Gender mainstreaming

Gender mainstreaming means ...

the systematic inclusion of the respective living conditions and needs of women and men in all areas of (university) policy.
All general decisions, concepts and measures should be orientated towards the goal of gender equality and should be examined during planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation to determine what effects they have on women and men and gender relations. As a relational approach, it ideally complements conventional gender equality policy.

Gender mainstreaming ...

• integrates a gender-sensitive perspective and a gender-specific view instead of the male "norm case"
• is a relational approach and examines the relationship between men and women ("gender issue" instead of "women's issue")
• integrates the gender perspective as a cross-cutting issue in all areas
• examines the gender-specific effects of all projects/measures in advance

Gender mainstreaming is

• a strategy
• a process
• but not yet a content

Gender mainstreaming is not the goal, but a way to achieve the goal of equal opportunities.

• First appearance of the term in literature in the 1960s
• 3rd World Conference on Women in Nairobi (1985): Discussion of the term in the United Nations Commission on the Rights of Women
• 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995): Breakthrough of the gender mainstreaming concept (inclusion in all political levels "women's impact assessment" of all measures is demanded)
• Communication from the European Commission on the integration of equal opportunities into all EU policies and measures (1996)
• Equal opportunities are named as one of the four pillars in the European guidelines on employment policy (1998)
• Council of Europe definition of gender mainstreaming is adopted by the European Commission (1998)
• Treaty of Amsterdam (1998) - gender mainstreaming legally enshrined as a horizontal objective for all Community tasks
• Gender mainstreaming is incorporated into the National Action Plan for Employment (NAP) (1999)
• Austrian Federal Government recognises gender mainstreaming as a universal concept of federal policy (2000)
• Appointment of gender mainstreaming officers in the Austrian federal ministries (2000)
• as amended also regional organisations

• 3rd and 4th Action Programme of the EU
• Guidelines of the EU Commission
• EC Treaty (since the Treaty of Amsterdam*)
  • Art 2: The promotion of equality between men and women is one of the tasks of the EC
  • Art 3: In all its activities, the Community shall aim to eliminate inequalities and to promote equality between men and women
• EU Employment Guidelines
• (Guideline19 or 18)
• Structural Fund Regulations
• (e.g. ERDF, EFS, EAGGF) Gender mainstreaming as a horizontal principle
• National Action Plans (NAP)

* Excursus: Treaty of Amsterdam:

• Primary law of the EU
• Declares gender equality to be a central task of the Community
• Defines gender equality as a cross-cutting issue (i.e. a horizontal objective)

Elevation of the goal of equal opportunities

• political will
• a certain degree of social equality between women and men
• political representation of women
• equality-orientated policy network
• existence of a specific gender equality policy
  • promotion of women
  • equality laws
• comprehensive information on the social situation of women and men
• itemised statistics
• knowledge of how gender mainstreaming is done
• financial resources
• "human resources"

Gender mainstreaming focusses on equal opportunities

Promotion of equal opportunities

1. Defining gender equality policy goals
2. Analysing problems and those affected
3. Developing options
4. Analysing the options and developing the proposed solution
5. Realisation
6. Monitoring success and evaluation

Dual strategy required for equality

Unfortunately, it has often been the case that decision-makers in particular like to use the term GM, but do not know what it really means (and how extremely laborious but also quality-enhancing serious GM is). This is probably also the reason for the - in part not unjustified - mistrust of the much-vaunted GM in large parts of the women's movement. It is also problematic that a number of measures under the umbrella term GM cling to traditional role models and thus perpetuate existing structures.
However, if applied correctly, GM can be a useful complementary approach to other forms of gender equality policy. It can also be used to integrate equality-promoting approaches into other university processes in a harmonised manner. This means that they are no longer something special that is alien to the system, nor are they a disruption or a superfluous luxury item for lavish times.
However, a problem arises when GM is propagated and possibly practised embedded in a model that emphasises economic functioning over political design ("New Public Management") and relegates considerations of justice and solidarity to the private sphere (cf. the analysis by Holzleitner, Gender Mainstreaming an den Universitäten. Progress, regression or stagnation? in Appelt (ed.) Karriereschere. Gender relations in the Austrian academic world, 2004, 27ff).

GM working group at BMWFW

Gender monitoring on uni:data
(Click on public access and then go to Analyses. You will find the information you require there).

Guidelines for managers on the implementation of GM (bm:bwk)

How does gender come into research? (bm:bwk)