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

134 Gender equality initiatives
An important criterion when assessing a measure is its sustainable and long-term
effect with a view to realising gender equality principles in the participating companies.
In our context, the question is whether a certain type of non-legislative initiative
promotes gender equality in a more sustainable way than others do. Labels and
charters seem to emphasise the enterprise’s future management practice and reflect an
organisational change towards the promotion of gender equality. Moreover, the signing
of a charter aims not only at proclaiming the enterprise’s principles but also at
motivating others to follow. In the case of a label, the limited time period of granting the
label and the requirements of a re-labelling - which entail a further improvement of the
gender equality - fosters sustainable change. A prize and rankings basically assess the
status quo of an enterprise’s gender equality performance. Nevertheless, within the
awarding process the existence of a sustainable gender equality policy (e. g. the
existence of gender equality plans) may still constitute an important assessment
criterion. And worst ranked enterprises could be driven to change their practices to
avoid repeated negative publicity.
Each type of initiative has its advantages and disadvantages and can be seen as an
appropriate measure for different situations.
Labels can initiate a sustainable organisational change and continuous improvement of
the enterprise’s gender equality policy. The assessment process includes clear requirements
and an external evaluation. Based on the analysis of the status quo development
plans are formulated with the help of external consultants. Thus, sustainable organisational
change is fostered. In contrast, such external consultancy often entails costs and
could be rather time consuming. As the labelling is constituted as a process such an
initiative seems to be appropriate for enterprises willing to change its organisational
structure and implement a sustainable gender equality policy throughout the whole
organisation.
Prizes or awards have the advantage of a wide media echo, for the enterprises as well
as for the promotion of gender equality in general. As it is based on the analysis of the
status quo it is an instrument to recognize the efforts an enterprise has already made
rather than initiating further developments. Thus, it seems to be an appropriate
additional instrument to highlight those enterprises which are active in other initiatives
(e. g. prize for labelled enterprises), too. Furthermore, prizes seem to be a good “starter
drug” for enterprises that have started to implement gender equality measures but have
not yet publicised their efforts or undergone an external evaluation. The enterprise does
not risk much when participating.
The signing of a charter can be interpreted as a missionary act. It represents a strong
commitment of the enterprise to act in line with the charter’s principles which become
part of the mission statement and include implicitly the wish to motivate others to follow.
It is an ideal instrument for enterprises which have already started to support gender
equality and want to promote their activities. As it requires much self-initiative and
includes the commitment that enterprises implement the charter’s principles in concrete
measures tailored to the specific situation it can be seen as a hybrid between nonlegislative
initiatives and initiatives individually taken by companies. This stress to selfinitiative
entails the danger that the charter is seen as a public relations measure to
position the enterprise as a socially responsible one without concrete measure to
follow.
Rankings have the advantage that they are ideally based on “hard facts” and
quantitative data which is assessed by external experts. This guarantees neutrality but