Gender mainstreaming has been embraced internationally as a strategy towards realising gender equality. It involves the integration of a gender perspective into the preparation, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies, regulatory measures and spending programmes, with a view to promoting equality between women and men, and combating discrimination.
Gender mainstreaming ensures that policy-making and legislative work is of higher quality and has a greater relevance for society, because it makes policies respond more effectively to the needs of all citizens – women and men, girls and boys. Gender mainstreaming makes public interventions more effective and ensures that inequalities are not perpetuated.
Gender mainstreaming does not only aim to avoid the creation or reinforcement of inequalities, which can have adverse effects on all genders.
At European level, the EU Institutions are in charge of implementing gender mainstreaming, whereas at national level, it is up to the governments of Member States. However, it is not only the responsibility of specific individuals working in certain areas or units. While specific structures should be established and persons responsible appointed, the responsibility for implementing gender mainstreaming should be with the entire staff of public institutions, under the leadership of the management.
Integrating the gender perspective in a policy means that equality between genders, as the overarching principle, should be taken into consideration in all decisions, in each phase of the policy-making process, by all the actors involved.
(EIGE)
Power Up for more Gender Equality and Gender Mainstreaming Conference was held on the 19th of November, 2019 in Brussels. It was the last Conference since the Conference for 2020 was cancelled due to Covid-19.
The aim of this conference was to discuss what has been done in the past 10 years and what commitment should be made for the following years.
The Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 was presented during this Conference, as well as some important points:
The new European Commission will be led for the first time ever by a woman.
The New Gender Equality Strategy will be built on the jewel approach with specific initiatives and combined with gender mainstreaming in all of the EU policies.
Gender equality is great when decisions are made and resources are allocated.
We must apply Gender Mainstreaming systematically in policymaking.
The gender equality bodies are being merged.
Institutional mechanisms:
These are extremely important, if they are not given the role and action they are supposed to, gender mainstreaming is not taking place.
They are responsible for tracking the budget and the competency, where we are and the progress we have made. They are also responsible for meeting the agreed goals and supporting the system and the citizens.