Mainstreaming – Examples of Best Practice

Mainstreaming
– Examples of Best Practice
The Danish National Research and Documentation Centre on Gender Equality

Mainstreaming – Examples of Best Practice
The Danish National Research and Documentation
Centre on Gender Equality, 2001
www-version: ISBN 87-91100-20-8
Text and translation:
Sine Lehn
Mette Lykke Nielsen
Proofreading: Lynne Roberts
Cover and graphic design: Michala Clante Bendixen
The publication can be ordered from:
The Danish National Research and Documentation
Centre on Gender Equality, 2001
Frederiksberggade 24, 2
DK-1459 København K
Denmark
Phone +45 3395 1060
Fax +45 3396 1070
Info@vidlige.dk
www.vidlige.dk
Price: 50,00 Dkr.

• Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
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Table of contents
What is Gender Mainstreaming? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The history of Gender Mainstreaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Why is a new strategy on gender equality necessary? . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Gender Mainstreaming in Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Presentation of examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Gender Mainstreaming in education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Gender Mainstreaming in public space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Gender Mainstreaming in news editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Gender Mainstreaming in leisure time activities for young people 14
Gender Mainstreaming in staff recruitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Gender Mainstreaming in staff management in the private sector 18
Gender Mainstreaming in budgeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Gender Mainstreaming in political decision-making . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Final Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Foreword
This booklet is written by The Danish National
Research and Documentation Centre on Gender
Equality, with the aim of engaging with the process of
qualifying the implementation of Gender Mainstreaming.
It is aimed at employees, managers and equality workers
in both public and private organisations, and
everyone who works in the field of Gender Mainstreaming.
The centre hopes the booklet will illuminate the concept
of Gender Mainstreaming, a concept which has
proved difficult to fully comprehend in theory, and
sometimes complicated in its practical implementation.
4 • Foreword
The booklet provides some clear examples of best
practice in a wide variety of sectors. The diversity of
areas covered highlights the concept of mainstreaming
as a general political strategy, influenced by the
context in which it operates.
The Danish National Research and Documentation
Centre of Gender Equality hopes the best practice
examples will serve to inspire future work in the field.

What is Gender
Mainstreaming?
The concept of Gender Mainstreaming means that a
gender equality perspective is integrated into all areas
of institutional decision-making.
There are numerous official definitions of Gender
Mainstreaming, however the Danish National Research
and Documentation Centre of Gender Equality
prefers to use that created by the Council of Europe;
‘Gender Mainstreaming is the (re)organisation improvement,
development and evaluation of policy processes,
so that a gender equality perspective is incorporated
in all policies at all levels and at all stages, by
the actors normally involved in policy-making.’
This definition repositions issues of gender equality,
so that they become considered as part of the ordinary
policy-making process, rather than being the marginalized
domain of the dedicated few.
The history of Gender Mainstreaming
The concept of Gender Mainstreaming was first established
after the Third World Conference for Women in
Nairobi in 1985, as a strategy for addressing ideas raised
at the conference in the work of the UN.
In 1986, it was formally decided that the UN would
integrate a gender equality perspective into all development
programmes.
A decade later, the 1995 fourth World Conference for
Women took place in Beijing, resulting in a ‘Platform
for Action,’ which outlined equality work at a global
level. A commitment to Gender Mainstreaming was
asserted, and governments and other institutions were
requested to promote an active and visible Gender
Mainstreaming policy.
Since 1995, Gender Mainstreaming has also been
introduced to EU policies, formalised in articles two
and three of the Amsterdam Treaty. However, despite
the commitment to a Gender Mainstreaming policy,
no directions was stated, and methods of ‘how to gender
mainstream’ are still being developed.
What is Gender Mainstreaming? • 5

Why is a new strategy on gender
equality necessary?
Despite significant progress in the field of gender
equality, inequality remains an issue to be resolved,
and many signs point towards the need for new strategies.
Although women in Europe have gained legal rights
in most fields, there continues to be a gap between
formal and real equality, and in many areas gender
still significantly affects the opportunities open to
both men and women.
The Equal Pay Act has been a reality in Denmark for
over 25 years, yet women routinely earn less than that
of their male counterparts. Discrimination faces men,
too, in the area of parental leave, and gender segregation
in the labour market has not decreased, despite
several attempts to address it.
From one perspective, the lack of results is explained
by the fact that much equality work has taken place
outside the mainstream of society, remaining isolated
from the policies and structures that produce and perpetuate
the imbalance.
Another barrier has been identified as the narrow
focus on the specific needs of women, which ignores a
more balanced focus on both sexes and the relationship
between them.
6 • What is Gender Mainstreaming?
The strategy of Gender Mainstreaming recognises that
gender equality work needn’t focus on specific areas
of interest, and that a much broader scope is required
to ensure that change happens where it is needed
most. More focus is needed on the relationship between
men and women, and gender issues need to be
considered by all actors, including those not normally
involved with equality issues.
Gender Mainstreaming is not intended as a replacement
for traditional equality work; rather, it should be
seen as a two-pronged strategy, working in conjunction
with established gender equality practices.
Gender Mainstreaming in Denmark
Denmark became involved with the strategy of
Gender Mainstreaming in1995. In May 2000, a new
act on gender equality was passed, adopting
Mainstreaming as a leading principle for equality work
in the country. As a consequence, a gender equality
perspective is to be integrated into all levels of decision-making
in public administration, however, in practice
this remains limited.
The DNRDCGE has gathered a number of examples of
how best to work on the basis of the Mainstreaming
strategy, and as already mentioned, the intention is to
inspire the continuing work of transforming the strategy
into a more equal society for both sexes.

Presentation of examples
Below follows a brief outline of the examples of best
practice we have chosen to present in this booklet,
taken from a wide range of different organisations and
institutions.
Gender Mainstreaming in Education
A look at The Danish Trade Union teaches the lesson
that Gender Mainstreaming must be adapted to the
context at hand, illustrating that Mainstreaming often
turns out to be a method to reflect on one’s own daily
routines.
Gender Mainstreaming in Public Space
An example from a Swedish municipality shows how
its methods can be easily transferred to other western
countries.
Gender Mainstreaming in News Editing
An example of Gender Mainstreaming in the
Caribbean Countries. As with many other developing
countries, Mainstreaming is used as a strategy in the
fight against poverty. The Caribbean project deals
with news editing, an area of relevance and interest to
all countries.
Gender Mainstreaming in leisure activities for
young people
This project focuses on every day life in a pedagogical
institution. It is notable for its demonstration that
Gender Mainstreaming does not need to be a complex
or abstract process.
Gender Mainstreaming in Staff Recruitment and
Gender Mainstreaming in Staff Management in the
Private Sector
These next two examples have much in common.
Though the first is from a public institution, they both
demonstrate how to qualify performance by integrating
a gender perspective into staffing issues. They provide
a clear example of how incorporating a gender
perspective into daily routines, has a changing effect
on everyday lives.
Gender Mainstreaming in budgeting and Gender
Mainstreaming in political decision-making
As political issues, Gender Mainstreaming in budgeting
and political decision-making are perhaps more
general or theory-based than the examples above.
These final examples are presented in rather more
detail, to prevent them from being abstract or unclear.
What is Gender Mainstreaming? • 7

Gender
Mainstreaming in
education
DENMARK
During the spring of 2000, the Internal Trade Union
Training (ITUT) , part of the Danish Trade Union (LO),
decided to apply Gender Mainstreaming to a series of
courses.
In 1999, 43,906 deputies attended an ITUT course.
Courses take place at schools belonging to the labour
movement in Denmark and they relate to the daily
work of the deputies.
The ITUT decided that a series of five courses, all with
a societal related content, would become involved
with the Gender Mainstreaming process. The process
took approximately one year, with the work carried
out by external consultants.
8 • Gender Mainstreaming in education
The process of Gender Mainstreaming in ITUT was
aimed at incorporating a gender perspective into the
already-existing education. Teaching manuals were
revised to ensure that a gender perspective would be
visible in the education in the future. The manuals
are intended to instruct teachers in the process of
planning and implementing education, focusing on
both issues relating to the educational content, and to
the teaching methods to be used.
From observation of classroom situations, the consultants
were able to gain a concrete picture of, if, and
how gender perspectives were integrated into different
courses, and how gender played an important
role in the informal teaching process.

The insights into existing practice gained by the
observations provided the basis for the revision of the
teaching manuals. The consultants developed suggestions
as to how to introduce a gender perspective
into future education, not by relying on separate education
in gender equality, but by integrating the issue
into the themes already dealt with.
In relation to a course on personal and public economy,
it was suggested that equal pay should be discussed,
and concrete information and documentation was
supplied. The relationship between gender and consumption
was also suggested as a topic for discussion,
and again, further reading was provided. Thirdly, it
was suggested that elaboration would be useful on the
consequences of gender in relation to public and
private pay systems.
Suggestions were developed in relation to other courses
in the project, including ‘The gendered welfare
state,’ Human rights are women’s rights,’ ‘Gender
segregation of the labour market,’ and ‘Gender and
poverty.’ The gendered perspective in relation to
parental leave was also suggested as a relevant topic.
Using observation as a method, it was possible to work
with the impact of gender on the informal teaching
processes. By focusing on the relationships between
the participants inside and outside of the classroom,
and making them visible to teachers, it was possible to
discuss what lessons the participants could learn
about gender in relation to the informal norm.
A section in the teachers manual was added in order
to make teachers aware of the important role gender
plays in the opportunities available to participants.
Observation showed that several teachers, contrary to
their intentions, dealt with participants differently
depending on their sex. Teachers as well as participants
showed a tendency to assign each other gender
specific roles in the classroom, which were not always
appropriate from a gender equality perspective.
By drawing attention to these often unintentional gendered
processes, it was hoped that teachers would be
given the opportunity to reflect on their daily educational
routines, and to avoid a tendency to create or
support gender stereotyping in future classrooms.
Gender Mainstreaming in education • 9

Gender Mainstreaming
in
public space
SWEDEN
This section focuses on plans for a residential area by
the municipality of Gothenburg in Sweden, to be
named Ostra Fagerdal. The planning of Ostra Fagerdal
during 2000, was the starting point for a project focusing
on Gender Mainstreaming in relation to public
space.
The pilot project, hosted by the town planning office ,
was set up with the intention of determining how to
integrate a gender perspective into the town planning
process.
As a starting point, the project aimed at gender-specifying
the target group for the development of retail
plans. Statistics show that the distribution of men and
women is almost 50-50 in most towns and residential
areas, however there is a radical difference in numbers
when you look more closely at the daytime users of
residential areas. In other words, men and women
have very different patterns of behaviour in relation to
housing areas.
10 • Gender Mainstreaming in public space
In Gothenburg, they came to the conclusion that
those most likely to use a housing area during the day,
are those citizens who:
• Take care of children
• Work or study part-time
• Work as carers for the elderly
• Have jobs directly connected to the housing area, i.e.
cleaning, gardening, mail delivery
• Are unemployed
• Are retired
Statistics showed the majority of all these groups to be
women; a fact which should be considered when planning
the construction of new housing areas.
Statistics also highlighted the difference in transport
habits between men and women, showing that men
are more likely to use private cars, whilst women tend
more towards public transport and bicycles, and are
more likely to go by foot than men.

In the light of this information, the town planning office
decided to work on the basis of three overall principles:
Mixing, Continuity and Accessibility.
Mixing implies that the constructed area should consist
of a combination of homes, work places, shops
and recreational areas, including green areas and
parks. Comfort and safety should be an important
consideration.
The concept of continuity means that all buildings
must be grouped around a continuous stretch, with
pavements and public transport. Bus stops should be
situated in close proximity to main pedestrian precincts,
and the structure should provide the opportunity
for a choice of routes.
Accessibility implies that the areas encircling pedestrian
precincts should give a ‘friendly’ and varied impression.
These three principles were identified to be of paramount
importance in the shaping of a housing area, to
be an integrated part of every step of the planning
process.
A greater awareness of the significance of gender in
relation to public space created several positive sideeffects.
It was realised that the method decreased the
likelihood of degeneration of the area, and road safety
was improved. The message was also enforced that an
open, democratic society, without discrimination on
the basis of gender, age, religion or ethnicity, is greatly
strengthened.
The Gender Mainstreaming process led the town planning
office to formulate two overall objectives for future
work. The first was that future spending on planning,
building and maintenance should support the
opportunities and needs of men, women, boys and
girls. Secondly, all areas in the town should be equally
accessible to both men and women, 24 hours a day.
Gender Mainstreaming in public space • 11

Gender Mainstreaming
in
news editing
CARIBIA
In the Caribbean, an office of the Inter-press Service
(IPS) Third World News Agency has worked on integrating
a gender perspective into the editorial policy
and output of its news coverage. The project is
remarkable for its successful organisation and framework,
which ensures that the process of Gender
Mainstreaming continues to be integral to daily
routines. Another interesting aspect of the project is
the faxt that it is run within a limited time frame.
Despite the Third World aspect, the project could
easily be transferred to a Western context.
Gender Mainstreaming in the Caribbean is grounded
in an understanding of the socialising effect of the
media. The media communicates enduring images
and perceptions of men and women, and one of the
aims of the Gender Mainstreaming process is to
ensure that these images are not overly stereotypical
or discriminating. A further aim is to make sure that
issues with a direct gender relevance are not presented
as ‘gender neutral,’ but clearly present the gender
perspective.
12 • Gender Mainstreaming in news editing
IPS has appointed a committee of 30 members who
work in relation to the project. Members are representative
of the many different ethnic origins within
the Caribbean society, and were selected with the
co-operation with gender and media experts.
The committee meets monthly to develop ideas on
how best to add a gender perspective to the themes
presented by the editorial board. It chooses one or
more stories which are covered by the themes from
the UN’s World Conference for Women in Beijing in
1995, which are:
• Poverty
• Education
• Health
• Violence against women
• Women in armed conflicts
• Economy
• Women in decision-making processes
• Institutions for the promotion of women’s
opportunities
• Women’s human rights
• Women and the environment

The committee ensures that the themes are reflected
in the editorial line. It also works to prevent other
publications from promoting stereotypes by presenting
unrealistic images of how the sexes actually live;
for example, by attempting to make sure that men
are not exclusively presented as physically strong, or
women as passive in relation to their work and
sexuality. The committee works with the intent of
presenting a more realistic and multi-faceted image
of gender, to avoid reproducing stereotypical notions
of what it is to be a ‘real’ man or woman.
The committee refers to relevant experts, who can
provide specific gender related knowledge if needed.
It uses the Internet to provide gender-relevant information
and statistics to other employees, and functions
as a collaborator in relation to the training of
other staff members, creating a network with nongovernmental
institutions in order to give them a
voice in news communication.
Separate to the committee, a gender co-ordinator and
a development consultant are also involved in the
project. In principle, the gender co-ordinator’s
function can be managed by anyone with a central
position within the organisation; in the Caribbean
project, the gender co-ordinator is also the region
editor. It is the role of the gender co-ordinator to
integrate a gender perspective into the communication
of news on a day-to-day basis, and to gather the
committee, and to share experiences with other
media organisations.
The development consultant is responsible for
technical assistance to the gender co-ordinator, enabling
them to widen their expertise, and to ensure efficient
results in the initial project phase. The development
consultant and gender co-ordinator work
together to evaluate the daily publications, and twice
a month carry out analysis of the process and outcome,
and discuss results with reporters and other relevant
employees.
Gender Mainstreaming in news editing • 13

Gender Mainstreaming
in
leisure time
activities for
young people
ICELAND
In Akureyris, one of Iceland’s largest municipalities,
Gender Mainstreaming work has been focused on
leisure time activities for young people. The purpose
of the project was to determine if young women and
men had equal opportunities in relation to leisure facilities,
and whether certain activities appealed to both
sexes equally.
The municipality began the Gender Mainstreaming
process by asking the employees of various youth
clubs to keep diaries, listing how many men and
women visited the club, how they spent their time
during the visit, and what use was made of equipment
and facilities, keeping all information gender segregated.
The diaries were analysed after a three month period,
and showed that boys made up 60% of activities in
the clubs, with girls trailing at 40%.
14 • Gender Mainstreaming in leisure time activities
It emerged that boys tended to participate in table tennis,
billiards and other games far more intensively
than girls, whilst more girls were likely to visit the
clubs to meet and talk. The diaries also showed that a
large number of both sexes spent a great deal of time
in the clubs watching television.
Club employees were asked to consider if they found
the gender composition satisfactory, and how they felt
about the activities of the young people. They were
also asked to consider whether or not they found the
club facilities appropriate for the needs of the members.
All questions were used to discuss how to make
the club more attractive to both young men and
women.

To determine why the clubs weren’t as attractive to
girls as boys, employees asked girls what could be
done to improve matters. The girls requested karaoke
equipment, sewing facilities, and more magazines.
They also stated that they didn’t find the clubs a suitable
environment for meeting and talking. In response,
rooms were made more inviting, and the requested
equipment purchased. Six months later, the attendance
rate for girls had risen by 6% to 46%.
The imbalance in game activities was rectified after
the clubs were redecorated. It transpired that girls
were unwilling to take part in games if they felt exposed
to too many people, and that both the table tennis
and billiards table were considered ‘property of the
boys.’ By changing the placement of tables, girls got
the opportunity to practice without too many spectators,
and as a result felt they were able to reclaim
ownership of the facilities.
At the same time, the employees gained a better
understanding of gender issues, realising that the
boys’ and girls’ desire to engage in different activities
wasn’t as gender specific as one might think. The simple
changes saw the percentage of girls taking place in
game activities rise from 7% to 16%.
The Icelandic project does not reveal anything about
the gendered use of the new sewing equipment, but
given the example of the games activities, it would
seem pertinent to consider the possibilities of boys
engaging more in activities traditionally dominated by
the opposite sex.
Besides the improved gender balance amongst young
people, the Akureyri project also gave employees the
opportunity to re-evaluate the quality of their work.
The revelation that the young people spent so much
of their time watching television was not expected,
and lead to discussions which resulted in staff engaging
more actively, by discussing the content of programmes
watched. Staff also decided to work on offering
more creative alternatives.
The Gender Mainstreaming process directly lead to a
general improvement in the leisure-time activities
offered to young people.
Gender Mainstreaming in leisure time activities • 15

Gender
Mainstreaming in
staff recruitment
DENMARK
What is the impact of gender when recruiting staff
members? This was the question considered by
employees of the municipality of Ringsted, when they
initiated a Gender Mainstreaming project in 1997. The
project was developed and implemented by a working
group consisting of members of the Equal Opportunities
committee and employees from the personnel
office. Several ‘experts’ took part during the project.
The objective was to work in a structured and determined
manner with every aspect of the recruitment
process, in order to integrate an equality perspective.
The municipality aimed to create and communicate
Gender Mainstreaming tools for future staff recruitment
processes.
The project was remarkable in many aspects. The
focus on recruitment implies the possibility of the
same tools working within many different types of
municipal organisations and institutions, including
schools, libraries and labour market administration.
16 • Gender Mainstreaming in staff recruitment
The working group created a folder entitled ‘Job interviews
in the municipality of Ringsted,’ and a booklet,
entitled ‘Concerning recruitment.’
The folder was sent to all applicants invited for interviews,
and to employers. It drew the applicants’ attention
to studies showing that men and women tend to
be treated differently when attending job interviews,
and stated that Ringsted wished to treat all applicants
fairly and equally during the recruitment process. It
also contained advice on how to prepare for an interview,
including examples such as;
• Focus on what you are good at, instead of your
weaknesses
• Consider how to describe yourself professionally as
well as privately
• Consider the length of your replies

The advice appeared to be gender neutral, but was
based on unintentional behaviour patterns of male
and female applicants. Studies show that women have
a tendency to focus on their weaknesses rather than
their strengths, whilst men often reply using long and
numerous sentences.
Enclosed with the folder was a questionnaire, asking
applicants to evaluate their interview. Employers were
asked to look upon the recruitment process as an
opportunity to re-evaluate whether all demands for
equality were met within the organisation.
Employers were also advised to:
• Consider what qualifications and human resources
were needed
• Not to subconsciously look for a person exactly like
the one to be replaced
• To put together gender-balanced recruitment committees
• To be aware that men and women (both applicants
and members of recruitment committees) have a
tendency to act differently
The booklet, ‘Concerning Recruitment,’ contained a
more detailed guide, covering every step of the
recruitment process, from creating the job ad, to introducing
a new member of staff to the workplace. The
booklet was aimed to ensure that all job applicants
receive fair treatment, regardless of their sex, and to
qualify the recruitment process in general. It provided
the municipality with a tool to make the recruitment
process more efficient, and to avoid ‘accidental’ decisions.
The role of the experts was to evaluate the job interviews,
and to make a gender specific analysis of the
job advertisements inserted during the project period,
thus emphasising the importance of gender. Men and
women tend to react differently to different language
patterns, and also tend towards different workplace
cultures, so the choice of one word over another can
mean that one sex is more likely than the other to be
attracted to a position. It is important, too, to consider
the risk of falling back on stereotypes. Qualifications
are not exclusive to any one sex, and it can be fruitful
to act ‘untraditionally,’ by forgetting conservative
ideas of ‘male’ or ‘female’ qualifications and characteristics,
remembering to look for the right person, not
the right sex.
Gender Mainstreaming in staff recruitment • 17

Gender Mainstreaming
in staff
management in
the private sector
DENMARK
Examples of Gender Mainstreaming within the private
sector are still relatively few, however two Nordic companies,
Scandinavian Airline Service (SAS) and Statoil ,
are worth mentioning for their development of special
personnel policies in relation to employees with
small children.
Both have the aim of improving the conditions for
reconciling work and family life. There are important
policy differences between the two companies with
regard to content and spread, however they share the
following overall objectives;
• More senior female staff
• Improved basis for recruitment
• Male employees with broader experience
• Better use of human resources. This is based on
the assumption that happy employees do a better
job.
18 • Gender Mainstreaming in staff management
Statoil has developed a personnel policy, covering staff
with children between the ages 0-10, aimed at providing
such staff with more flexibility in their work. It
includes better opportunities for working from home,
more interesting part-time jobs and active career
planning for employees with small children.
The company offers economic compensation during
child leave, but in return expects the employee to stay
in touch. Monthly meetings are held between the
absent employee and a company contact, to keep the
employee updated on business matters, and the
employee has the option to participate in meetings
and courses. The level of activity during child leave is
determined by the employee rather than the company.
At SAS the family friendly personnel policy covers
managers and specialists with children aged 0-12,
meaning that only high-ranking employees benefit,
however, these employees have excellent conditions
in relation to maternity, paternity and child leave.

As with Statoil, SAS allows employees to participate in
certain working activities during leave, to ensure they
are not completely cut off during the period of absence.
The employee and the company are mutually
committed to ensuring that the employee is professionally
updated. The employee is expected to undertake
minor tasks, and to participate in project work or
courses. It is also expected that the employee stays in
contact with the company by use of a home computer,
for which they are compensated economically.
After returning to work, SAS offers flexible working
hours and the possibility for working more hours from
home. It also supplies staff members with 12 hours of
house cleaning each month.
Results
Statoil employees have reacted positively to the policy.
The number of men taking child leave has risen, and
there has been an improvement in the numbers of
female managers. From the point of view of the company,
the active involvement of planning the use of
child leave has shown an indisputable improvement,
making such situations far less of a burden.
Questionnaire-based research has shown that employees
with small children find their daily life less stressful
than before. They have also stated that they feel
they work more efficiently, and that loyalty to the
company has increased.
According to SAS, the improved personnel policy has
resulted in a number of benefits. It has become easier
to recruit qualified employees, particularly among
young, well-educated women and IT-trained personnel.
The number of female employees and managers
has risen, as has the number of male employees with
a broad life experience. It is generally agreed that the
working environment has improved.
An unexpected result for SAS has been a great deal of
positive PR, illustrating that Gender Mainstreaming
has improved the image of the organisation, both
amongst employees and the general public.
The above examples show how attention to the balance
of work and family life can pay off, benefiting not
only the employees, or serving the ‘good cause,’ but by
reflecting positively on the quality, productivity and
efficiency of the company.
Gender Mainstreaming in staff management • 19

Gender Mainstreaming
in
budgeting
SWEDEN
One of the most important political decisions is passing
The Budget. The Budget creates the framework
for all following political decisions, and reflects the priorities,
political objectives, attitudes and values of the
government.
The Budget has not yet been gender-mainstreamed in
Denmark, but other countries provide examples of
mainstreaming both governmental and municipality
budgets, and the decision process up to the passing of
the Budget.
Those who have gender mainstreamed macro economic
policy have learned that there are a number of
good reasons to integrate a gender perspective.
Gender mainstreaming budgets has the effect that
unintended gender-specific consequences can be pinpointed
and avoided. Secondly, mainstreaming
governmental budgets can lead to better analysis of
the effect of the budget, and decisions taken up to the
passing of the budget become more effective and qualified.
The macro economic policy has to be mainstreamed
because:
20 • Gender Mainstreaming in budgeting
• The national budget reflects the highest level of
political commitment. It is, therefore, important to
ensure that the equal treatment of men and women
is established here. If the budget leads to more
inequality, it has long-term and far-reaching consequences.
• In general the national budget is seen as a genderneutral
political instrument. However, taxes and
distribution of public goods have different consequences
for men and women, in terms of their different
places in society, as well as contribution to economic
growth and as users of public goods.
• A gender-sensitive budget will improve the distribution
of goods through effective targeting of resources
Below are some examples of countries with experience
of Gender Mainstreaming the budgets of the
government or municipalities;
• In 1984 the parliament of Australia developed a
method of gender sensitive budget analysis. It was
used throughout the 1980’s and ‘90’s by all
Australian state parliaments

• In 1995, parliamentarians in the government of
South Africa, the Commonwealth Secretariat and
NGO’s worked out a method of gender sensitive
budget analysis. South Africa is part of a larger
mainstreaming project started by the Commonwealth
Secretariat. 1
• The government of South Africa began to do gender
sensitive budget analysis in 1997
• Also in 1997 the government of Namibia started a
bigger project mainstreaming the national budget.
The project was financed by SIDA (The Swedish
International Development Co-operation Agency),
and carried out in co-operation with a number of
NGO’s.
• In 1999, selected ministries in Sri Lanka began to do
gender sensitive budget analysis, as a pilot-project
under the Commonwealth Secretariat
• In 1999, the British Parliament under New Labour,
began to mainstream the budget process, with a
special focus on ‘The November pre-budget report.’
In connection, the political labour market program,
‘The New Deal,’ was analysed using a gender perspective.
• In 2000 the City of Goteborg gender-mainstreamed
the total budget of the city.
Gender mainstreaming the budgets of governments
and municipalities can not be reduced to one specific
process. The mainstreaming process depends on how
the budget is passed, and its focus. The budget decision-making
process often passes through many political
levels, with many people involved, therefore it is
useful to define where in the decision-making process
the mainstreaming can begin.
It is possible to divide mainstreaming budgets into
two different types of process. First, that where mainstreaming
is introduced to the decision-making process
up to the passing of the budget, and second,
mainstreaming the budget in itself, and its effects.
Both types of effort require a definition of focus and
goals. For example, the size of the mainstreaming process;
is it going to include the whole of the budget, or
only selected parts of it? Is the focus on the political
level or the administrative? And is it on the level of
the government, ministry, committee or civil service?
Gender Mainstreaming in budgeting • 21

Gender mainstreaming in the
decision-making process
If you are mainstreaming the decision-making process
up to the passing of the budget, you can analyse:
1) How is the gender-division among participants in
the decision-making process? Is there an equal
division among men and women? And how is
responsibility shared?
2) Are there concrete political objectives for equality
on the specific budget area?
3) What kind of data is the decision taken on the basis
of? Are enough gender-divided statistics available?
Is there material available about gendered consequences
of the budget?
4) What resources (time, money and manpower) are
set aside to analyse the gendered consequences of
the budget?
Mainstreaming the budget
Professor Diane Elson from the University of Essex has
worked with mainstreaming the budgets of governments,
and has set up a frame of analysis, in an
attempt to get around all parts of the budget-process.
Gendered budget analysis focuses on four central
levels of the budget-process:
22 • Gender Mainstreaming in budgeting
Input
How much money is put aside for a specific area? Is it
equally divided between men and women?
Activities
Which governmental or municipal services are planned?
Is this service sought-after by both men and
women, or is it a service mainly used by one sex only?
Output
What actual consequences do the offered services
have in practice? Is the gender division among users
of government services as expected?
Effects: What broader social and political consequences
did the budget have? Did it have the intended
effect, and was the effect desirable for both men and
women?
This frame of analysis makes it possible to question all
levels of the budget-process.
The following example is from the annual budget
2000 of the City of Gothenburg. The mainstreaming
process in Gothenburg does not follow the above list,
but Gothenburg is a fine example of how the process
can be tackled. And it shows that the method has to
be adjusted to the concrete project.

Gender mainstreaming the City of
Gothenburg’s budget
In January 2000 the City Office in Gothenburg initiated
a development program for Gender
Mainstreaming in the city together with a development
unit of the Association of Local Authorities.
The purpose of the programme, according to the City
Council’s budget objective, was to support municipal
operations in the city in their work ‘incorporating a
gender equality perspective into operations.’
The project was planned to continue until September
2001, and financed within the normal budget.
The overall objective was to create equality for the
users of municipal services in Gothenburg.
At the same time The City wished to develop a method
by which a gender perspective could be integrated
into the budget process.
Gender Analysis was concentrated on four areas:
1) Analysis of what material the parties use under the
budget process, including an analysis of which gender
divided statistics are available.
2) Analysis of who works with, and is responsible for
budget data and annual reports in the City Office.
3) Analysis of the amount of time or room allowed at
the City Office for Gender Mainstreaming analysis
in relation to areas other than the budget.
4) Analysis of whether the political objectives within
the budget had the desired effect in the form of services.
After this analysis the City Office initiated various
actions.
Regarding analysis of the data used in the budget process,
it was shown to be necessary to make a gender
perspective visible in the data.
Relevant data about gender and equality was identified
to use in budget discussions in the City Council
and political committees.
A gender perspective was also incorporated into questionnaires
given to consumers, enabling the City to
gain a better impression of levels of satisfaction with
City services among both sexes.
The Gender Mainstreaming process therefore became
central to the quality development of City services.
Another notable element of the Gothenburg project
was a seminar, 'Process management training in
Gender Mainstreaming 2000.'
The seminar was addressed to the chief administrative
officer, along with directors of municipal companies
and human resources. It was hoped that the seminar
would qualify the decision making process up to the
passing of the annual budget.
Gender Mainstreaming in budgeting • 23

The course of the project
At the beginning of the project the City District
Committees in Gothenburg reviewed the key ratios in
the project, which were turned over to the City
Council for the annual report.
Through dialogue with key people in various administrations,
the City Office gleaned an overview of what
kind of gender divided statistics were needed. Certain
political test areas were pointed out, and the relevant
statistics were included in the next annual report.
It became apparent that there was a significant lack of
gender divided statistics in almost every area. Some
existing statistics could be easily gender divided, but a
large proportion had to be collected.
Dialogue with the administrations also determined
the equality criteria the city should work with in the
future, in order for it to be possible to evaluate equality
work, and to make comparisons between different
parts of the municipality.
24 • Gender Mainstreaming in budgeting
The criteria was sent to all relevant administrations
and committees, who then reported back on how they
worked with equality in their budget area.
It was evident from the project that the budget process
becomes more effective if all parts of the administration
have access to gender and equality expertise.
Unfortunately expert knowledge in the field has generally
received low priority.
A second important realisation was that equality is
improved if concrete goals are identified for processes
in specific political areas.

Gender Mainstreaming
in
political decisionmaking
CANADA
Political decision-making processes are influenced by
the organisation, the level of decision and the political
area, and the disparity between different processes
makes it impossible to create a single comprehensive
review of Gender Mainstreaming in that area.
Canada has worked with Gender Mainstreaming in
political decision-making processes for a number of
years. What is remarkable in the example of Canada,
is that through its efforts in the decision-making process,
Gender Mainstreaming has been integrated to
effectively become a natural part of the governmental
organisation.
Information about mainstreaming in the different
ministries is impressive, with a high quality of information
available over the Internet.
The foundation for mainstreaming in Canada was laid
with the passing of the Federal Plan for Gender
Equality (1995-2000) in 1995. The plan was passed in
connection with The Fourth World Conference for
women in 1995, where the Canadian government
committed itself formally to do gender-sensitive budget-analysis
in connection with all politics, politic programmes
and legislation 2 .
The government also committed itself to developing
the necessary analytical tools, education and data
necessary to implement the ideas 3 .
The Status of Women Canada (SWC) web site states
that there has been much activity in the area of mainstreaming
since 1995 4 , including the following:
• All ministries have developed action plans regarding
how to mainstream in their area.
• Education programs for all ministries and political
parties have been developed.
Gender Mainstreaming in political decision-making • 25

• Each ministry has committed to establishing a gender-based
budget, so that it is possible to evaluate
its efforts.
• The ‘Committee on Gender-Based Analysis’ was
established, consisting of specialists from each ministry
responsible for collecting and developing knowledge
of the area. The government has institutionalised
the mainstreaming process over the past four
years.
It is the responsibility of SWC, an organisation of over
100 employees, to supply the necessary knowledge
and guidance.
Political areas covered include 'Health Canada,'
'Department of Foreign Affairs and International
Trade,' 'Human Resources Development Canada,' and
'Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).'
What is Gender Impact Analysis?
Gender Impact Analysis is a tool, which makes it possible
to identify if a given decision, law or political programme
will have negative consequences for equality
between women and men. A Gender Impact Analysis
in the Canadian model has three functions:
1) To learn how a gender perspective can have political,
social and economic influence.
26 • Gender Mainstreaming in political decision-making
2) To use this knowledge to analyse the consequence
of decisions. Also, to analyse whether or not gender
stereotypes, or outdated assumptions about men
and women, are present in the decision-making
process.
3) To create alternative laws and programmes with
more favourable consequences for equality between
men and women.
An example of Gender Impact Analysis
used in legal decision-making
In 1996 the Canadian Administration of Justice officially
declared its commitment to improving its legal
efforts in relation to the needs of women.
The following year the ministry started to undertake
Gender Equality Analysis of all legal decisions, laws,
etc. It produced a guide on how to analyse legal decisions,
entitled ‘Diversity and Justice: Gender perspectives
– a Guide to Gender Equality Analysis’, the purpose
of which was to create a common understanding of
Gender Equality Analysis in the ministry and legal
departments.
The guide presents a description of process, which can
be used in connection with all types of legal decisionmaking.
Canada's governmental organisation is different
to the Danish, so it is not possible to transfer the
guide directly, however, it gives us an idea of the considerations
to be taken in the mainstreaming process.
The guide is accessible on the Internet.

Guide to Gender Impact Analysis in
legal consultancy
The guide describes how legal advisers can undertake
Gender Impact Analysis in their consultancy. The
guide is written in four parts: preparation, analysis,
legal advisory and follow-up. We have edited and
abridged it to produce the following outline:
1) Preparation
First, determine if it is relevant to analyse women's
social, economic, political or family circumstances in
connection with the subject for the legal advice.
Second, establish whether or not statistics or research
is available on gender impact.
Some areas have a clear gender perspective while
others present as gender-neutral. It is recommended,
particularly with the latter, that experts in gender issues
are consulted, or that statistics are examined.
2) Analysis
First, examine if the legal decision has any negative
effects on gender equality. Second, examine if the law
or the legal argument contains negative assumptions
or gender stereotypes. What is the historical background
of the law? What rationale is behind the law, is it
up-to-date, or does it reflect an earlier time when the
law was passed?
3) Legal Advisory
If the Gender Impact Analysis shows that a legal decision
has a negative consequence on gender equality,
the case has to go through a special estimation.
In Canada, a special unit, ‘The Human Rights Law
Section of Specialised Legal Advisory Service,' takes
care of such cases. The unit examines how the case
relates to the international Human Rights
Conventions and other relevant political conventions.
The specialists examine whether the problem is the
client’s goal, or the means to reach this goal. The problem
can also be the mechanism that triggers enforcement
of the law.
4) Follow up
It is important to pass on lessons learned from the
experiences. In Canada, the legal adviser writes about
the case in the ministries database, for future consultation
in similar cases. If the case revealed a lack of
education in the area, it has to be considered how this
need can be fulfilled in the future.
The purpose of the guide is that Gender Impact
Analysis will become an integrated part of the work of
all kinds of legal advisory services.
The guide offers all legal advisers a tool to do Gender
impact analysis, but it is not possible to evaluate its
impact in practice.
If you require a more concrete explanation, we refer
you to the Department of Justice Canada’s home page,
at; http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/dept/pub/guide/
intro.htm
Gender Mainstreaming in political decision-making • 27

Final Remarks
The Danish National Research and Documentation
Centre on Gender Equality hopes that this publication
will inspire future work in the field of Gender
Mainstreaming.
The examples used are not meant to be read as the
only means by which the strategy can be implemented,
and it must be remembered that in Denmark, as
in other countries, Gender Mainstreaming is still in its
initial phase. It is hoped that the future will bring
more, and more diverse examples of how the strategy
can best be transferred into practice.
In most cases, we have chosen to let the examples
speak for themselves, without critique and further
analysis. This does not imply that the examples are
without problems or do not lead to further questions.
We hope that you will take a critical stance towards
the examples to ensure a qualified progress of the
process of implementation.
28 • Final Remarks
The Danish National Research and Documentation
Centre on Gender Equality has also published a booklet
about different methods of Gender Mainstreaming,
statistics, benchmarking, gender impact analysis and
the so-called 3R-method, with the title, ' Metoder til
Mainstreaming.' There is no English version of this, as
yet.

Notes
1) Five countries are part of the mainstreaming project. Two
of them, Sri Lanka and South Africa, have completed the
pilot stage. The other three countries are Barbados, Fiji,
St. Kitts and Nevis. In 1995, 54 Commonwealth countries
signed the Commonwealth Plan of Action on gender
and development. In this plan mainstreaming is the
founding principle. The Plan of Action advocates the
systematic integration of gender perspectives in to the
mainstream of governments and urges a more equitable
distribution of resources, sharing of power and decisionmaking.
The countries have to integrate a gender perspective
into all political plans and programmes, including
macroeconomic policies. In general, mainstreaming
macroeconomic policies has been a success in developing
countries, because the efforts support the fight against
poverty.
2) This corresponds to the Danish government’s commitment
to mainstream all political decisions.
3) In Canada they use the term ‘Gender equality Analysis’
or ‘ Gender based analysis in Europe that kind of analysis
is usually called Gender Impact Analysis. The term
Gender Mainstreaming is not used in Canada.
4) Status of Women Canada - publications. Home page:
www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/publish/gbagid-e.html.
5) Gender Mainstreaming - conceptual framework, methodology
and presentation of good practices. (1998)
6) Full title is Forward looking Strategies for the
Advancement of Women
7) Primarily, descriptions of the examples are grounded in
the actor's own information material; evaluation reports,
homepages and project descriptions
8) In Danish: FIU (Fagbevægelsens Internet Uddannelser)
9) The project resulted in a number of reports. These are
all in Danish, and can be requested from 'FIU's
Ligestillingssekretariat' at Esbjerg Højskole
10) www.stadsbyggnad.goteborg.se
11) The themes can be found in 'Platform for Action' which
is an action plan and not a convention. It is structured
as a catalogue and contains analysis, discussions and
concrete suggestions of how to deal with equal rights in
a global perspective.
12) The project is part of the Nordic Ministers Council's
Gender Mainstreaming project, which took place in the
period 1997-2000. All the Nordic countries participated.
From Denmark the municipality of Ringsted participated
with a project entitled 'Employment Equality' (In
Danish 'Ligebehandling I Ansættelsen'). We focus on
the Danish project in the chapter entitled 'Gender
Mainstreaming in staff recruitment.'
13) Besides the project about leisure-time activities, the
Icelandic contribution to the Nordic Minister Council's
project also focused on young women in sports.
Noter • 29

14) Concrete figures and percentages in the following are
all from the part of the project focusing on the club called
'Frostaskjold' in Akureyri
15) This project was the Danish contribution to the Nordic
Minister Council's Gender Mainstreaming project from
1997-2000. Staff recruitment was a part of the overall
objective, which was the creation of more gender-balanced
workplaces.
16) The examples refer to SAS and Statoil in Sweden, and
examples do not apply to the work of those companies
in Denmark or other countries.
30 • Noter

Further Reading
Gender Mainstreaming in general
“Gender Mainstreaming. Conceptual framework, methodology
and presentation of good practises”.
Final report of Activities of the group of Specialists on
Mainstreaming (EG-S-MG). Council of Europe 1998.
Homepage for The Nordic Ministers Council’s mainstreaming
project: www.norden.org
Homepage for The Department for Gender Equality:
www.lige.dk
“National Machinery, Action Plan and Gender Mainstreaming
in the Council of Europe Member States since the
4th World Conference on Women.
(Beijing 1995). EG (99)12. Council of Europe 2000.
Åström, Gertrud: “Kommuner med känsla för jämställdhet”.
I Genus i praktikken – på hans eller hendes vilkår?
Af Bande, Annika og Hansson, Per m.fl.
Udgivet af Jämställdhetsarbetares föreningen 1998.
Gender Mainstreaming in education
“Gender Mainstreaming in Education. A Reference Manual
for Governments and Other Stakeholders”. Gender
Management System Series. Commonwealth Secretariat 1999.
'Gender Mainstreaming'.
Internal trade union training: December 2000.
Gender Mainstreaming in public space
Vang, Betty: “Køn, postkøn og de byggede omgivelser”.
I “Nordisk artitekturforskning”. Vol. 2 1999.
Gender Mainstreaming in News editing
“A Quick Guide to… Gender Mainstreaming in Information
and Communications.” Del af Gender Management System
Series. Commonwealth Secretariat, London, 2000.
“Gender Mainstreaming in Information and
Communications. A Reference Manual for Governments and
Other Stakeholders”. Del af Gender Management System
Series. Commonwealth Secretariat, London 2000.
Gender Mainstreaming in leisure-time activities for
young people
“Gender Mainstreaming I Norden - en strategi för jämställd
arbetsmarknads- och ungdomspolitik. Slutrapport från det
Nordiska Mainstreamingprojektet”.
(Gender Mainstreaming in the Nordic countries. A strategy for
gender equality in labour and youth policy) In TemaNord
2000:580. The Nordic Ministers Council: 2000.
Further Reading • 31

Gender Mainstreaming in staff recruitment
Bundler, Debbies m.fl: 'How to do a gender - sensitive budget
analysis: Contemporary research and practice'.
Australian Agency for international Development.
Commonwealth Secretariat: 1998.
Eliasson, Lars-Åke, Szanto, Zsolt and Ternert Nordin, Eva:
'Gender Mainstreaming of the City of Göteborg’s Budget',
City office, 2000. Web site: www.gr.to/kompentens
Gender Mainstreaming in staff managing
in the private sector
Ling, Magnus: “Gender Equality is profitable!?”
Speech from the OECD- conference "Gender Mainstreaming,
Competitiveness and Growth" in Paris 23-24 November 2000.
Homepage: www.norden.org/gender/taler/index.htm
Gender Mainstreaming in budgeting
Elson, Diane.' Gender Budget Initiatives as an aid to Gender
Mainstreaming;'. Speech from the OECD- conference "Gender
Mainstreaming, Competitiveness and Growth" in Paris 23-24
November 2000.
Homepage: www.norden.org/gender/taler/index.htm
'Gender Budget Initiative - a Commonwealth Initiative to
Integrate Gender into National Budgetary Processes'.
Commonwealth Secretariat: 1999.
Homepage: www.thecommonwealth.org/gender
Rake, Katherine: 'Into the mainstream? Why gender audit is
an essential tool for policymakers'. I New Economy, Vol. 7 No
2: June 2000.
32 • Further Reading
Stark Agneta: 'Developments in Mainstreaming sex equality
in Europe'. I 'Mainstreaming sex equality in the public sector'.
Report of a joint equal opportunities commission and
European commission conference. Equal Opportunities
Commission: 1998.
Stark, Agneta et.al.:'Mainstreaming Gender in Namibia’s
National Budget'. SIDA (Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency) Department for Africa: 1998.
Homepage: www.sida.se
Gender Mainstreaming in political decision-making
“Gender-based Analysis - a guide for policy-making.”
Status of Women, Canada-publications 1996.
Homepage: www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/publish/gbagid-e.html.
“Gender Management System Handbook”.
Part of Gender Management System Series.
Commonwealth Secretariat, London: 1999.