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Perspectives - gender mainstreaming

Mainstreaming: considering an issue at every stage of

research, evidence gathering or evaluation
policy development
change management or service delivery

Mainstreaming properly understood and implemented can be a positive way to address women's equality and integrate equality and gender issues into the policy making and implementation process.

Diversity: Gender mainstreaming for women's equality should take account of women's diversity or heterogeneity.

Gender issues for women can be different to women's equality issues.

Many organisations need to take these steps:

1. Integrate an understanding of women's equality combined with perspectives on diversity and gender into the organisation change process, including performance oriented management
2. Develop a transformative and more dynamic approach approach to equality issues
3. Explore and challenge the gender culture of the organisation - transform the ways men and women experience the organisation and the way they (actively) 'do gender'.

1. Why a women's equality with diversity and gender perspective?

Women and men as groups lead different lives. They respond differently to policy and provisions. The gender effects change over a lifetime. If gender is not taken into account policy and targeting can be ineffective.

A women's equality with diversity and gender perspective is relevant at many levels in an organisation:

across services
in cross cutting themes
in employment
in the core activities of an organisation such as a council, a charity, a service change, support or delivery agency

Evidence in UK and globally shows that women are amongst the majority of poorest and most discriminated against/disadvantaged/excluded. For this reason alone, we need to use a 'gender lens' when planning, implementing, reviewing and consulting on services and policies.

A 'women's equality perspective', involves integrating an understanding of:

differences between men and women and diverse groups of women
needs of women and diverse groups of women
the distribution of resources to women and men
representation issues
service impacts
discrimination and disadvantage
the role of policy and practice in eliminating difference and disadvantage
gender roles, cultures and relations

Such a perspective helps us :

Create accessible, non discriminatory services that enable women and men to benefit equally
Avoid barriers to use that lead to inappropriately unrepresentative sets of users
Reach a wider, more diverse public
Appropriate, effective services that are sensitive and responsive to women's needs and diversity amongst women
Recognise that offering the 'same service for all' may not work
Tackle the effects of disadvantage and discrimination
Offer satisfaction to a wider, more diverse public

A women's equality and gender perspective can be applied even where:

women provide a service
are over represented as users/employees
in women specific/women only services.

Very few, if any services are 'gender neutral'.

Use a women's equality and gender perspective to achieve:

Accountable services
Anti-discriminatory employment practices
Services and employment practice which comply with the legislation on discrimination

2. Transformative mainstreaming for women's equality

Equal opportunities practices have evolved over the past 20 or so years in the UK. The best forms of mainstreaming have the most impact on equalities outcomes. Theresa Rees has developed the concept of transformative action in equalities mainstreaming on which I draw and quote here:

'Positive action' approaches along with basic equal opportunities strategies do not challenge more fundamental aspects of why women might need such measures to help them perform or achieve, focussing as they do on women's 'deficits'. However, an advantage is that they do provide extensive good practice.

A "transformative" approach attempts a more fundamental change in organisations:

aiming to transform gender relations
going beyond helping women fit in with or adjusting existing provision
designing provision/programmes based on the diversity of needs
mission statements, aims and objectives, performance indicators, output measures
audits to support the transformation and invoke sanctions
evaluation looking at qualitative and quantitative dimensions of women's experiences
developing a culture of equalities awareness which:

1. builds ownership within the organisation and by users
2. recognises complexity and the challenge of gender relations and other forms of difference and identity
3. looks afresh at the organisation's services etc and who constructs them
4. revisits the values of the organisation
5. examines the allocation of resources
6. redefines cost effectiveness and criteria for evaluation

3. Transforming gender cultures

All organisations have a 'gender culture'. This includes the existence of power relations which manifest within the organisation and in relation to the wider community.

A framework for women's equality should incorporate a learning organisation model. This is seen as the most likely to achieve equalities in an institution. (Rohan Collier 1998).

A key corporate response should involve leadership from a group of women and men from the organisation which brings diverse perspectives and experiences.

Organisations can take action to understand and change gender cultures. This calls for innovative interventions and methods. Some of these activities must involve men and women working together with men sharing responsibility for change. Women should not carry the responsibility for achieving this transformation in addition to the burden of difference and discrimination they often bear. But action to enable their genuine and self directed empowerment may also be critical.

Equality objectives cannot be achieved by regulation or standards alone. Learning organisations will create valued and valuable spaces and informal networking opportunities for women and those men and women wishing to promote women's equality. The purpose of these opportunities is to develop a better understanding and responses to women's equality challenges in the organisational culture, in employment, in services and the wider community.