Gender equality and gender mainstreaming: the issue of equal opportunities in the European context

2019 ◽  
pp. 9-30
Author(s):  
Vera Lomazzi ◽  
Isabella Crespi
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Current Approach ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Equal Opportunities ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Positive Action ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Eu

This chapter deals with the definition, understanding and exploration of the issue of gender equality approaches that the EU has developed to promote equal opportunities between men and women. The chapter examines the different strategies used across time to implement gender equality in the EU and how this conceptualisation led to the current approach of gender mainstreaming. In particular, three phases are identified and discussedinthe chapter: equal treatment, positive action and gender mainstreaming. The last one is discussed deeply because itformed a substantial and important backbone in the context of the individual rights of citizens of the Union by creating a basis of equal rights guaranteed to all, regardless of gender. The goal pursued by gender mainstreaming approach consists of a deep change in the organizational culture of society, institutions and workplace, where gender equality should be implemented in a transformed cultural framework.

scholarly journals EU Equality Commitments and Shifting Meanings of Gender Equality

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin J. Black
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Policy Frames ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Positive Action ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Action Measures ◽  
Treatment Policies

This article follows the development of a European Union gender equality regime through three broad periods: equal treatment policies, positive action measures, and Gender Mainstreaming. The policy-making process entails conflict between competing policy frames; unequal resources behind each secures the dominance of an economic frame. Strategical framing practices have been employed by equality advocates to overcome this disadvantage. This article traces the gradual shifts in meaning within each period until equality goals are integrated into the dominant economic policy frame. It concludes that equality advocates need to engage in deeper analyses of power in order to sustain attention to equality goals over longer periods of time.

EU Equality Commitments and Shifting Meanings of Gender Equality

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin J. Black
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Policy Frames ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Positive Action ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Action Measures ◽  
Treatment Policies

This article follows the development of a European Union gender equality regime through three broad periods: equal treatment policies, positive action measures, and Gender Mainstreaming. The policy-making process entails conflict between competing policy frames; unequal resources behind each secures the dominance of an economic frame. Strategical framing practices have been employed by equality advocates to overcome this disadvantage. This article traces the gradual shifts in meaning within each period until equality goals are integrated into the dominant economic policy frame. It concludes that equality advocates need to engage in deeper analyses of power in order to sustain attention to equality goals over longer periods of time.   Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v5i1.201

scholarly journals Gender, family and employment in comparative perspective: the realities and representations of equal opportunities in Britain and France

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 334-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosmary Crompton ◽  
Nicky Le Feuvre
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Equal Opportunities ◽  
Women And Gender ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Positive Action ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Impact

In this paper, we will explore how contrasting national discourses relating to women, and gender equality have been incorporated into and reflected in national policies. In the first section, we will outline the recent history of EU equal opportunities policy, in which positive action has been replaced by a policy of 'mainstreaming'. Second, we will describe the evolution of policies towards women and equal opportunities in Britain and France. It will be argued that whereas some degree of positive action for women has been accepted in Britain, this policy is somewhat alien to French thinking about equality - although pro-natalist French policies have resulted in favourable conditions for employed mothers in France. In the third section, we will present some attitudinal evidence, drawn from national surveys, which would appear to reflect the national policy differences we have identified in respect of the 'equality agenda'. In the fourth section, we will draw upon biographical interviews carried out with men and women in British and French banks in order to illustrate the impact of these cross-national differences within organizations and on individual lives. We demonstrate that positive action gender equality policies have made an important impact in British banks, while overt gender exclusionary practices still persist in the French banks studied. In the conclusion, we reflect on the European policy implications of our findings.

Gender Mainstreaming and Gender Equality in Europe

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Lomazzi ◽  
Isabella Crespi
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
Family Balance ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Common Strategy ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Work Family ◽  
The Individual

The book provides a systematic scientific overview of gender mainstreaming in Europe. It recalls the main steps of the origins and the development of the European gender mainstreaming (GM) strategy. The book also connects this framework with the current situation of gender equality and explores the strength and weak points of the strategy. To do so, it provides a critical evaluation of the instruments used to measure gender equality and explores how societal aspects, such as the opportunity structure defined by work-family balance policies and practices, affect the individual values of gender equality supporting the development of gender egalitarian cultures. Further, it develops an outline of the current and future challenges of the gender mainstreaming strategy, that run in parallel with the general European Union’s challenges, such as the integration process, economic crisis, migration and refugees crisis, and the rise of right-wing Euroscepticism. In addition, the old but always current problem of conceptualizing gender equality in different ways leading to jeopardized results. The book offers a critical review of the GM strategy in Europe and analyses whether and how gender equality in Europe is improving, with a specific interest in the cultural differences between the European countries where this common strategy is implemented.

Equality Issues in the CEE Countries: Women and Decision-Making in the Labor Market

2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Gromek-Broc
Keyword(s):  
Working Women ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Equal Opportunities ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Market Transformation ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThis article examines the situation of working women and their career development in Central and Eastern Europe. It looks at the difficulties and the obstacles preventing them from competing effectively with men. It considers the legal protection, or lack thereof, and the enforcement of the principle of equal treatment. It also evaluates the progress in the transposition of EU legal standards on equality and in the implementation of the new multi-faceted strategy, gender mainstreaming, targeting gender issues.First, the article begins with assessment of equal opportunities under communism weighing the incontestable impediments and essential advantages of this period. Secondly, it investigates the changes that have occurred over the last twenty years, mainly market transformation and its impact on women at work. In particular, it critically evaluates the consequences of "unprepared" transition without, however, underestimating the challenges and opportunities. Thirdly, it discusses the evolution in legal protection through the implementation of the EU equality directives. Finally, it looks at progress in the application of the gender mainstreaming strategy stressing the importance of combined efforts in the legal, social, economic and political spheres. In conclusion, this article offers some reflections as to how (best) to remedy some existing problems and, overall, to enhance women's positions in employment.

scholarly journals PROVISION OF EQUAL RIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES RELATING WITH LABOUR RELATIONS IN PUBLIC SECTOR

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalia PERKUMIENĖ ◽  
Rasa MERKIENĖ ◽  
Ozgur OGUZ
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Equal Opportunities ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Individual

Human rights are one of the most popular topics in modern global communities. Therefore, the adoption of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Equal Opportunities and the establishment of the institution that governs the execution of this law is a significant legal step which permits to actually ensure the compliance of one of the most fundamental rights of the individual, i.e. non-discrimination on the basis of gender. Equality, being one of the fundamental principles of human rights, is governed by international contracts and legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania. The results of the questionnaires permit to claim that the administration of Kaunas district municipality pays too little attention to the provision of the information about the Law on Equal Opportunities of the Republic of Lithuania and amendments where of to the employees of Kaunas district municipality. Thus there are a lot of problems related to the provision of equal opportunities to the employees at work.

The Good, the Not So Good and the Ugly: Gender Equality, Equal Pay and Austerity in English Local Government

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 789-805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hazel Conley ◽  
Margaret Page
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Organizational Restructuring ◽  
Equal Opportunities ◽  
Budget Cuts ◽  
Equal Pay ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

Drawing on theories of responsive and reflexive legislation and gender mainstreaming, this article examines the implementation of the gender equality duty and the Single Status Agreement in five English local authorities between 2008 and 2010. Both of these initiatives coincided with the global financial crisis. The data highlights how organizational restructuring following budget cuts resulted in the separation of these two important initiatives between equality and human resource management teams, preventing the duty from reaching the high expectations of the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Women and Work Commission. The reliance on equal pay legislation and the failure to use the gender equality duty missed an opportunity to move away from adversarial forms of legislation and towards more responsive forms of regulation of pay equality.

scholarly journals THE PRINCIPLE OF GENDER EQUALITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: DIMENSIONS AND THEIR CONTENT

2019 ◽  
pp. 39-44
Author(s):  
Kh. Rionidze
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Equal Pay ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Eu

The topicality of this issue is related to the fact that the EU is founded on a set of values, including equality. Nowadays the attitude towards women in the society is significantly different from that of men. Unfortunately, inequality does not decline over time. The basic idea of gender equality is to provide both women and men with the same rights, opportunities and conditions for full-fledged development. The article is devoted to the dimensions of the principle of gender equality in the European Union, which is important for Ukraine due to the conditions of European integration. The dimensions of gender equality cover the political, economic, civil, social and cultural spheres of our live activity, including achieving gender equality in employment, equal pay for equal work, gender balance in decision making, harmonization of professional and family life, education and «gender mainstreaming». That is why research and analysis of gender equality's dimensions in the EU and defining the legal aspects of their regulation are relevant to the legal system of Ukraine. Over the past few decades, the EU has notably worked for equal treatment legislation, gender mainstreaming and specific measures for the advancement of women. Moreover, the EU has defined the following dimensions of gender equality: equal economic independence for women and men; equal pay for work of equal value; equality in decision-making; dignity, integrity and ending gender-based violence; and promoting gender equality beyond the EU. The dimension of gender equality is a strategy for making women's as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and social spheres, so that women and men benefit equally and the inequality is not perpetuated. Although the EU has achieved positive results in protecting human rights, the work is still continuing in this direction. The idea of gender equality is an integral part of equality as a general principle, development and peace in the world. Without this principle, it is impossible to establish the basis for democracy, freedom, justice and tolerance. Recently, the principle of gender equality is getting paramount importance for Ukraine, as one of the conditions for successful European integration.

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