, relevant gender analysis and seminars. The Project FF is more
focused on employers and provides numerous activities, such as: studies on
equality issues in human resources management, online and printed publications,
seminars and conferences, individual counselling etc. All these activities
also focus on a proper and successful popularisation of their results in the media,
which helps to put pressure on politics/organisations to accept changes. The cel-
28 Online: http://www.proequality.cz/
29 Online: http://www.pulnapul.cz
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ebration of the International Day of Equal Opportunities (19th June) also brings
both public and political attention to the issues.
As can be seen from these examples, obviously good practices do exist
and can be inspiring, not only for other coordinating teams who seek assistance,
but also for people in decision – making positions.
When we discuss the quality of CIP Equal projects we also need to pay
some attention to the role of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, which is
appointed as a steering authority for these projects. Consequently, if there are
deficits in gender mainstreaming within these projects, this likely also points to
failures on the side of this body. Officially, a regular audit of how the projects
fulfil indicators, which were set in advance, took place, so we also have to ask:
how was it possible that beneficiaries were not warned that their activities risked
reinforcing stereotypes and showed signs of misunderstanding the gender mainstreaming
concept? Nevertheless, there is also a kind of learning process going
on and also some good practices, for instance the sucessful running of national
thematic networks, which provided a platform for experience and know-how
sharing.
A lesson still to be learned is using gender mainstreaming as thoroughly
integrative, not as an specific activity detached from everyday practice, as the au-
thor30
experienced within the project Outplacement for Big Companies31
. This
project includes e.g. equality seminars for human resources managers, conferences,
consulting and publishing activities. While doing a gender audit by the
leading partners at the final phase of the project it was reported that equality is
not an issue and before the auditing process potentially discriminating practices
were not reflected upon.
30 K.M.
31 Online: http://equal.cd.cz/
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Another problem coming from the same kind of misunderstanding is dealing
with issues of equality after the “vital/ important/ urgent” things have been done.
Again this shows a misunderstanding in the sense that gender mainstreaming should
be a key component of any activity, in a way as a prevention of further problems.
As mentioned above the Ministry of Labour also initiated an evaluation of
gender mainstreaming within the projects and it will be vital to use its recommendations
in designing new project calls as well as the structures surrounding the handling
of the projects in order to support this learning process.
Conclusions
As the findings above show, the implementation and use of GM in the analysed
projects is quite far away form the feminist reading of GM outlined at the beginning.
(However, this does not necessarily preclude these projects from having some positive
effects on the situation of women and men). One of the central problems is
again gender competence. The analysis repeatedly shows counterproductive use of
the concept of gender. Often “gender” is taken into account through “sex counting”,
or in the form of prescribing women and men stereotypical differences, sometimes
even further enforcing such stereotypes. As already pointed out before, this hardly
opens up space for alternative gender identities and of course also forecloses the
development of a broader approach to gender equality as well as a transformational
use of GM.
Connected to that is the problem that again and again equality is is being
presented as a “girl’s issue”. Though we do need women activists and activism,
though inequalities on the labor market impact women more, though women
are being exploited through being ascribed care duties and domestic work –
still, to achieve structural changes, it is necessary to involve men. A discourse of
equality as a female issue at the same time strengthens the discourse of “women
against men” politics and gives rise to a sort of an anti-feminist backlash trying
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to prove how actually men are being severely discriminated against considering
both labour market and private sphere. We need to find different ways of
developing gender relations and gender mainstreaming activities should be supportive
of that.
The crucial role of gender competence is confirmed by the positive
project examples: GM seems to work well where there is previous knowledge
about gender as a concept and, of course, also a positive attitude towards
changing gender inequalities. Furthermore, given the fact that the majority of
the Czech society first learned about gender issues in the late nineties and even
later, it seems that quite a lot of work has been done. However, the resources,
as limited as they are, were not used to their full potential, as we showed in the
above analysis.
It is hard to say whether the outlined problems are due to the limits in
the conceptualisation of gender mainstreaming or are connected to misleading
implementation. Most probably both factors play a crucial role. The central
problem that needs to be tackled in the Czech context is gender competence
– mainly with regards to intention (political will) and knowledge (a more critical
and reflective use of the gender concept).
Recommendations
• Promoting a public discussion about gender equality, its meaning and implications
– what does gender equality mean in a specific context.
• Developing and providing guides for the use and implementation of GM that
pay more attention to discussing the concept of gender and gender equality
as a goal. The EQUAL guide to GM Mainstreaming, for example, seems more
suitable for people that already have a basic gender awareness.
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• Promoting gender studies at the university level – not only as a specific study
program, but also as part of other programs.
• A more proactive involvement of NGOs during the whole process of GM –
this would also imply changing the conception of GM from a pure top-down
approach to a mere combination of top-down and bottom-up.
• Valuing difference and including intersectional perspectives in order to avoid
reinforcing gender stereotypes through a focus on male/female dichotomies,
which forecloses analysis of differences among men and among women.
• Supporting learning processes of applying GM through organising meetings
and workshops on all levels, including expert panels, activities for “first-time
users” and initiating cross-sectional networking.
• Seeking new strategies for active involvement of men, as equality is also their
issue.
• Promoting further critical analysis and the discussion of the conceptualisation
of GM and not simply relying on GM (or EU-politics) in order to achieve
gender equality.
Translated by Katerina Kastnerova
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Literature:
Appeltová, M. 2008. Institucionální zabezpečení politiky rovných příležitostí žen a mužů. In
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Praha: Nadace Open Society Fund.
Bacchi, C. 1999. Women, Policy and Politics. The Construction of Policy Problems. London,
Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publications.
Booth, C.; C. Bennet. 2002. “Gender Mainstreaming in the European Union. Towards
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European Communities. 2005. EQUAL Guide on Gender Mainstreaming. Luxembourg:
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Fodor, E. 2006. Gender mainstreaming and its consequences in the European Union. Hungary,
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Lombardo, E.; P. Meier. 2006. “Gender Mainstreaming in the EU. Incorporating a Feminist
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Niemanis, A. et al. 2007. Gender Mainstreaming in Practice: A Toolkit. Bratislava, UNDP
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Pavlík, P. 2008. Souhrnné zprávy o plnění Priorit a postupů vlády při prosazování rovnosti žen
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Rees, T. 2005. “Reflections on the Uneven Development of Gender Mainstreaming
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4.
Gender Mainstreaming
in Poland
– A Case Study
Ewa Rutkowska
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Definition of gender mainstreaming
and “gender equality” in Polish
public discourse
The term gender mainstreaming is usually translated in Poland as “policy of
gender equality”1
. It is sometimes translated descriptively, as incorporating
the social and cultural dimensions of sex into all spheres of life and all actions
of the European Union, or as incorporating the gender perspective
into all actions implemented by the member countries in all dimensions of
social, economic and political life, in all implemented projects, regardless of
their subject matter2
. Strategic documents supporting the implementation
of operational programmes contain a narrowed definition, describing gender
mainstreaming as striving to make gender equality a universally prevailing
premise, so that men and women benefit equally. Unfortunately, such
a definition leads to a number of problems regarding, for example, the job
market and the area of combining professional and family life, since it does
not address the areas in which women and men are underrepresented. It is
impossible to talk about “benefitting equally” from a situation, when the initial
state expressly favours one of the groups. It is this definition, which might
have prompted further arithmetical (i.e. wrong) interpretation of equality as
sharing goods in a 50:50 proportion.
In Polish – very limited so far – discourse on the subject, the definition by the
CouncilofEuropeisquoted:“Gendermainstreamingisthe(re)organisation,improvement,
development and evaluation of policy processes, so that the gender equality perspective is
1 See: Gender Mainstreaming in Practice, UNDP, Warsaw 2006 and Gender Mainstreaming Poland
2007. Report, UNDP, Warsaw 2007.
2 www.gm.undp.org.pl
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incorporated in all policies at all levels and at all stages, by the actors normally involved in
policy-making”3
.
In Poland, gender mainstreaming is treated merely as a “soft” tool, the
application of which is not subject to monitoring and evaluation at the state
level.
Implementation of the gender
mainstreaming concept and
policy in Poland
Although since Poland’s accession to the European Union implementation
of the gender mainstreaming strategy (understood as incorporating issues of
gender equality into the mainstream) has became a duty of all beneficiaries
of public funding, it would be difficult to talk about significant and apparent
progress in this area. Actions of state institutions indicate that they do not
understand the equality tools, let alone use them. It seems that understanding
gender equality as a horizontal issue is best reflected in the operation of the
third sector – the non-governmental organisations, in particular women’s and
feminist ones.
3 Gender mainstreaming: conceptual framework, methodology and presentation of good practices, Strasburg,
1998, see also: EQUAL Guide on Gender Mainstreaming, EQUAL, Warsaw, 2005, Podręcznik włączania
problematyki równości płci w główny nurt polityki zatrudnienia, European Commission and the Department
of Women, Family and Counteracting Discrimination at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Warsaw,
2007 and Polityka równości płci na poziomie lokalnym, Ośka Foundation, Warsaw, 2005.
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Actions of the state sector
(a) Parliamentary Group of Women4
The Parliamentary Group of Women (PGK – Parlamentarna Grupa Kobiet) was
founded in 1991 as a supra-party unit, in an attempt to create an institutionalised
women’s lobby. The legislative initiatives of PGK include, first of all, a draft amendment
of the Family and Guardianship code, as well as a draft amendment of the Act
on Family Planning, Human Embryo Protection and Conditions of Permissibility of
Abortion, in order to provide for a possibility to terminate pregnancies due to socalled
social reasons. Furthermore, PGK prepared legislation concerning equality
between women and men, which eventually was included in the new Constitution
of 1997. It was thanks to PGK’s initiative, that the work on the Act on Equality of
Women and Men was commenced. In April 1998 the Forum of Cooperation between
NGOs and PGK was founded. It constituted a regular platform for contacts
between women’s non-governmental organisations and state institutions.
(b) The act on equality between women and men5
A draft of the Act on Equality between Women and Men appeared before
the Sejm (the lower chamber of the Polish parliament) thrice – for the first
time as early, as 1996. The authors of the first draft were lawyers – professor
Małgorzata Fuszara and professor Eleonora Zielińska. It was presented in the
Sejm twice: in the Autumn of 1996, as an initiative of the Parliamentary Group
of Women, signed by 160 members of parliament. It was not heard then, and
4 Gender Mainstreaming Poland 2007. Report, op. cit. p. 33.
5 See: Małgorzata Fuszara, Eleonora Zielińska, Krótka acz zawiła historia ustawy równościowej,
Biuletyn Ośki, OŚKa Foundation, Warsaw 1998, Śląska Strefa Gender (www.gender.pl), the
contents of the project are available at: www.bezuprzedzen.org.
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several amendments were recommended, after the introduction of which it
was proposed again in February 1997, as an initiative of 120 members of parliament.
This draft was not heard either, due to – as the presidium of the Sejm put
it – “too large a number of other drafts waiting to be heard”. The first reading
eventually took place in June 1997, after which the draft was recommended
for analysis by three parliamentary commissions: the Justice and Human Rights
Commission, the Social Policy Commission and the Legislative Commission.
There was, nevertheless, no chance for commencement of work on the draft,
since in September 1997 a new parliamentary election took place.
The next version of the draft was presented before the Sejm in 1998, again
as an initiative of the Parliamentary Group of Women. The draft was criticised by
the government as, among other reasons, not complying with EU regulations. The
proposed solutions were described as inconsistent with the practice of EU countries,
which was an expression of the government’s negative attitude towards the draft,
rather than its knowledge about the operation of similar acts in EU member countries.
Significantly, the draft mentions questions of gender quotas and equality/gender
monitoring of schoolbooks approved by the Ministry of Education. The first reading
of the draft took place in March 1999, and after a debate it was rejected. The next
step was directing the draft for a reading before the Senat (the higher chamber of the
parliament), which accepted it in December 2002 and recommended for further
consideration by the Sejm. The voting took place in May 2003, and subsequently
the draft was directed for analysis by parliamentary commissions. In June 2005 the
Sejm rejected the Senat’s version of the draft. Poland is the only country without an
act supporting equality, as required by the EU law. In April 2007, when the Law and
Justice (PiS) party was in power, a new draft of the act was prepared, mainly due
to the fact that Polish legislation had to conform with the EU directives, particularly
with the so-called Services Directive. However, when the Citizens’ Platform (PO)
party came to power, it commenced the work on the act anew. It is not clear,
when it is going to be heard by the Sejm. One may only hope that a threat of
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European Commission’s sanctions for not fulfilling the obligations does encourage
the government to speed up the proceedings.
(c) The Commissioner for Equal Status of Women and Men
One attempt to implement the gender equality policy was the introduction of the
Commissioner for Equal Status of Women and Men in 2001, by the Leszek Miller’s
government, as a result of pressure from the European Commission and women’s
organisations. The office of a ministerial rank, affiliated to the Prime Minister’s Office,
was headed first by Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka, and later by Magdalena Środa. The
Office was to be responsible for the Polish government’s policies regarding equal
status of women and men, as well as for preparations for the creation of an office of
a commissioner for prevention of discrimination due to the premises listed in the EU
Council Framework Directive 2000/78/WE (race, ethnic background, religion and
convictions, age and sexual orientation). The Commissioner commenced works
on the National Action Programme for Women6
, which resulted, among others, in
the creation of 16 regional Commissioners for Equal Status of Women and Men.
A number of local commissioners were called as well (though not everywhere).
After the Office was liquidated in 2005 by the right-wing government of Kazimierz
Marcinkiewicz, the tasks formerly carried out by the Commissioner were handed
over to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, which was to coordinate the government’s
anti-discrimination actions (certain competences of the Commissioner were
transferred to a junior minister in the Ministry of Labour, Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska).
Similar tasks were to be performed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry
of Education and the Ministry of Health. In March 2008, the Office was formally
reinstated, and Elżbieta Radziszewska became the Commissioner.
6 See: Jolanta Plakwicz, Anita Seibert, Strategie równości płci w Polsce. Raport (available at: www.
feministki.org.pl; Polityka równości płci na poziomie lokalnym, Ośka Foundation, Warsaw 2005.
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(d) The Commission for Equal Status of Women and Men
Another form of implementation of the principle of gender mainstreaming was
the existence (between April and October 2005) of the Sejm Commission for
Equal Status of Women and Men. The tasks of the Commission involved dealing
with issues resulting from the constitutional principle of equal rights of women
and men, including providing equal opportunities for both sexes in the political,
economic and social life of the country7
.
(e) Official research
Efficient operation of the system of public information ought to be supported
by disaggregating data according to sex. This is not the case, partially due to the
myth of gender neutrality8
, according to which not all sectors must be analysed
with the use of gender tools. Clearly no area, from social care, education and
health, finance, law and security, to macroeconomics, defence, transport and industry,
can be omitted in the process of implementing the gender mainstreaming
policies.
Following up the postulate of disaggregating data according to the sex
variable is not difficult, since most institutions simply do not fulfil it. The report
on implementation of equality policies in Poland9
refers to this shortfall in each
of the 11 chapters concerning different areas of public life. Each of them also
recommends creation of gender-orientated databases and qualitative analyses.
7 Gender Mainstreaming Poland 2007 . op. cit., s.33.
8 See: Barbara Unmüßib, Reflections on Gender mainstreaming. Taking stock of a radical social-political
concept ten years after the Beijing World Conference on Women, HBS concept paper, 2005.
9 Gender Mainstreaming Poland 2007 , op. cit
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Since Poland’s EU accession, very few synthetic studies considering sex as
an important variable have been published in Poland. I shall quote all the generally
available reports regarding women10
. In 2004, the Central Statistical Office (Główny
Urząd Statystyczny – GUS) published a well known report Women and men on the
labour market, which has provided reference for most publications on the subject; for
several years the report was the only Polish source of knowledge in this area. Once
again, GUS in 2005 published: the Women report; a report on the survey by the
Public Opinion Research Centre (Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej – CBOS): The
Poles on the Phenomenon of traffickingwomen and On the retirement age of women and
men. In 2006 research reports were published by CBOS: State policy on the family
and discrimination in the workplace of pregnant women and mothers of young children;
Women in society: Equal rights or discrimination?; Participation of women in public life;
and Women and men on sharing housework. In 2007 more reports were published
byCBOS: Opinions on military service of women; Retirement age of women and men;
and Public opinion on the situation of women in Poland. In 2008 GUS published a report
Women in Poland. As can be seen, the list of publications is not long, and the
topics in most cases are either too narrow (discrimination of pregnant women and
mothers), or too broad (women in general).
(f) Department for Women, Family and Prevention of Discrimination
at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy11
During the years 2005-2007, the Department implemented a number of
projects aimed at preventing gender discrimination, which was the only attempt
10 I consciously do not quote research, where the researched group consists solely of men, since
it is the women who are underrepresented and receive worse treatment. The masculine does
define the universal enough as it is.
11 The descriptions of all projects come from: www.kobieta.gov.pl
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at implementing gender mainstreaming policies at the governmental level12
.
Unfortunately, it would be difficult to find any translation of those projects into
social and political reality, due to the low rank of the Department in political
hierarchy, narrow competence of the Department’s head, and placing emphasis
on family (so-called pro-family policies), rather than on women. Furthermore,
no results of pilot programmes are known, and public opinion was not informed
about implementation of new programmes or continuation of the pilot ones.
The Department issued a few publications summing up the finished projects,
which are not considered significant for implementation of gender equality policies,
since the scope of those projects, and consequently the scope of publications,
was limited. Interestingly enough, the Department implemented most
projects using its own resources, and not inviting competent organisations to
cooperate or consult on those projects. This is not conducive either to appropriate
distribution of public funds, or to the postulate of monitoring equality activities.
It is also contrary to the necessity to consult programmes implementing
gender mainstreaming policies with women’s non-government organisations.
12 Another mention of gender mainstreaming can be found on the website of the Ministry of
Sports and Tourism, containing information on the 5th conference of the Women and Sport
Group. The conference took place in Berlin in 2002 and Polish representatives were present.
The discussed topics included the issues of introducing gender mainstreaming into sport, including
separate evaluation of its influence upon women and men, so-called gender budgeting,
or participation of both sexes in sports committees, particularly those responsible for
allocating funding. More on the subject: http://www.msport.gov.pl/content.php?id=452.
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Implementation of the principle of gender mainstreaming – the EU
project for new member countries
A Hungarian pilot project financed by the EU – Implementation of the gender
mainstreaming principle – was implemented as a part of Community Framework
Strategy for Gender Equality 2001-2006. The objective of the project was to
exchange information and experiences on implementation of the principle of
gender equality in the new EU member countries, and to create elements of
joint strategy. It was introduced by Hungary as a pilot, and, to a lesser degree,
by partner states. The project was to be implemented between September
2005 and December 2006. It provided for translation into Polish of a handbook
for trainers (a result of cooperation between all partners), and for training
representatives of government administration. The Polish side participated in
the international conference closing the project, which summed up all actions
planned as its part.
Discrimination of women on the job market – the campaign:
“Wanted: 45+. Reliability, commitment, experience”
The campaign was aimed at influencing the awareness of employers and em-
ployees13
by changing their stereotypical views on working women aged 45 and
more, and by promoting the image of an older woman. The project is compatible
with the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development,
objective no. 1.6, which provides for multilateral support for women on the job
market via gender mainstreaming, which is supposed to effectively lead to increased
employment of women.
13 In spite of undertaking pro-women actions, the Department uses “neutral” language, which is
in fact language ignoring the existence of females.
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Gender mainstreaming at the governmental level in the EU member
countries
Although Poland was not a partner in this project, representatives of the Department
were invited to participate in a conference entitled as above, organised by Swedish
Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality, at the end of a project co-financed by the
EU Community Framework Strategy for Gender Equality 2001-2006. The project
had commenced in December 2005 and was completed in March 2007. The partner
countries were Sweden, Finland, Lithuania and Portugal. The conference was a forum
for presentation of results, good practices and experiences gathered in the course of
working on the project. The Swedish ministry sent out a questionnaire concerning
implementation of gender mainstreaming by the EU countries, on the basis of which it
prepared a report Gender Mainstreaming in the EU Member States. Progress, Obstacles
and Experiences at Governmental Level14
. Participants of the conference admitted that
thequestionofexistence(ornon-existence)ofdiscriminationoughttobedocumented
by research, which should constitute a basis for an approved action plan for improvement
of living conditions of the discriminated sex – in this case, of women15
.
Structural Funds – gender
mainstreaming as a horizontal
(and obligatory) issue
Pilot implementation of gender mainstreaming in almost 100 EQUAL
Partnerships was designed as a part of the EQUAL EU Initiative. The institutions
administrating the pilot programme were the National Support Structure
for EQUAL and UNDP Poland. Ordered by the Cooperation Fund within
14 The Department does not publish information about the Polish report
15 The Department admits that Poland, as the only EU country, does not have either an act on
equal status, or a national plan for gender equality.
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the National Thematic Network, a report was compiled on the evaluation of
projects according to compliance with, and implementation of gender mainstreaming.
The evaluation concerned 89 projects from all the thematic areas16
.
The report revealed a high correlation between participation of an organisation/institution
professionally dealing with gender equality in a Partnership, and
the final result. A vast majority of the evaluated projects involved planned
implementation of gender mainstreaming in the area of so-called quantitative
equality, i.e. the Partnerships understood equality mathematically, mechanically
dividing their target groups into two, regardless of earlier analyses, diagnoses
and research results. The division and differentiation of beneficiaries of
the final projectsdid not usually result in itself in any qualitative changes, i.e.
those reflecting particular, specific needs and problems of each sex. In several
projects there were no solutions connected with gender mainstreaming at the
level of diagnosis, establishing characteristics of beneficiaries, objectives of the
project or the suggested actions. At the same time, each of the Partnerships
was obliged to fill in point 7 of the Application Form (description of gender
mainstreaming), and had to define objectives and actions, which were not only
very general and did not reflect specific characteristics of each Partnership’s
area of interest, but also did not specify indicators of change in a way, which
might provide for reliable evaluation. At the stage of project planning and defining
the problem, Partnerships did not consider the category of gender, and
saw no problems they wanted to solve in the context of differences between
16 The topic areas: Topic A: Facilitating entering or returning to the labour market of people having
trouble integrating or reintegrating into it, in order to promote a labour market open to all.
Topic D: strengthening the national social economy (the third sector) and in particular services
for local communities and improving job quality. Topic F: Supporting adaptability of companies
and employees to structural changes in the economy, as well as the use of information technologies,
and other modern technologies. Topic G: combining family and professional life, and
reintegration of women and men who left the labour market, by introducing more flexible and
effective forms of work organisation, and accompanying actions. Topic I: Assisting social and
professional integration of asylum seekers.
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women and men. Another apparent feature was the lack of knowledge of
the amended Labour Code and the EU regulations17
. Based on the above,
a training model was created for future trainers in gender mainstreaming, in
order to create a training model for Partnerships with the trainers’ cooperation.
During training, it often became apparent that people implementing the
projects were not at all familiar with gender equality and the strategy of gender
mainstreaming. Furthermore, the trainings took place at a relatively late stage
of project implementation, so changes could only be introduced at the level
of publicising the results.
The subsequent programming period (2007-2013) provides for the
next pilot programme, involving the Human Capital Investment Operational
Programme18
, where gender mainstreaming will be presented to all institutions
involved, from project applicants, to regional advisory centres, and to
project evaluation committees. At this point it is important to quote two documents
of strategic importance for Poland, supporting implementation of gender
mainstreaming: the National Development Plan and the National Cohesion
Strategy19
. The National Development Plan, or the Polish version of the Lisbon
Strategy, is a comprehensive programme of socio-economic development, financed
with participation of EU funding, as well as by national budgets. The
National Development Programme 2007-2013 is to serve for stimulating and
better use of local development resources, particularly of human and social
17 Internal report on evaluation of EQUAL programmes was prepared by Maja Branka, Małgorzata
Dymowska, Anna Kaminska, Ewa Rutkowska.
18 The pilot was designed by the Cooperation Fund Foundation. Negotiations are still underway
(May 2008) with the Ministry of Regional Development in order to obtain institutional
credentials.
19 After: Maja Branka, Małgorzata Dymowska, Katarzyna Sekutowicz, Wdrażanie perspektywy
równości szans kobiet i mężczyzn w projektach Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego Program
Operacyjny Kapitał Ludzki. Podręcznik krok po kroku, Warsaw 2008. See also: Strategic Reference
Framework 2007-2013 supporting economic growth and employment. National Cohesion
Strategy, Ministry of Regional Development, Warsaw, May 2007.
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capital. The mission of the National Development Programme is to improve
the Polish citizens’ quality of life. The National Cohesion Strategy (officially
known as National Strategic Reference Framework) is a strategic document
defining priorities and areas of application, as well as a system of implementation
of the EU funds: European Regional Development Fund, European Social
Fund and Cohesion Fund within the EU budget for the years 2007-2013. The
strategic objective of the National Cohesion Strategy is to create conditions
for increased competitiveness of the Polish economy, based on knowledge
and entrepreneurship, creating new jobs and increasing the level of social,
economic and spatial cohesion. Implementation of the National Strategic
Reference Framework will involve support for equal opportunities, which
means ensuring support for equality between men and women, as well as
incorporating the issues of equality during individual stages of implementation
of structural funds. This involves counteracting all symptoms of discrimination
due to sex, race or ethnic background, religion or views, disability, age or sexual
orientation. In the system of National Strategic Reference Framework, the
implementation of this principle is introduced by ensuring equal opportunities
during election of members of committees and sub-committees monitoring
implementation of the funds.
Activities of the
non-governmental sector
A significant part of actions for equal status of women and men, and consequently
for implementation of gender mainstreaming policies, has been delegated
to the third sector. Therefore, most women’s organisations deal with tasks,
which originally ought to have been implemented by the government and its
institutions. Due to a large number of actions performed by non-governmental
organisations, I shall only name a few initiatives from the recent years.
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(a) The labour market
• Karat Coalition conducted monitoring of observance of workers’ rights in
clothing factories in Poland, a report from which was published in 2005. The
research concerned compliance with working standards, such as the ban on
forced work, the ban on child labour, the freedom to associate, the ban on
working excessively long hours, the right to honest pay, security and legality of
employment, safety and decent working conditions. The report indicates that as
a result of restructuring and privatisation of the clothing industry a lot of factories
were closed down, and the number of jobs fell by half. In Poland a vast majority
of employees of the clothing industry were women, so the decrease of the
number of factories meant mainly women lost their jobs. This is one of the reasons,
why in the regions traditionally connected with the clothing industry most
of the unemployed are women. A difficult situation of women connected with
the clothing industry definitely influences compliance with their workers’ rights
in those regions. In the course of research it was discovered that only one of the
eight quoted standards (the ban on child labour) was fully obeyed20
.
• The Gender Index project was implemented as a part of EQUAL. One of
its partners was Feminoteka Foundation, and it was administered by UNDP
Poland. The objective of the project was to create lasting mechanisms for
ensuring equal opportunities for all employees in Polish businesses. Gender
Index was aimed at designing solutions leading to effective business management
incorporating the equality policy. The project promoted effective
personnel management strategies aimed at strengthening the market position
of the company. The tasks included organising a competition The equal
20 Ewa Lisowska, Anna Zachorowska-Mazurkiewicz, Macroeconomy and Trade, [in:] Gender
Mainstreaming Poland 2007 . op. cit., s. 21.
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opportunities employer, conducting training for employers, organising two nationwide
conferences to discuss policies of the state, including those within
the gender mainstreaming area, as well as sexual harassment in the workplace.
Furthermore, the project worked on adaptation of the concept of
diversity management. Importantly, the project involved preparation of detailed
recommendations for the Prime Minister, the Minister of Labour and
Social Policy, the Sejm Committees of: Social Policy, Labour and Family and
Women’s Rights, concerning combining professional and personal life, unpaid
housework done by women, women’s rights in the workplace, as well as
practical implementation of gender mainstreaming21
.
• Gender mainstreaming in institutions of the labour market – the project was implemented
by a partnership consisting of SPI Consult GmbH Polish Division,
SPI Poland and Karat Coalition, commencing in November 2006. The project
included organisation of two national conferences and 19 two-day trainings,
as well as preparation of a brochure on the need to include the gender mainstreaming
aspect in all actions undertaken by institutions of the labour market.
The project was addressed to employees of labour market institutions: provincial
and district job offices, training institutions, non-governmental organisations
(including women’s organisations), and all other institutions working
toward improving the situation at the labour market22
.
(b) Violence against women
• In 2007, Feminoteka Foundation prepared a critical report Who do we protect
againstviolence?Implementationoftheactonpreventionoffamilyviolence(2005-
21 More information at: www.genderindex.pl
22 More information at:www.spiconsult.pl
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2007). The report was written from a feminist perspective, and attempted to
answer the question of how the act on prevention of family violence operated
in practice, with particular emphasis upon the situation of women and girls.
The report’s authors decided to emphasise the aspect of sex, worried about
an increasingly common tendency in Poland to place problems of women
(including violence) in the family context. Foreign experts draw attention to
the problem of women’s “disappearance” from Polish policies, which at the
moment are referred to as “pro-family”, rather than “equality”. The experts
are most concerned about viewing domestic violence as a gender-neutral issue,
which was mentioned in January 2007 by the UN Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The publication was prepared
as a part of the regional programme “Gender democracy/Women’s politics”,
implemented by the Polish Office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation23
.
(c) Education
• The House for Polish-German Cooperation in Gliwice published a manual
entitled Równa szkoła. Edukacja wolna od dyskryminacji. Poradnik dla nauczycielek
i nauczycieli (Equal school. Discrimination-free education. Manual for
teachers), as a part of the project “Gender lessons, or gender equality in
a nutshell”. The objective of the manual is to encourage teachers to critically
reflect on the methods of working with young people. The manual consists
of six mainly theoretical chapters, and three chapters concerning methodology
of conducting classes on counteracting discrimination. The information
is supplemented with a compilation of good practices in anti-discrimination
projects, as well as a broad bibliography and a legal annex24
.
23 The report available in a printed version and for download from: www.feminoteka.pl
24 Ewa Majewska, Ewa Rutkowska, Równa szkoła. Edukacja wolna od dyskryminacji. Poradnik dla
nauczycielek i nauczycieli, Gliwice, 2008. More information at: www.haus.pl
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The Association “W Stronę Dziewcząt” (“Towards The Girls”) promotes
equality in education, and particularly aims at: strengthening the position of girls
in education and sports; promoting the knowledge about women’s history and
rights among young people, teachers and parents; supporting open publication
and free licences in order to strengthen and encourage cooperation within the
equality and educational circles. “W Stronę Dziewcząt” created a proposal of
lesson scripts, prepared for private and state schools. The scripts fit curricula of
school subjects, which allows for their implementation without modifying the
original teaching programmes. The association runs workshops for teachers and
trainers of both sexes on the strategy of introducing issues of gender and equality
to school classes25
.
(d) Publications
• Gender Mainstreaming in Poland 2007 is a report prepared for UNDP Poland
by a team led by professor Bożena Chołuj, and the first publication on gender
mainstreaming in Poland, which is this broad and comprehensive. The report
was created by a team of tens of experts from the best Polish academic centres
and the main non-governmental organisations working for equality between
women and men. The publication includes an analysis of the situation
of women and men in eleven areas of social life: macroeconomics and trade,
governance and participation, labour, education, health, poverty, justice and
human rights, science, research and modern technology, mass media, environmental
conservation and sustainable development, defence policies26
.
25 More information at: www.wstronedziewczat.org.pl
26 The report available in a printed version and for download from: www.undp.org.pl
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Strong and weak points of the
concepts and premises of gender
mainstreaming
It is often assumed that the theoretical basis for gender mainstreaming was
provided by the “policy of difference”27
. Political practice is often based on the
premise of “gender neutrality” treating the sex variable as insignificant, thus
strengthening discrimination, particularly in its indirect forms. One of the objectives
of the gender equality policy was to question the existing gender contract
drawn between the private and the public, between the professional life and
the home one. A critical view of relations of power between sexes was to yield
a view of an individual, which allowed him or her to fully participate in both
spheres of life without imposed, socially accepted roles, such as “sole breadwinner”
or “carer for dependants”. In practice this was supposed to mean introduction
of parental leaves, flexible forms of employment or a possibility of part-time
employment, facilities for people wishing to fulfil professional ambitions in areas
of the labour market other than stereotypical ones.
Another significant theoretical premise of gender mainstreaming was the
concept of democracy28
and the invariably connected with it concept of representation.
It was assumed then, that it would be possible to create appropriate
conditions for both sexes on the labour market. Once again, in practice this
was to mean facilitating women’s access to generally appreciated goods, such
as decision making, particularly in the field of public finance, or participation in
political life, regardless of fixed social stereotypes and unwritten rules governing
a particular community or organisation. The idea of representation proposed by
gender mainstreaming also helped to introduce women into the mainstream,
27 Teresa Rees, Gender mainstreaming: Misappropriated and Misunderstood?, 2002, p.3.
28 Ibidem, p.5.
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which indirectly undermined the hierarchic political style at all levels. It did not,
however, lead to a complete redefinition of politics itself, although it did allow
for criticising it within the existing framework29
. Another founding principle of
gender mainstreaming was the principle of social justice, the objective of which
was to include the groups formerly excluded from the public domain (in this
case – women). One particular form of such justice can be the distribution of
goods in a manner which takes into consideration the aspect of the earlier exclusion
of women from social and political life.
The policy of gender mainstreaming implies the use of the concept of
gender equality, which directly questions patriarchal culture, trying to solve the
issues of asymmetrical relations between the sexes and inequalities in the areas
of paid and unpaid work, family and caring for dependants, politics, culture,
health, sexuality and violence. It also implies the necessity to refer to the category
of gender, rather than to the biological, or in fact essentialist understanding of
sex. Consequently, critical analysis is to be applied to the consequences of playing
social roles by both sexes, their mutual relations, and in particular the relations
of power and domination30
. Apart from this, an important value of gender
mainstreaming (on the level of political and organisational culture and decisionmaking
processes) is the postulated change of procedures, mechanisms and
manners of conducting politics at all levels. This results in the necessity of gender
expertise and in awareness of the mechanisms of reproducing inequality. It is
worth remembering that the fact of gender mainstreaming having introduced
the so-called women’s issue and gender into the mainstream (and in spite of
the fact that solving problems connected with gender (in)equality is a lengthy
process producing no immediate effects) brought about a serious change of
29 Emanuela Lombardo, Petra Meier, Gender mainstreaming in the EU: Incorporating a Feminist
Reading?, [in:] “European Journal of Women’s Studies” 2006, no. (13)2, pp. 153-154.
30 Ibidem, p. 153.
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attitudes in the public domain, and about, however partial, abandonment of
gender-blind politics.
A serious problem facing not only the introduction of gender mainstreaming
in Poland, but also the concept itself, is the lack of conceptual and
formal (structural) framework. It has been assumed (and quite rightly) that gender
mainstreaming is a “model to assemble” rather than a ready formula for
the introduction of gender equality. Furthermore, a periodicity of the inclusion
of equal status of women and men into politics and social practice has been
observed. Gender mainstreaming is therefore, as a rule, recommended to all
institutions which have a history of not considering the perspective of gender
equality. It seems, however, that in Poland introduction of this principle (worse
still – only on paper) substituted a political debate necessary to define the desired
relations between the sexes. Furthermore, gender mainstreaming actions
are based on a false premise that the sexes occupy comparable, if not symmetrical
positions, which in practice leads to deepening of inequality and worsening of
the already unfavourable position of women31
.
The ultimate problem connected with gender mainstreaming, raised by
several theoreticians32
, is the enduring gap between the provisions of the law,
and its implementation. It is clear that both in public discourse and in the decision
processes, relations between the sexes are either marginalised or altogether
ignored. Gender mainstreaming seems to be completely unused as a tool for
examining the influence of the sex variable upon the exclusion mechanisms in
economics33
. This is not a particularly surprising observation, since economics and
business are the areas where the aspect of gender equality is completely ignored.
31 Jolanta Plakwicz, O potrzebie gender mainstreaming w polityce, [in:] Polityka równości płci na
poziomie lokalnym, op. cit., pp.: 20-21.
32 Barbara Unmüßib, Reflections on Gender mainstreaming…, op. cit., p. 4
33 Ibidem. See also: Ewa Lisowska, Anna Zachorowska-Mazurkiewicz, Macroeconomy and Trade
in: Gender Mainstreaming Poland 2007 , op. cit., pp. 13-23
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This phenomenon, however, appears in other areas of public life as well: in spite
of the publication of several handbooks, manuals and theoretical papers on gender
mainstreaming in Poland, only a few institutions are familiar with it, and even fewer
use it. The knowledge of gender mainstreaming seems impossible to put into
practice, not because it seems irrelevant, but because it is not taken seriously – still
laden with stereotypes and prejudice of the people responsible for its implementation
– and it is easily marginalised. There is always something more important to
do than improving the quality of women’s lives. Another problem is the feminist
context of gender mainstreaming. On the one hand, in Polish publications most
authors are careful to avoid the term “feminism”34
; on the other, the analysis of
the term “gender” in itself suggests a feminist interpretation, usually rejected as
“unscientific”, or “ideological”35
. An added difficulty with which texts on gender
mainstreaming are laden, is its interpretation as a question to be dealt with by
women; it is up to women to create change, while the role/situation/condition of
men is not questioned. Although combining family and professional life with all its
consequences, such as lower pay for women, hidden barriers (glass ceiling, sticky
floor), feminisation of low-prestige professions, are the most frequently diagnosed
problems on the labour market, the gender division of labour has not been properly
solved. Instead, new ways are devised for women to better combine duties,
which strengthens the existing system36
.
34 See also a critical analysis of this approach in: Jolanta Plakwicz, O potrzebie gender mainstreaming
w polityce, op. cit.
35 Ibidem: “(…) the term ‘gender’ owes its political career mainly to liberal feminism, which
questioned the so-called neutrality of the law, and of the democracy based on this law, from
the sex perspective. Representatives of this strand argued that there is no such thing as an
abstract individual, and that <<neutral law>> is nothing but legal provisions concerning
only one (male) sex. They stated (...) that consequences of differences between sexes often
do come up only at the stage of practicing the law, and consequently in policies conducted by
various institutions the state is based on”, p.20.
36 Emanuela Lombardo, Petra Meier, Gender mainstreaming in the EU: Incorporating a Feminist
Reading?, op. cit., p.60.
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Therefore, the weakness of gender mainstreaming is the temptation to treat
it as a mechanism for the execution of law, without a reflection that it should be
a long-term process of transformation of the state’s policies. This is what effective implementation
of gender mainstreaming ought to be about: it must be implemented
at all levels of decision making, in accordance with the top-down principle. Only this
approach may help to overcome the resistance at the administrative and institutional
level37
. It is a myth, however, often repeated by Polish gender mainstreaming
manuals, that it can be implemented without cost, and “en passant”, alongside the
“main” actions. Gender equality means costs of staff training, gender expertise and
controlling the influence of actions upon women and men; it means costs of creating
the necessary jobs connected with introduction and monitoring of gender mainstreaming
activities. The costs involve “soft” actions of raising awareness in the field
of gender equality. Justice and democracy de iure cost far less, than the existing ones.
Gender mainstreaming could be aided by priority treatment by the Polish government,
which would also involve sanctions for lack of implementation.
Another key controversy connected with gender mainstreaming is treating
it as a substitute for earlier equality legal provisions and positive or equalising
actions. As the reports presented by the Council of Europe38
indicate, additional
mechanisms are necessary for effective and permanent implementation of gender
mainstreaming.
There is yet another error hidden in the Polish understanding of gender
mainstreaming: juxtaposing it and pro-family policies. Opponents of gender
mainstreaming assume that it is opposed to the family39
, not addressing
37 Maria Stratigaki, Gender mainstreaming vs Positive Action: An Ongoing Conflict in EU Gender
Equality Policy, [in:] “European Journal of Women’s Studies”, 2005, no. (12)2, pp. 167-168.
38 See ibidem, p. 168.
39 Which also corresponds with the stereotypical understanding of feminism, the objective of
which, according to conservative interpretation, is total questioning of the family. Equality
policy in Poland is embroiled with other concepts, such as women’s reproductive health and
sexual education, highly charged with ideology in the right-wing discourse.
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the practice of other EU countries, such as Sweden or France, which practice
gender mainstreaming whilst having one of the highest fertility rates. In the
same strand of obscuring the reality are neoconservative practices appropriating
gender mainstreaming strategies. In 2007 in Poland, we witnessed a media
campaign “Moms at work can do more”40
. The concept of gender mainstreaming
was treated by the right-wing discourse as an answer to women’s practical
problem with maternity leaves and leaving the labour market. Strategic needs
of women (and men) are not, however, taken into account at all, hence the action
“Mothers at work...” not only enforces stereotypical gender roles, but also
essentialises women in the professional sphere. The campaign clearly shows
– although the authors do not see this – an identity problem: a woman who
gets pregnant (the department wants to “encourage women not to be afraid of
decisions about maternity”), instantly becomes a mother, who, in addition, gains
value in the eyes of an employer. The Department does write about the necessity
for systemic changes to help women on the labour market, but seems to
treat them as secondary. The primary changes are to take place in, interestingly,
women (mothers, according to the department), and, secondly – in employers.
A mother acquires skills which, according to the authors of the campaign,
are useful at work: she can negotiate, she is patient, focussed, empathetic and
has developed emotional intelligence41
. One of the reasons for this is the fact,
that “motherhood is a constant compromise”. What is interesting in the rhetoric
proposed by the Department is the absence of men (although it would be
difficult to assume, that the Department decided to part with the heterosexual
“norm”), who do not participate in parenting, and consequently do not develop
the quoted characteristics. One possible reason can be that those particular
skills are not highly regarded in the workplace, and even if they seem attractive,
40 More on the website of the Department for Women, Family and Counteracting Discrimination
of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy: http://www.rodzina.gov.pl
41 All to be found on the Department’s website.
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they do so in feminised professions. Once again, this shows how harmful the
right-wing/conservative re-formulation of principles of gender mainstreaming
can be.
Has gender mainstreaming
achieved anything?
Out of the 11 areas identified in the report on the implementation of gender mainstreaming
in Poland42
, only three provided examples of good practice implemented
by state institutions. They were “governance and participation”, “justice and human
rights” and “defence policies”. It is therefore impossible to talk about conscious implementation
of gender mainstreaming in Poland. In the case of the “governance and
participation” area, good practices have been discussed above, namely the operation
of the Parliamentary Group of Women, the Office of Commissioner and the
Commission for Equal Status of Women and Men. Unfortunately, the last years
have not seen advancement in implementation of gender mainstreaming – on the
contrary. The chief argument can be the lack of the act on equal status of women
and men. Perhaps passing this act could be the first step towards the implementation
of gender equality in individual areas governed by ministries, as well as between the
ministries – in accordance with the horizontal principle.
In the area of “justice and human rights”, the authors43
quote two
projects connected with counteracting discrimination, implemented by the
Commissioner for Equal Status of Women and Men. The first one, Strengthening
policies for the equal treatment of women and men was meant to lead to increased
capacity of public administration to implement the policy of equal treatment of
42 Gender Mainstreaming Poland 2007, op. cit.
43 Agata Teutsch, Eleonora Zielińska, Sprawiedliwość i prawa człowieka, op. cit. pp. 93-94.
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women and men, to the creation of a system monitoring the situation of women
and men, as well as to raising public awareness. As a part of the project, and
only for the time of its duration, specially appointed officers were responsible
for the implementation of the policy of equal treatment in individual ministries
of government administration and in other offices crucial for this policy, such
as the Ombudsman’s Office or the Central Statistical Office. The government
administration, justice system and police staff were trained, along with representatives
of NGOs, trade unions and employers’ organisations. A report was
prepared, containing recommendations for Poland concerning implementation
of this policy. An analysis of statistical data and qualitative research from the gender
mainstreaming perspective was conducted.
The objective of the second project, Strengthening anti-discrimination
policy, was to intensify actions aimed at preventing and combating discrimination
based on race, ethnic background, religion, views, age and psycho-sexual orientation,
as well as co-existing factors, such as sex. Polish legislation was reviewed,
along with court practice and action programmes concerning counteracting discrimination;
recommendations were established, allowing for the creation of
new organisational structures and mechanisms of coordination responsible for
the implementation of anti-discrimination policies. An educational programme
and a manual Anti-discrimination – Educational Packet were devised, and a network
of trainers was built, to provide training for the police, courts, defence
lawyers, government offices, work inspectors and educational institutions, on
preventing and counteracting discrimination in their work44
.
The last example of institutional good practice is the Co-educational Army
Project, implemented by the Ministry of National Defence with participation of
Partners Polska Foundation. The project was aimed at creating tolerant attitudes,
and eliminating prejudice and stereotypes in viewing the role of women in the army.
44 Ibidem, pp. 93-94.
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Training methodology was prepared for issues concerning the formation of appropriate
relations between women and men in the military service. The educational
programme included: prevention of pathology in human relations, such as mobbing
or sexual harassment; counteracting stereotypes in viewing social roles of women
and men, including homosexuals; practical tips for commanders and educators on
solving problems resulting from co-educational conditions of military training. The
implementation procedure for the programme included a series of workshops conducted
by experts from the Partners Polska Foundation, with lecturers of humanities
from military academies, officers’ schools and training centres45
.
The answer to the question about the manner of implementation of
gender mainstreaming in Poland has been given several times by women’s organisations,
for example by way of analysing public discourse, based on the debate
about the equality act. The postulate to introduce equality of the sexes was
also reflected in the demand to reinstate the Commissioner’s office. Aversion
of the Polish government towards equality was noticed by CEDAW, which in
February 2007 presented a set of recommendations concerning implementation
of gender mainstreaming for the Polish government. It clearly showed that
the work in this area at the state level falls short of being satisfactory. The following
can be considered the most important of those recommendations46
:
1. To adopt a general anti-discrimination law and put in place appropriate
procedures enabling its effective implementation, monitoring and
enforcement.
2. To ensure that gender equality and women’s rights are one of the
priority areas of the government’s actions, and to provide ongoing
monitoring of progress in reaching these aims.
45 Bożena Szubińska i Mariusz Wachowicz, Defence policies, [in:] Gender Mainstreaming Poland
2007 , op. cit., p.139.
46 Gender Mainstreaming Poland 2007 , op. cit., pp.10-11.
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3. To adopt a comprehensive action plan for gender equality with sufficient
resources for its implementation in consultation with women’s
non-governmental organisations.
4. To take sustained measures for women’s full and equal participation
in national, municipal and judicial government institutions and international
institutions.
5. To intensify efforts to overcome deep-rooted stereotypes and attitudes
that are discriminatory against women by taking actions in educational
programmes and the media, and by working with the nongovernmental
sector.
6. To provide priority attention to the problem of preventing and combating
violence against women and girls.
7. To strengthen the system of data collection on human trafficking and
to ensure the effectiveness of programmes combating this problem.
8. To strengthen efforts ensuring equal opportunities of women and
men in the labour market.
9. To take concrete measures to enhance women’s access to health
care, in particular to sexual and reproductive health services. To ensure
access to legal abortion and appropriate sex education for boys
and girls.
10. To ensure that rural women benefit to an equal degree from gender
mainstreaming policies and measures.
11. To collect quantitative and qualitative information on the situation
of women and girls from groups especially threatened with discrimination
(Roma, refugees, immigrants, women seeking political
asylum).
12. To improve the system of collecting and analysing data by disaggregating
by sex.
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13. To institutionalise ongoing and systematic consultations with women’s
non-governmental organisations on gender mainstreaming
policies47
.
It is worth emphasising that the above extract from recommendations is in
accordance with Poland’s obligations resulting from adopting the CEDAW
Convention in 1980.
Polish law contains regulations concerning gender equality as well. Those
are, for example, the 32nd and 33rd articles of the Polish Constitution of 1997,
and chapter IIa of the Reformed Labour Code (2002, 2004) containing a definition
of indirect and direct discrimination, drawn directly from EU regulations48
.
Recommendations for more
effective introduction of gender
mainstreaming in Poland
Apart from the recommendations from the Committee, there is a need for
further ones, more detailed and indicating the possible, though not the only,
directions for action:
• Institutional financial support for women’s organisations, which ought
to participate in building effective strategies for gender mainstreaming
policies, as well as have a chance to jointly lobby for equality of women
and men. Women’s organisations should have a more convenient
access to EU funds, which constitute the main source of financing for
47 On the basis of: Gender Mainstreaming Poland 2007, op. cit. See: Concluding Comments of
the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Poland , CEDAW/C/POL/
CO/6, 2 February 2007.
48 See: www.gm.undp.org.pl, text by Natalia Sarata Więcej o GM.
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the non-governmental sector. Without long-term financial support designing
those strategies will be impossible49
.
• Passing the act on equal status of women and men.
• Broadening the constitutional provisions on equality of sexes and nondiscrimination
by introducing the principle of equal opportunities and
compensatory preference50
.
• Adopting an act on partnerships and regulating the legal situation of
homosexual couples, including those raising children.
• New formulation of regulations concerning rape51
.
• Creation and implementation of national programmes and plans (see:
National Programme for Women – Stage 2, 2003-2005) and identifying
and securing resources for their implementation.
• Creating a Commission for Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women
and Men.
• Guaranteeing a fixed number of places on lists of candidates for electable
bodies for women (a quota system) by party regulations or by
provisions of general acts52
.
• Publicising statistics and public poll results, so that inequality and discrimination
on the labour market are considered a social problem53
.
• Creating a list of national health priorities, and closely monitored national
programs for combating the diseases most dangerous to public
health, naming the most important risks separately for women and
49 Jolanta Plakwicz and Anita Seibert, Strategie równości płci w Polsce. Raport, op. cit.
50 Agata Teutsch, Eleonora Zielińska, Justice and human rights, in: Gender Mainstreaming Poland
2007 , op. cit., p. 92.
51 Ibidem, p. 92.
52 Małgorzata Fuszara, Sylwia Spurek, Governance and participation, in: Gender Mainstreaming
Poland 2007 , op. cit., p. 31.
53 Danuta Duch-Krzystoszek, Natalia Sarata, Labour, in: Gender Mainstreaming Poland 2007 ,
op. cit., p. 44.
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men; exempting this area from dependence on political options of the
government in power54
.
• Liberalisation of the abortion law.
• Constant monitoring of the feminisation of poverty and preventing it
by introduction of “early intervention” programmes, development of
professional qualifications, better health policy and education.
• Introducing a requirement of gender equality, or at least increasing the
participation of women in bodies responsible for decision-making and
distribution of financial resources for scientific research55
.
• Promoting science and technology among women.
• Trainings on gender mainstreaming, gender analysis, equality and antidiscrimination
for institutions and teachers on every level of education,
and for science-related institutions.
• Constant examination and monitoring of media broadcasts, their contents,
language and social reception; creating a media equality code56
.
• Introducing gender mainstreaming to the areas/ministries dominated
by men, e.g. environmental conservation, transport, business, industry,
army etc.
Translated by Katarzyna Nowakowska
54 Bożena Moskalewicz, Beata Balińska, Health, in: Gender Mainstreaming Poland 2007 , op.
cit., p. 69.
55 Agnieszka Dziedziczak-Fołdyn, Science, research and modern technologies, in: Gender
Mainstreaming Poland 2007 , op. cit., p. 103.
56 More: Izabela Kowalczyk, Joanna Piotrowska, Edyta Zierkiewicz, Mass media, in: Gender
Mainstreaming Poland 2007 , op. cit., pp. 115-116.
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Literaure
Branka, Maja, Dymowska, Małgorzata, Sekutowicz, Katarzyna, Wdrażanie perspektywy
równości szans kobiet i mężczyzn w projektach Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego Program
Operacyjny Kapitał Ludzki. Podręcznik krok po kroku, Warsaw 2008.
Concluding Comments of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women:
Poland, CEDAW/C/POL/CO/6, 2 February 2007.
Fuszara, Małgorzata, Zielińska, Eleonora, Krótka acz zawiła historia ustawy równościowej, [in:]
„Biuletyn OŚKi”, Fundacja OŚKa, Warsaw, 1998.
Gender mainstreaming: conceptual framework, methodology and presentation of good practices,
Strasburg, 1998.
Lombardo, Emanuela, Meier, Petra, Gender mainstreaming in the EU: Incorporating a Feminist
Reading?, [in:] “European Journal of Women’s Studies”, 2006, no. (13)2.
Narodowa Strategia Spójności, Ministry of Regional Development, Warsaw, May 2007.
Narodowe Strategiczne Ramy Odniesienia, 2007-2013 wspierające wzrost gospodarczy i
zatrudnienie.
Plakwicz, Jolanta, Seibert, Anita, Strategie równości płci w Polsce. Raport, 2004.
Podręcznik włączania problematyki równości płci w główny nurt polityki zatrudnienia, Komisja
Europejska i Departament ds. Kobiet, Rodziny i Przeciwdziałania Dyskryminacji MPiPS,
Warsaw, 2007.
Polityka równości płci na poziomie lokalnym, Fundacja OŚKa, Warsaw, 2005.
Polityka równości płci. Polska 2007. Raport, UNDP, Warsaw, 2007.
Polityka równości płci. Przewodnik Inicjatywy Wspólnotowej EQUAL, Warsaw, 2005.
Polityka równości płci w praktyce, UNDP, Warsaw, 2006.
Rees, Teresa, Gender mainstreaming: Misappropriated and Misunderstood?, 2002.
Stratigaki, Maria, Gender mainstreaming vs Positive Action: An Ongoing Conflict in EU Gender
Equality Policy,[in:] “European Journal of Women’s Studies”, 2005, nr (12)2.
Unmüßig, Barbara, Reflections on Gender Mainstreaming. Taking stock of a radical socialpolitical
concept ten years after the Beijing World Conference on Women, HBS concept paper,
2005.
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Websites
www.bezuprzedzen.org
www.feminoteka.pl
www.gender.pl
www.genderindex.pl
www.gm.undp.org.pl
www.haus.pl
www.kobieta.gov.pl
www.msport.gov.pl
www.spiconsult.pl
www.undp.org.pl
www.wstronedziewczat.org.pl
5.
Gender Mainstreaming
in Slovakia:
Rather Down than Top
Olga Pietruchová, Paula Jójárt
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In spite of efforts of women’s NGOs in Slovakia, gender mainstreaming is still
a new and unknown concept. When it first appeared on the international women’s
movement scene and on the agenda of EU politics, Slovak NGOs also
started to highlight it. First attempts date back to 2002 when ASPEKT published
the translation of the publication by Barbara Stiegler about EU strategy
on gender mainstreaming and when the discussion about the EU agenda on
anti-discrimination and gender policy started.
The next publication was “On the Road to the EU. A Guide Not Only for
Women” (2002) published by ASPEKT in cooperation with partners in Poland
and the Czech Republic on the occasion of EU accession. The publication provided
information about the basic principles of EU legislation guaranteeingequal
opportunities. It also contained the main philosophy of gender specific approach
of the EU in some areas such as employment, labor market, violence against
women and others.
However, the expectation that the accession of Slovakia to the EU would
start more noticeable changes in social practices has not been met yet. Even
after 5 years of EU membership, Slovakia does not have a conceptual gender
equality policy or gender mainstreaming policy that we could evaluate. There
are only sporadic initiatives, mainly related to the EU structural funds.
Definition of the concept
Even before EU accession, women’s NGOs strove to import the strategy of
gender mainstreaming to Slovakia. As a result of their effortsthey gained knowledge
of the principle. This was useful mainly in introducing terminology and
definitions (esp. ASPEKT and Center for Gender Studies) but also in initial workshops
and gender trainings. For instance, the only governmental website on
gender issues and gender mainstreaming www.gender.gov.sk features the fol-
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lowing definition taken from the Glossary of Gender Terminology edited by
ASPEKT (http://glosar.aspekt.sk):
Gender mainstreaming
Means the application of a gender specific perspective in all decision-making processes
and utilization of each decision-making process to achieve gender equality.
No provision, no policy or decision is gender neutral (in its assumption or implications)
and this fact must be taken into account in its preparation and realization.
In the international context, the concept of gender mainstreaming appeared
for the first time at the 3rd UN World Conference on Women (Nairobi
1985) and in the discussion of the UN Commission for the Status of Women
about the role of women in society. Although the concept has made its way
into many international documents and it is commonly used at national and
international forums, its designation is often ambiguous and its usage depends
on the concrete context: it can be understood as the adoption of “women’s
point of view” in decision-making processes at all levels; other definitions link it
to concrete actions and strategies aiming at gender equality. Yet another understanding
is connected with rebuilding social institutions, so that they would take
into account women’s needs.
The definition put forth by an expert group of the Council of Europe
(1998) takes this complexity and multifaceted nature of the concept into consideration:
"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."
In general, gender mainstreaming can be seen as a tool to achieve gender
democracy or equality of opportunity. This principle is at the forefront of
gender relations. The term became commonly known thanks to the EU policy,
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although its roots date back to the history of the global women’s movement,
activities and recommendations formulated at women’s world conferences. The
gender specific approach should be taken into account in each political decision
– from planning to the final evaluation. In practical terms, gender mainstreaming
is becoming a tool to achieve such an arrangement of gender relations that
would correspond with formulated goals.
Gender mainstreaming is based on the idea of a complex policy cutting
across all sectors. Gender equality can only be achieved when we strive for it in
all political areas. In the context of global women’s politics it means that governments,
in all political areas and in each individual case, will assess the impact of
their policies on the situation of women and on the way in which the planned
measures will improve their specific situation in accordance with the goals anchored
in international documents.” (www.gender.gov.sk, based on the website
http://glosar.aspekt.sk)
Definitions and translations introduced by women’s NGOs, and
ASPEKT in the first place, became part of the terminology and political language
adopted by experts and the media. In spite of that – in Slovakia like in
many other countries – adequate translation of the term “gender mainstreaming”
is still problematic, and for the uninvolved the term is incomprehensible
and often unpronounceable. Thus, normally the translation “application of the
gender perspective” coined by ASPEKT is used, but sometimes also “mainstreaming
of gender”, “fostering of gender equality” or “implementation of
gender equality”1
.
NGOs and their experts also initiated a number of interesting studies and
analyses. For instance, Gender Audit of the EU Pre-Accession Funds 1999–2004
(Gender Studies and ASPEKT, 2005), the ex-ante analysis of the “gender” meas-
1 http://www.snem.sav.sk/zap/vrv15b.htm
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ures of the grant scheme EQUAL (ASPEKT, 2003) or the gender analysis of the
Slovak pension reform elaborated by Oľga Pietruchová (Pietruchová, 2006).
Gender mainstreaming
as a top-down process
The Manifesto of the Government of the Slovak Republic of the year 2006, for
the first time introduced gender equality terminology and an “entire” subchapter
of the social policy chapter is devoted to the issue of gender. The Manifesto
of the Government, for instance, promises “regular monitoring of equality of
opportunities of men and women, and creation of institutional structures for
mainstreaming gender in all policies and measures…” However, this statement
sounds ironic coming from a government that at its beginning had only one
female minister. Even after two years of this government being in power it must
be said that this proclamation is a typical political formality that has not been visibly
translated into practice.
The only positive outcome is the establishment of the Council for
Gender Equality (CGE) initiated by the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and the
Family. CGE consists of governmental officials in the rank of state secretaries (at
least theoretically); the local government and 3 places are reserved for NGOs.
Besides the CEG per se there is also the Consulting Committee of the CEG
based on expertise in the field of gender equality (esp. from NGOs) and the
Executive Committee composed only of members of the state and public administration.
The establishment of the Council for Gender Equality is meant
to secure each ministry having a person responsible for putting gender mainstreaming
into practice. At the time of writingthis paper was, the CEG was just
starting its work, therefore it has not yet been possible to assess its efficiency in
implementing the Memorandum of the Government.
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At any rate it can be said that with the exception of projects from structural
funds the basic precondition – interest of the “top” level in implementation
of the principle “down” is minimal and in practice invisible, which corresponds
with the state of implementation of gender mainstreaming in Slovakia.
Governmental twinning project
The biggest (and basically the only) project on gender mainstreaming coordinated
by the government, or implementation of gender policy as such, was the
twinning project of Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and the Family SR carried
out in cooperation with international partners. These were the French Ministry
of Labor, Social Cohesion and Housing together with their partner agency GIP
International. Germany was a junior partner of the project. The objective of the
project was to “strengthen administrative capacities of the Slovak republic in the
area of gender mainstreaming.” (www.gender.gov.sk)
The project was launched on 20 October 2005 and it was officially introduced
on 13 December 2005. It was mostly related to the development of
European structural funds in Slovakia because attention to the gender aspect is
mandatory and gender equality is their horizontal dimension.
From the perspective of women’s NGOs and domestic experts on gender
equality, the main shortcoming of the process was that due to the character of the
twinning project the involvement of domestic experts in project activities and education
was not possible. This created a certain kind of tension. Domestic experts
were invited to trainings, but only as auditors. Since representative of the public
administration who were the main target group of the trainings and who were the
main participants, were usually complete beginners in the area of gender equality.
Therefore, the trainings were not very beneficial for representatives of NGOs.
Moreover, the expertise brought in within the frames of this project from abroad
had already been available, but it was hardly used. A website with information on
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gender equality www.gender.gov.sk was created within the frame of the project,
but it has not been updated since the closing of the project.
When this paper was being written, the Institute for the Study of Gender
Equality and the Family in All Policies of the Region of Banská Bystrica was starting
its activities. The institute was established thanks to the support from the
Norwegian Financial Mechanism through the Office of the Government SR. Its
initiator was inspired by her participation in the governmental twinning project.
However, information available on the internet indicates that the orientation of
the institute will mostly be “pro-family”, as its materials mostly speak about the
family and children and they say little about women and gender equality.
Education on gender
mainstreaming
Systematic education in the gender agenda, and hence partly also in gender
mainstreaming, is provided by the Center for Gender Studies (CGS) at Faculty
of Philosophy Comenius University in Bratislava. The Center for Gender
Studies was established in June 2001 as the first academic institution in the
Slovak Republic focusing on educational and research activities on gender
identity, gender specific differences and symbols. Beside accredited lectures
on gender studies, including also the theme of gender mainstreaming, the
CGS has also organised, within the frames of Community Initiative EQUAL,
a summer and winter school of gender studies. Experts from Austria, who
spoke about gender mainstreaming in institutions and advantages following
from the decision to introduce these measures (CGS, 2007), particpated in
the second cycle of these educational activities.
Similarly, the Faculty of Philosophy of the University in Prešov offers
education in gender studies with the main focus on social work. In their reader
on “Policies of Equality of Opportunity for Women and Men, Education and
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Social Work” the concept of gender is discussed, but only in terms of elimination
of gender stereotypes, or in terms of concrete processes (see Tokárová,
2006). Other universities offering education in social work, philosophy or political
science are also starting to create similar study programmes (University
of Matej Bel Banská Bystrica, College in Sládkovičovo etc.).
Systematic education outside of the academia focusing on decision
makers basically does not exist. Even though some NGOs and gender experts
offer gender trainings, the demand for this type of education is basically nonexistent.
The only exception is activities related to EU structural funds, where
gender mainstreaming is a mandatory horizontal priority.
Projects of the European Community Initiative EQUAL II, thanks
to personal efforts of gender experts and the director of antidiscrimination
section of the Ministry of Labor, contain also the objective of gender
equality in all four measures. Although the quality of projects varies, several
interesting projects in the area of education were implemented. Among
them is the project “ruzovyamodrysvet.sk” (pinkandblueworld.sk) carried
out by ASPEKT in cooperation with the NGO Citizen and Democracy
(Občan a demokracia), Puppet Theater on Crossroads (Bábkové divadlo
na Rázcestí) from Banská Bystrica and the non-investment fund School the
Basis of Life (Škola základ života) at the Elementary school Gorkého 21 in
Trnava. The goal of the project is to mainstream gender into education as
the precondition of future occupational desegregation. The project covers
a whole plethora of various educational, research and publication activities.
(www.pinkandblueworld.sk)
The Society for Planned Parenthood carried out the project “Gender
Mainstreaming in Reproductive Health Organizations”. Within its frames
a group of trainers for gender trainings and gender mainstreaming was trained
by two German lecturers. The project also published literature on gender
mainstreaming in general and health services in particular and a manual on
gender trainings.
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Educational activities and gender trainings are closely linked to the
question of ensuring the standard of quality. At present, among women’s
NGOs there are efforts to introduce a certain standardization of gender
trainings and gender expertise. Especially within projects funded by the
Community Initiative EQUAL there have been several projects offering gender
education and certain new approaches and publications at the expert
level. It must be said, however, that the quality of these materials varies
– usually the best ones are those created by women’s NGOs which have
been dealing with the theme for a long time. On the other hand, there exists
a certain “overload” of the market with materials and studies that not
always apply expert, relevant and gender sensitive approaches. On the contrary,
some of them are outright counterproductive. There have also been
some cases of plagiarism of expert texts, but also cases of gender insensitive
research, which, instead of unveiling gender stereotypes, reinforce them
through its approach.
It has been repeatedly confirmed that sufficient funds allocated for
a certain theme do not necessarily translate into improved quality. On the
contrary, they also bring about interest and involvement of actors who have
not previously worked with the theme and whose involvement is “artificial”
and guided by self-interest. This experience, together with the fact that on
most grant committees there are people who themselves do not understand
the theme, can cause – and in Slovakia also causes – certain devaluation
of the issues, together with formalization and bureaucratization of the
whole process.
Opposition
The opposition to gender equality and gender mainstreaming comes traditionally
from conservative circles. It’s the Christian democrats and conservatives
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who dismiss the gender agenda for ideological reasons: “The concept of socalled
gender equality is a typical leftist agenda which tries to deny natural differences
between women and men and strives to convince us that these existing
differences are due to discrimination and manipulation. They make artificial
distinctions between sex and gender, pitch men and women against each other,
cast doubt on human nature as well as voluntary relations among people and
traditional human institutions. They mistake equality of opportunity for equality
of outcomes and equality of all people in their freedom and dignity with egalitarianism
enforced by the state. It is a manifestation of social engineering striving
to push for social experiments and it deepens the interference of the state in the
private life of citizens.” (Hromadná pripomienka, 2007). What is paradoxical is
that this public comment was signed only by women, although from the context
it is clear that it was initiated by OKS (Civic-Conservative Party) with a predominantly
male membership. This very fact points to inadequate reflection on
gender equality issues in general.
Also the report on the Mother Centers project “We Perceive the World
Differently, Therefore We Can Achieve More Together – Mother Centers in
Fostering the Principle of Equal Opportunities on the Labor Market” shows similar
lack of reflection. “Experiences with working at centers for mothers indicate
that terms like equality of opportunity, gender equality, feminism, gender mainstreaming
evoke in women feelings of nervousness and rejection. They reject
the terms as such. Such comments are often uttered formally, or by people who
give them the meaning of the “wrestling ring” with the other sex.” (UMC, 2006)
Thus it is apparent that although the terminology evokes negative feelings, on
the basis of personal experiences women identify with the content and intensions
of these principles.
In general it can be said that the biggest obstacle to gender mainstreaming
in Slovakia is notstrong opposition but lack of interest and political will of
those responsible for its implementation.
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Feminist critique of gender
mainstreaming
Thanks to the lobbying of women’s organisations, gender mainstreaming has become
part of the EU antidiscrimination policy and, if applied correctly, it is an
efficient tool to achieve positive social changes. Its implementation in Slovak conditions
is a long and uneasy process, but at present it is perhaps the only way to
introduce at least minimal measures to strengthen gender equality in practice.
Nevertheless, after several years of attempts at implementing gender
mainstreaming critical voices can be heard from the international women’s
and feminist movement. It is not clear to what extent this strategy is useful
for women’s movements and to what extent it can lead to weakening of
political actors and to cutting off of their funding. Other questions emerge
too e.g. how has gender mainstreaming changed the situation of women? Is
gender mainstreaming just a slogan or a real possibility to create equality of
opportunity for men and women? Is it really a principle that can bring about
changes in decision-making processes or is it rather a strategy to maintain
the patriarchal system? To what extent do political actors really know gender
mainstreaming and to what extent is it really implemented? (see Sister Cities
Going Gender, 2005)
These questions have been stemming mainly from the realization that in
some EU countries the implementation of gender mainstreaming resembles a formal
bureaucratic process focusing on quantitative representation of women (socalled
“add women and stir”). Critical voices stress that one shortcoming of the
“top-down” process is its dependency on the management of an organisation.
Therefore, we should not be surprised that gender mainstreaming
reminds many critically thinking people from the former communist block of
formalistic socialist emancipation. It, on the one hand, brought about important
changes such as women’s employment and education, but on the other
it lacked the critique of patriarchal social arrangements and the hierarchy of
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gender relations. Besides, emancipation policies never passed through the
door of households and changed nothing in stereotypical division of labor in the
household. Perhaps this was the reason why women did not show too much
understanding for this policy and its “ownership”. In its final effect, the emancipation
policy resulted in the double and triple burden of women.
There is the danger of a similarly formalistic approach also with gender
mainstreaming. If the concept of “gender” is not used in its original epistemological
meaning, stemming from feminist philosophy, and if it becomes only a newspeak
expression for the term “sex”, its meaning of a cultural and social construct
problematizing normative understanding of masculinity and femininity and male
and female roles will be lost.
This danger is real especially in the process of introduction of gender
mainstreaming to “big” politics: “It seems as if there was some feminist dialogue
going on, but gender in this context does not mean categorization to theoretical
structures, but gender means simply two sexes – men and women. There is no
problematizing there. That is one thing. The other is a total misunderstanding
when we say that women need the same opportunities as men. At the end of
the day we lose any specificity of women. If the woman is to be defined through
male categories then what is this all about? (…) Gender mainstreaming, regardless
of a seeming similarity of terms – since just like feminism it also uses the term
‘gender’, is not a feminist programme; it’s a programme focusing on women
and that is a difference.” (Barat, 2008)
The most important moments of feminist critique of gender mainstreaming that can
be relevant also for Slovakia can be summarized in the following points:
• it is a formal process and many people and institutions applying it do not
understand it at all. Without the knowledge of mechanisms of discrimination
and disadvantage it is nor possible to efficiently fight them;
• in its current form, gender mainstreaming does not problematize the
patriarchal system, therefore it is “safe” and popular with governments
and donors;
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• using the term “gender” and leaving out the women’s question results
in ignoring of specifically women’s issues and problems and their
marginalization;
• feminists strive not for the integration of women into the patriarchal
mainstream without its change, but for a radical change of social structures.
A merely quantitative filling of positions by women without
a genuine feminist agenda does not guarantee success, not even in
those cases when the participation of women reaches the so-called
critical mass (30%). We should not forget that gender mainstreaming
is a product of feminist and women’s movement. In countries
where this process is “controlled by the women’s movement”, such as
Scandinavian countries, it has led to marked outcomes and improvement
of the position of women in all spheres of public and private life.
“Gender mainstreaming is a method and tool, so it is neither good nor
bad. The basic precondition of its successful application is the reconstruction
and interpretation of the term ‘gender’ in the original context
of feminist epistemology. This is the only way to ensure meaningful
application of projects and initiatives, either in the ‘bottom-up’ or ‘topdown’
direction.” (Kubes-Hoffman, 2004)
Case Study
Gender mainstreaming in the Slovak Republic in implementation
of Structural Funds in the 2004 – 2006 Programming Period
The initial document for applying for EU aid was submitted by the Slovak
Republic in the form of the National Development Plan (NDP) of Slovakia. In the
document gender inequalities were given space only in one chapter Analysis of
economic and social development in a special subchapter Equality of opportunity of
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men, women and disadvantaged groups on the labor market2
. The concentration
of the discussion on gender disparities in one individual subchapter means the
exclusion of the gender perspective from other relevant chapters, which makes
invisible the structural and cross-cutting nature of persistent gender inequalities
and hinders the application of the gender perspective in all analysed thematic
areas. The fact that gender analysis was relegated to a special space at the end
of the chapter, or to the margin of attention (outside of the main center of attention)
lowers the importance of the gender perspective to the minimum. It
served as the formal fulfillment of an obligation, but the findings of the gender
analysis cannot be applied to other parts of the document – e.g. to the overall
SWOT analysis (they are missing from weak points and possible threats).
Therefore, a logical outcome is that the part Correspondence of the Strategy with
Policies formally refers to general regulations or legislative frameworks in the
area of equal opportunities policies and antidiscrimination, but it does not contain
any concrete strategies or commitments to support gender equality.
The National Development Plan follows from the Community Support
Framework – the agreement between the EU and SR on development aid. In this
document the questions of equality of opportunities of women and men dwindled
to 2 paragraphs3
and gender specific data or analysis of gender inequalities in other
relevant chapters – i.e. a horizontally applied gender perspective – is missing.
Similarly to NDP, gender disparities are not included in the summarizing SWOT
analysis (analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats).
2 The chapter names gender differences in the degree of economic activity, employment, unemployment
and income, also representation of women among entrepreneurs, legislative,
executive and managerial positions.
3 They mention the main gender differences in the unemployment and employment rate and
income differences disadvantaging women, concentration of women in sectors with below
average income (health care, education). The framework also states: “It appears that questions
related to motherhood, disharmony between family and work life are the main elements we
should focus on when evaluating the situation of women on the labor market.
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The result of this is that so-called horizontal goals, including equality of
opportunity, are formally sketched out but no concrete mechanisms of their
implementation or evaluation are mentioned.
Other information is contained in annual reports of the Community Support
Framework. From 2004 and 2005 reports it is apparent that formal statements
about working towards the principle of equal opportunities prevail. In connection
with one programme some data about the number of women in target groups is
mentioned, but they are not presented in a systematic manner (only in selected
national projects) and marked discrepancies disadvantaging women are not reflected
at all. In other programmes, gender data about target groups is absent.
According to the available reports, there is still not enough data to conduct
an evaluation, but the intention to prepare a special evaluation of the horizontal goals
is proclaimed. The evaluation is still not available and according to the 2005 report it
was postponed until the year 2006. Given the fact that the evaluation has not been
published yet it is likely it has not been conducted at all.
In relation to compatibility with Community policies it is mentioned that the
EU principles were included into relevant documents “by which their application
in evaluation, selection and monitoring mechanisms was ensured”4
, however, it is
not clarified in which way. The respective part on equality of opportunities mentions
only legislative compatibility of the Slovak legislation in the given area with
international and EU documents. In other words, documents indicate the application
of the principle of equal opportunities secured de jure, but not de facto.
4 Annual report Community Support Framework, 2004, 2005.
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Programmes funded by the European Social Fund5
In relation to the gender perspective, programmes funded by the European
Social Fund (ESF) are in a special position. The mission of the ESF is to support
activities in the area of development of human capacities aiming at increasing
employment, and one of its main principles is also to support equality of opportunity
and social inclusion.
Taking into account the terminology they use, it seems that these programmes
pay heightened attention to gender issues. Programming documents
more often contain not just gender statistics, but also some concepts of gender
terminology (gender equality, gender perspective, gender segregation of the labor
market, gender mainstreaming). To a larger extent than other programmes
they name concrete gender inequalities as well as provide recommendations
for intervention towards their elimination. To a certain extent their weak point
is that these analyses of gender inequalities are again concentrated only in separate
chapters rather than being fully integrated into all relevant chapters. In
some themes, attention to key gender inequalities is still missing. Thus, it is not
possible to speak about full integration of the gender perspective. One consequence
is that gender inequalities were not included in SWOT analyses and
not all measures took them into account. It also must be said that in addition to
5 The analysis takes into account programs focusing on human resources development for the
labor market: Single Programming Document Objective 3 focusing on the Bratislava Region and
Sectoral Operational Program Human Resources focusing on the rest of Slovakia. European
Community Initiative EQUAL was not included in this analysis as it, to a large degree, draws
upon recommendations put forth by the European Commission. Moreover, it focuses on
experimental testing of innovative approaches and its thematic concentration on fighting discrimination
on the labor market including elimination of gender inequalities would beg a selfstanding,
more in-depth, analysis for which the extent of this paper does not allow.
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inadequate naming of gender inequalities the materials also contain formulations
denying the existence of some blatant gender inequalities6
.
While the Single Programming Document Objective 3 (SPD Objective 3)
focusing on development of human resources for the labor market in the region
of Bratislava has no specific measures in the field of gender, the Sectoral
Operational Programme Human Resources (SOP HR) focusing on the rest
of Slovakia introduces at least one special measure to support the principle of
equal opportunities ( 2.2 Elimination of barriers which prevent equality of men and
women on the labor market with emphasis on the reconciliation of work and family
life). A positive contribution of this measure is unquestionable; however, it has
two main shortcomings. Firstly, although it names women (but not just them)
as primary target groups, indicators at the level of outcomes and results do not
include gender specific data7
. Secondly, the amount of money that was supposed
to be invested into this measure was relatively small – about 2% of the
total funds allocated to SOP HR. In fact, this is a measure with the least amount
of financial sources, even smaller than the amount of money projected to be
spent in the technical support of this programme.
In relation to other measures, both programmes declare horizontal application
of gender equality and gender mainstreaming in all measures. This was
realized in program supplements mostly through the evaluation of horizontal
EU priorities through a common methodology, where impacts or influences on
equality of opportunities of women and men are evaluated at three levels. Most
6 For instance, the Single Programming Document Objective 3 maintains that “In education,
different treatment of men and women does not exist” which denies the existence of gender
stereotypes in education and upbringing reinforced not just by teaching guidelines but also by
actors involved in the process – teachers. It is paradoxical that this assertion is followed by
a sentence casting doubt on its validity: “In general it can be said that there are more boys in
the technical fields of study while more girls study humanities.” The apparent discrepancy is not
reflected upon at all.
7 These are only contained at the level of impact.
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measures contain the evaluation of a relatively high influence, but in some also
a neutral or relatively low influence occurs. Therefore, the horizontal integration
of the gender perspective was not applied in all measures. It is also necessary
to add that even in the case of measures indicating a high influence on equal
opportunities of women and men we rarely come across, in descriptions of
objectives or activities, the kind of tools that would mirror practical fulfillment of
this principle. Even when some specific ones do occur, they usually emphasize
the reconciliation of work and family life in spite of the fact that this issue is also
targeted by the specific measure SOP HR 2.2. Outside of the measure 2.2,
the support for gender equality is hence focused mostly on this limited area of
barriers to a larger participation of women on the labor market, while others
aspects, e.g. gender stereotypes in education, horizontal and vertical gender
occupational segregation, the gender pay gap or low participation of women in
entrepreneurship, and the like, are left unnoticed.
The fact that programme documents declare their commitment to carry
out a set of supporting activities to support the implementation of gender mainstreaming
at the executive level could be evaluated positively. The managing
authority – which for both programs is the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and
the Family SR has pledged to carry out:
• gender trainings and lectures for the management and staff responsible
for implementation of structural funds;
• elaboration of manuals on principles of gender equality and ways to
implement gender mainstreaming;
• elaboration of mechanisms to monitor observance of the principle of
equality of opportunity in projects/measures/priorities;
• advisory services to those who elaborate project proposals so that
consistent and continuous observation of the gender perspective
would be secured.
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However, the Managing Authority did not take the existing plans into account.
The available annual reports do not indicate whether these activities have
ever been carried out (not even in the form of technical assistance).
The annual reports create space for the analysis of the gender perspective
in monitoring of aid implementation. The analysis of these reports showed that
gender/sex disaggregated statistics do occur in sections on context indicators, but
they are used only sporadically. In other words, gender data are not used systematically
and consistently in a manner that would correspond with a horizontally
integrated approach and that would make real application of the gender perspective
in the whole programme possible. Even in cases when the reports give data
specifically about women, gender differences are seldom assessed or analysed.
The naming of gender difference remains purely descriptive8
.
The biggest failing in project monitoring is the fact that indicators on target
groups are not viewed from the gender perspective at all. It should be said
that although the indicators were not defined to include the gender aspect, programme
supplements of both programmes oblige final beneficiaries to provide
data about the number of participants disaggregated by sex. This means that
there exists an additional mechanism, but the reality of its application is different.
In the annual reports these gender data do not occur at all and they have not
been specifically evaluated yet. Their evaluation has not been included in a single
external evaluation conducted thus far. This evaluation was meant to focus
on the assessment of the impact of the project on increasing employment rates
of disadvantaged job applicants and adaptability of employees – mostly from the
8 The descriptive approach in the annual reports – i.e. the absence of analyses, interpretations
of evaluation of achieved outcomes and results is not a specific shortcoming of gender mainstreaming.
This shortcoming of the reports was repeatedly pointed out by some members
of monitoring committees in the discussions about the final approval of the report. Despite
the fact that besides comments the discussions also yielded some concrete recommendations
for improvement, these have not been heeded and the reports still maintain the descriptive
approach.
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perspective of the project’s impacts on narrowing regional differences between
particular regions targeted by the SOP HR and SPD Objective 39
.
As already indicated, in the case of a specific measure 2.2 that should primarily
focus on supporting equality of opportunity of men and women gender
indicators of outcomes and results were not defined, and the annual reports do
not cite the participation of target groups from this perspective. The evaluation
is limited to the description of calls for proposals and number of projects, the
description of how their objectives have been met in terms of their content is
completely absent.
According to the annual reports, the evaluation of fulfillment of the principle
of equality of opportunity (either broader or concentrating specifically on
the gender aspect) was not included in the methodology of the monitoring visit
focusing on the realization of activities and overall administration of projects.
The MA does not regard this aspect as a relevant monitoring tool related to the
content of the project.
To summarize the analysis of horizontal mainstreaming of gender in both programmes
the most important findings are:
• real horizontal gender mainstreaming in these programmes does not
take place, neither at the level of programming nor implementation;
• the application of the principle remains at the level of declaration and
its monitoring and evaluation is approached formally;
• (efficient) mechanisms to monitor the fulfillment of the principle of
equality of opportunity and gender equality either through methodological
tools applied in monitoring (the monitoring report, monitoring
visit) or in terms of specific set of monitoring indicators are missing;
9 Available at http://www.esf.gov.sk/esf/index.php?mod=news&nid=85&sID=80177ea5c4239
4f6b081abc13ac20824
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• despite the fact that the MA planned to conduct supporting activities
to strengthen the implementation of gender mainstreaming (be
it on the part of final beneficiaries or on the part of the management
and implementation of programs) these activities have probably never
been realized;
• publicly available documents (programming, monitoring and methodic)
contain many inconsistencies not only with respect to the temporal
continuity of the original plan vs. its real implementation, but also as
concerns a single time period (the declared data collection according
to the annual report vs. the data collection methodology according to
the monitoring report form).
In general, the precondition for mainstreaming gender into these programs
was partly set, but only at the level of programming (and even there we
can see some shortcomings). At the level of implementation, the development
trend shows that its realization remains formal and declarative and it is not put
into practice. Thus, the impact of structural aid to support gender equality still
remains unknown and its efficient evaluation would be very difficult also for
teams of gender experts – since neither efficient monitoring mechanisms nor
detailed data are available.
Summary of the Programming Period 2004 – 2006
Despite the fact that basic programming documents created a certain framework
for application of so called horizontal objectives including equality of opportunity
– encompassing also strengthening of gender equality, it is apparent
that no concrete mechanisms, either institutional or related to project and programme
monitoring, have been established to evaluate the realization of these
objectives. Commitments adopted with the view of contributing to application
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of these horizontal objectives are proclaimed, and specific indicators for horizontal
priorities were set, but in particular annular reports (in the Community
Support Framework or in individual programmes) these aspects were only formally
evaluated, with no in-depth analysis of quantitative or qualitative data.
The support and application of principles of equality of opportunity and
gender equality are therefore limited only to declarations. The absence of ongoing
analyses in monitoring and evaluation is probably a consequence of the lack
of in-house expertise, and also the lack of will to apply horizontal principles of
gender equality or equality of opportunity, which is manifested in persistent discontinuity
and inconsistency in reporting on monitoring of obligation fulfillment
in these concrete aspects.
A serious shortcoming is also the lack of transparency in the composition
and functioning of monitoring committees, which could, as one monitoring
mechanism, play the key role in monitoring gender mainstreaming if the committees
were composed of competent gender experts.
When looking at the possibilities offered by structural funds for the programming
period of 2004 – 2006 it can be said that this first experience of
Slovakia has been more or less a lost opportunity when it comes to the possibility
of contributing to broader support of gender equality. As the most crucial
factor appears to be the absence of capacities as well as low interest to fulfill
commitments in this sphere, and not to reduce it just to a formal level, which
leads to devaluation of the gender agenda.
The New Programming Period
Despite that fact that the new programming period started in 2007, at this juncture
its in-depth efficient evaluation from the perspective of gender mainstreaming
is not possible, since annual reports are not available.
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It can only be stated that mechanisms for application of the principle
of equality of opportunity, including gender equality, are in this programming
period more complex, and that institutional and monitoring mechanisms have
been strengthened. This concerns all horizontal priorities, not just the horizontal
priority of equality of opportunity. It is likely that this development is due to pressure
from the European Commission, not a reflection of possible outcomes of
evaluation of the previous period (which has not been conducted yet) and its
success or failure in this respect.
The evaluation of gender mainstreaming in the previous period would
have helped to avoid further mistakes that have followed from underrating the
gender perspective and its marginalization (instead of bringing it to the center
of attention). Formal monitoring has thus far led to devaluation of the gender
agenda. It is necessary to ensure that in the new programming period this trend
does not deepen and that gender mainstreaming and support to gender equality
are made a reality.
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Recommendations on gender
mainstreaming
1. To the Government of the Slovak Republic:
• to adopt a strategy, binding measures and divide concrete tasks for
introducing gender mainstreaming into practice at least at the level of
managing authorities
• to establish an expert institution to professionally manage the process,
analysis, education and monitoring (the Spanish Institute for Women
can serve as an example);
• to ensure at least basic education of state servants in the area of gender
and gender mainstreaming;
• to create, at particular ministries, positions of gender plenipotentiaries;
• to present the theme of gender equality in the media as an integral
part of the governmental policy;
• to initiate and actively participate in media campaigns (the Czech campaign
Mother Like Father could serve as an example);
• to transfer gender equality policies to the regional and local level.
2. To the Structural Funds
• to ensure consistency and continuity in monitoring and evaluation of
implementation of structural aid in the area of application of the principles
of gender equality and equality of opportunities, i.e. to ensure
consequent fulfillment of commitments declared in programming documents;
in monitoring, pay attention to the real application of these
principles rather than to the formal declaration of their application;
• to conduct an evaluation (external independent, or also internal) about
application of the principle of equality of opportunity of women and
men and the gender principle in the programming period of 2004
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– 2006, in particular programmes as well as the overall absorption
of EU funds and to transfer their outputs to the new programming
period;
• to strengthen capacities in the area of implementation of the horizontal
priority of equality of opportunities not only at the level of the
coordinator but also of particular managing authorities (by designating
responsible persons and creating capacities of respective managing
authorities);
• to render the processes of establishment and operation of monitoring
committees of particular programmes more transparent (publicise the
establishment procedures, rules of operation and mostly up-to-date
lists of members of these committees and organisations that they represent)
and ensure the participation of experts and other actors from
the area of gender equality in these committees.
Translated by Eva Riečanska
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Legislative sources and program
documents:
General Regulations
1. Council Regulation (E.C.) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying
down general provisions on the Structural Funds
2. COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006 laying
down general provisions on the European Regional Development
Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and repealing
Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999
Programming Documents for the Period of 2004 – 2006
1. National Development Plan, 2003
2. Structural Funds of the European Union 2004 – 2006 – Community
Support Framework
3. Annual Report on Implementation of the Community Support
Framework 2004
4. Annual Report on Implementation of the Community Support
Framework from 1 January to 31 December 2005
5. Operational Programs, Program Documents and Annual Reports of these
programs
• Sectoral Operational Program Agriculture and Rural Development
(SOP ARD)
• Sectoral Operational Program Industry and Services (SOP IS)
• Sectoral Operational Program Human Resources (SOP HR)
• Single Programming Document NUTS II – Bratislava Objective
3 (JPD Objective 3), Single Programming Document NUTS II
– Bratislava Objective 2 (JPD Objective 2)
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RATHER DOWN THAN TOP
www.boell.pl
Available at: www.strukturalnefondy.sk, www.economy.gov.sk (Annual Report 2006
SOP IS), www.esf.gov.sk (Annual Reports 2006 SOP HR, SPD Objective 3)
Programming Documents for the Years 2007 – 2013
1. National Strategic Reference Frame 2007 – 2013 (www.nsrr.sk)
2. System of management and coordination of implementation of the
horizontal priority Equality of Opportunity, MLSA SR, version 3.0.
Internal Material of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
151www.boell.pl
About the Authors
Paula Jójárt – is an expert in gender and queer issues. She is psychology
and gender studies graduate. Her academic papers were mostly related to
queer studies however she has been involved in gender equality and gender
mainstreaming NGOs’ initiatives, including training and methodologies design
as well. She has also experience with implementation of Community Initiative
program EQUAL in Slovakia within programming period 2004-2006,
with specific focus on monitoring, evaluation and mainstreaming of achieved
outcomes. She has published several articles and co-authored several book
entries, related to issues of LGBT families, queer activism, media representations
of sexual minorities and promotion of equality and participation of
excluded communities within projects funded by structural funds. Currently
she supports gender mainstreaming team within international organization.
Martina Kampichler – studied International Business Relations in Eisenstadt
(Austria). In her diploma thesis, she focused on the European Union’s
Gender Equality Policies and their implementation in the Czech Republic.
Currently she is a PhD student in the field of Sociology at the Faculty of Social
Sciences, Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic. Her PhD research
focuses on developments of feminist and gender theory in and connected
to post-socialist contexts. Apart from that she engages in feminist critiques of
the EU’s gender equality policies and connected to that possiblities of further
development of the Gender Mainstreaming approach.
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HOW CAN WE SUCCESSFULLY USE ITS POLITICAL POTENTIAL?
Katerina Machovcova – is a graduate of the Faculty of Social Sciences Masaryk
university in Brno, where she continues in doctoral programme in social
psychology. She was a external lecturer for gender studies programme at the
same faculty. Equality issues and aplication of gender mainstreaming are her
areas of interest since the year 2000, she cooperated with numerous non-governmental
organizations and development partnerships. Her focus is equality on
labor market, including education, research, publishing and consultancy related
activities in the area concerned.
Claudia Neusüß – is a political consultant, she works as a trainer and coach,
project developer, speaker and moderator. She is an author of various articles on
social and labour market related policies, gender mainstreaming, women’s empowerment,
diversity and gender democracy in an international perspective. In
1996-2002, she was executive director of Heinrich Böll Foundation. In 1987,
she co-founded the women’s cooperative WeiberWirtschaft, of which she was an
executive director during 1991-1996. Since 2003 she has been the president of
OWEN e.V. (Mobile Academy for Gender Democracy and Peace).
Olga Pietruchova – is a Slovak expert on gender mainstreaming and analysis,
UNDP external consultant on gender equality, a publicist, Chairwoman of Slovak
Women’s Lobby which is a member organization of the European Women’s
Lobby. She is an executive director of Moznost Volby (Pro Choice Slovakia).
Ewa Rutkowska – is a graduate from the Philosophy Department at the
Warsaw University and from the School of Social Science in the Polish Academy
of Science. Currently, she is working on her PH.D. dissertation on the common
interest of women. She is a WEN-DO trainer. She is a Polish expert on gender
mainstreaming and anti-discrimination. She worked as an expert for UNDP Poland
and UNDP Macedonia.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
www.boell.pl
Barbara Unmüßig – has been co-president of the Heinrich Böll Foundation
since May 2002. She is responsible for the development od programmes and
strategies in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. She holds also the strategic
and programmatic responsibility for the “Gunda-Werner-Institute for Feminism
and Gender Democracy”. The primary focus of her work is on globalisation
and international climate policies, national and international gender policies as well
as promotion of democracy and conflict prevention. She published numerous
articles in newspapers and political periodicals on issues like trade and finance,
international ecological policies and Nortth-South relations.
155
ABOUT THE HEINRICH BÖLL FOUNDATION
REGIONAL OFFICE WARSAW
www.boell.pl 155www.boell.pl
About the Heinrich Böll
Foundation Regional
Office Warsaw
The Heinrich Böll Foundation (Heinrich Böll Stiftung), with headquarters
in Berlin, is a German political foundation linked to the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen
party.
The Foundation’s basic objective, both in Germany and abroad, is civil
education aimed at supporting formation of democratic attitudes, social and political
activism and understanding between nations. Its key values are: ecology,
democracy, solidarity and nonviolence.
The Foundation is particularly devoted to building a democratic society
based on respect for the rights of immigrants and the principles of gender democracy,
understood as a domination-free relation between women and men.
Both those principles constitute a basis for cooperation inside the Foundation,
as well as in all areas of its public operation.
International operation of the Foundation involves cooperation with
over 160 partner organisations from 60 countries on 4 continents, as well as
running 27 foreign branches.
For over 15 years, the Foundation has been active in Central Europe, including
Poland. In the 1990’s, the Foundation mainly supported projects of partner
organisations working towards human rights, equal opportunity for women
and men, and balanced development of the natural environment. The Polish
branch of the Foundation inaugurated its operation at the beginning of 2002,
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GENDER MAINSTREAMING
HOW CAN WE SUCCESSFULLY USE ITS POLITICAL POTENTIAL?
when the negotiations before EU accession of the countries of Central Europe
reached their final stages. One of the tasks of the Polish branch was to monitor
and support actions aimed at inclusion of the equality perspective into the
process of integration of those countries with the EU. Since the accession, the
branch has faced new challenges: it initiates and supports social and political debate
in Central and Eastern Europe (i.e. in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia
and Ukraine), including the perspective of other issues close to the “Greens”.
At the moment in Central Europe the Foundation implements the programme
entitled “Our New Europe”, aimed at reaching an agreement between
the “old” and the “new” members of the European Union and their neighbours
on the principle issues of European politics. The programme is divided into
regional components: “Dialogue Forum Europe”, “Gender Democracy and
Women’s Politics” and “Energy Policy and Protecting the Climate”, as well as
national components: “Democratic Ukraine” and “Integrated Development of
Rural Areas”. The Foundation’s operation across the region is divided between
the regional office in Warsaw, the national office in Prague, and the currently
organised branch in Kiev.
You can find more information about Heinrich Böll Stiftung, its operation
and publications on our websites: www.boell.de or www.boell.pl.
Heinrich Böll Foundation
Regional Office Warsaw
ul. Żurawia 45, 00-680 Warsaw, Poland
phone: + 48 22 59 42 333, e-mail: hbs@boell.pl