Study on non-legislative initiatives for companies to promote gender ...

Gender equality initiatives 129
the priorities in society. Based on these indicators, most of the analysed initiatives
could be judged as being successful, as they generally report increasing participation
rates and growing interest in the media.
An initiative can also be regarded successful if other countries adapt the concept
and implement a similar measure (see e.g. ““Audit berufundfamilie” (work and family
audit)) or if main elements of the initiative are transferred into law because they have
been evaluated as crucial for the support of gender equality (see “Entidad
Colaboradora en Igualdad de Oportunidades entre Mujeres y Hombres” (entity
collaborating on equality of opportunities amongst women and men), as part of the
Optima programme in Spain). This example shows also the limitation of non-legislative
initiatives though. Thus, some countries decide to not rely exclusively on the voluntary
commitment and participation of enterprises.
Beyond dispute, non-legislative initiatives promoting gender equality at the workplace
contribute to the awareness of gender issues in the labour market. They unfold crucial
fields where gender inequalities persist and offer solutions how companies can change
their organisational structures to foster gender equality. Besides, addressing gender
inequalities in the labour market and appealing to the responsibility of companies in this
context can have positive side effects to other issues related to CSR or diversity as it
shows that equal treatment can have positive effects for the enterprise itself (see 4.3).
4.2.1 Success factors
Despite the difficulties in assessing the initiatives with a view to the achievement of
their overall societal objective, some success factors could be identified which seem to
contribute to the acceptance of these initiatives in the companies and therefore
indirectly foster the achievement of more gender equality. These principles can be
found in many initiatives and can be classified as good practice.
• Flexible and tailored approach: A basic principle is that the broader an
initiative is designed the more flexible the approach should be in terms of
creating sub-categories of different target groups. The requirements have to be
adapted to the situation of the companies as the measures implemented in
SMEs will differ from those in large companies. Private enterprises face other
challenges than public organisations. Therefore, e.g. most of the prizes know
different awards taking into account the framework conditions of their target
groups and to not discourage the participation of companies which are
motivated to participate but do not have sophisticated gender equality plans yet.
• Adaptation of the initiative: Flexibility of the initiative should not only be given
with a view to the target group but also in relation to developments on the labour
market and social change. In many countries it can be observed that the focus
of the initiatives has shifted from reconciliation issues to e.g. issues concerning
the vertical segregation on the labour market. Such adaptations reflect the
discussion in society, i.e. that gender equality is not only about family friendliness
but concerns many domains. A possibility of keeping the initiatives
flexible is the setting of yearly changing themes to react on recent developments
and actual trends. In addition, this can foster the continuous efforts of
companies to become active in various fields.