Topic 1 Positive Actions and Gender Mainstreaming

• Positive actions refer to the policies and programmes specifically aimed at women to prevent or compensate for the disadvantages they experience in the labour market. They are effective in the short term but these measures, by themselves, do not prevent inequality from reappearing when the action ends

Let’s see some examples:

Balancing the presence of women and men within labour insertion programmes or the introduction of training courses aimed at underrepresented genders to fill a sectoral gap.

• Gender mainstreaming is the systematic consideration of the differences between the conditions, situations and needs of women and men in all policies and actions (1)

This approach began during the 1990s (2) when it became clear that gender equality strategies needed to go further than just positive actions to yield long-term results and produce structural changes.

At an organisational level, it involves (3):

1. An acknowledgement that gender is a mainstream issue and gender equality must be a shared primary goal for everyone in the company
2. An analysis of the organisation’s current efforts in key departments
3. After the assessment, setting a plan and broadening the company commitments
4. Monitoring and reporting to check the progress

(1) https://eige.europa.eu/thesaurus/terms/1185

(2) Beijing Platform for Action, UN 4th World Conference on Women (1995). European Commission. Communication ‘Incorporating equal opportunities for women and men into all Community policies and activities .

(3) Adapted from https://www.bsr.org/en/our-insights/blog-view/five-steps-for-companies-to-make-gender-equality-mainstream