New legislation encompassing gender mainstreaming will add a vital new strand to this pursuit of equality for women and men, writes Niall Crowley
Gender mainstreaming has emerged as an important new strand of activity in the search for greater equality between women and men. It involves policymakers taking account of the particular needs, experiences and situations of women and of men as they draft new legislation, prepare new policies or design new programmes.
Gender mainstreaming has just been accorded a new status. The amended Gender Equal Treatment Directive of the EU has now come into force. It requires member states to "actively take into account the objective of equality between men and women when formulating and implementing laws, regulations, administrative provisions, policies and activities in the areas" (covered by the directive).
The directive covers employment and vocational training. There is now a legal requirement on the State to engage in gender mainstreaming in these important policy areas. It is still a relatively new approach in the Irish context. The Institute of Public Administration has usefully published an edition of its journal Administration on the topic of gender mainstreaming. Kevin Myers claims he slipped into a coma twice while trying to get a handle on the topic. This comatose state must account for his failure to accurately communicate the nature and importance of gender mainstreaming.
He asked, "Why do feminists argue for gender mainstreaming between two sexes which have so very little in common, not just sexually, but emotionally, psychologically and motivationally as well?". While his generalisations about men and women must be challenged, his question also fails to reflect the reality that gender mainstreaming has been developed to take account of real differences between women and men and to ensure that difference does not lead to inequality.
Gender mainstreaming seeks to ensure that public policies and programmes take into account and address a range of differences between women and men that Kevin Myers rarely alludes to. These differences include:
Women's hourly earnings were only 82.5 per cent of men's (2002).
In the Civil Service only 10 per cent of assistant secretaries were women (2003).
Ireland has the eight lowest proportion of women in parliament of the 25 EU member states at 13.3 per cent (2004).
Less than 1 per cent of those declaring their primary role as looking after home/family were men (2004).
It is the persistence and the scale of this inequality that has stimulated the emergence and implementation of gender mainstreaming. Equality legislation was the initial response to gender inequality. This was then combined with initiatives specifically designed to improve the situation and experience of women. A wider strategic framework for action has been found to be necessary. This now encompasses legislation, targeted initiatives and gender mainstreaming.
Gender equality legislation encompasses the Employment Equality Acts 1998 and 2004, which prohibit discrimination in the workplace, and the Equal Status Acts 2000 to 2004, which prohibit discrimination in the provision of goods and services, accommodation and educational establishments.
The implementation of this important legislation has demonstrated how significant and persistent gender inequality is. The 2004 annual report of the Equality Authority identified that nearly 24 per cent of our case files under the Employment Equality Acts related to the gender ground. The issues are not new - allegations of pregnancy related discrimination, of discrimination in promotion, of sexual harassment and of equal pay discrimination.
Legislative provisions have been combined with targeted initiatives that include schemes to assist women back into the labour market, projects to empower women at local community level, initiatives to promote participation by women in political parties and social partner organisations, and measures to support the movement of women into senior management positions.
Targeted initiatives are essential. They make use of limited new resources to achieve change. However, the manner in which more general policies and programmes contribute to equality for women is still not addressed.
Yet this is where the bulk of resources are concentrated. Targeted initiatives usefully involve additional or new activity by organisations. However, they don't address the core systems, policies and procedures of organisations. "Business as usual" can hinder gender equality and run counter to the aims of targeted initiatives.
Gender mainstreaming therefore adds a vital new strand to this pursuit of equality for women and men. All policies, programmes and institutional practices, whatever their primary objective, can be designed in a manner that is coherent with and contributes to the objective of gender equality.
Gender mainstreaming is about good decision-making. It supports evidence-based decisions. Data is gathered and analysed on the particular situations, experiences and needs of women and of men prior to decision-making. False assumptions and negative stereotypes can play no role in such decision-making.
Gender mainstreaming supports efficient and inclusive policy- making and programme delivery. The potential impact of a new policy or programme on women and on men is assessed at design stage. This ensures negative unintended consequences are avoided and that the policy or programme makes a positive contribution to gender equality.
Gender mainstreaming has been developed as an approach under the National Development Plan. Important lessons have been learned from this experience and valuable expertise developed. However, progress has been slow. Equal opportunities, for example, were to be incorporated into project selection criteria for measures funded under the plan. Research published in 2004 highlighted that this had been done in only 37 per cent of the 177 measures and sub-measures of the plan. Clearly meeting the requirements of the EU Directive will involve enhanced investment in and attention to gender mainstreaming.
Kevin Myers is, sadly, not covered by the EU Directive. Gender and gender equality issues appear to trigger an unfortunate reaction in his work. Wit becomes mockery, fiction appears as fact and criticism is replaced by trivialisation. Gender mainstreaming could be the cure.
Niall Crowley is chief executive of the Equality Authority
