History of Gender Mainstreaming at federal level in Germany

1999

Gender equality as universal guiding principle of the Federal Government
In its Cabinet Resolution of 23 June 1999, the Federal Government acknowledged, on the basis of the state aim established in the Constitution, equality between women and men to be a universal guiding principle for its actions. It was also decided that this task should be promoted using the strategy Gender Mainstreaming.

Beginning of the Federal Government’s programme “Modern State – Modern Administration” [German]
The government programme “Modern State – Modern Administration” started in December 1999. With the aid of this programme, the federal government administration is to be completely reformed according to the principle of the activating state. The three pillars of the programme are modern administrative management, reduction of bureaucracy and e-government. Gender Mainstreaming was adopted as a guiding idea of this government programme.

2000

Constitution of the “Gender Mainstreaming” Inter-Ministry Working Group of the Federal Government
On 24 May 2000, the Inter-Ministry Working Group on “Gender Mainstreaming” (IMA GM) was set up by the Federal Government under the leadership of the Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry for the Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. The coordination of the IMA GM is in the hands of the Gender Mainstreaming/Equal Treatment Laws Department in the Federal Ministry for the Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. The Working Group’s main tools are work agreements, so as to fix its aims and intentions jointly with a high degree of commitment. The Working Group is to implement Gender Mainstreaming in the ongoing work of all departments and thus represents the first step in an implementation process.

Amendment of the Joint Rules of Procedure for Federal Ministries ("Gemeinsame Geschäftsordnung", GGO)
On 26 July 2000 the Joint Rules of Procedure for Federal Ministries (GGO) were amended. The new Section 2 of the GGO reads "Equality between men and women is a consistent guiding principle and should be promoted by all political, legislative and administrative actions of the Federal Ministries in their respective areas (gender mainstreaming)."

2001

Federal Equal Treatment Act [German]
The new Federal Equal Treatment Act has been in force since 30 November 2001. The aim of this Act is gender equality for women in the federal administration and in federal courts. This new legislation promotes the actual pushing through of equal treatment of women and men and eliminates existing disadvantages. The principle of Gender Mainstreaming is established in Section 2 of the Federal Equal Treatment Act.
The main features of the new Federal Equal Treatment Act are:

• women with equal qualifications must be given preferential consideration, taking the individual case into account, in training, job appointments and job promotion in areas in which they are underrepresented.
• the compatibility of working life and family life is improved (right to part-time working, tele-working or special working hours models).
• the rights of equal opportunities commissioners are strengthened.
• gender equality plans are extended into effective tools in modern staff planning.
• the rules for gender equality plans now guarantee an unchanged proportion of women even in downsizing actions.
• the language used in all laws and legal regulations passed by the federal government must take account of gender equality between women and men.
• all Federal Government Ministries are committed to training their staff in Gender Mainstreaming and to carrying out at least one pilot project to try out Gender Mainstreaming.

Gender Mainstreaming at ver.di
On 29 and 30 May 2001 there was a conference of the ver.di trade union on the subject of “Gender Democracy is the goal - Gender Mainstreaming the tool”.
ver.di was the first trade union to establish Gender Mainstreaming as a task in its charter and set up a man/woman team as gender officers in their national governing body.

2002

Gender Mainstreaming in the Internet
In April 2002, the Gender Mainstreaming website of the Federal Ministry for the Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth went online under www.gender-mainstreaming.net.

Gender Mainstreaming in the Coalition Agreement [German]
On 16 October, 2002, the Coalition Agreement was signed between the SPD and Bündnis 90/the Green Party. In Chapter VII, “Equal treatment of women and men”, there is a passage that reads, “Gender Mainstreaming shall be established on a sustained basis as a method for implementing Article 3 of the Basic Law in all departments of the Federal Government. ... We will set up a Gender Competence Center which will support the introduction of Gender Mainstreaming into all policy areas, initiate research, collect knowledge and train experts.”

What has the government programme “Modern State – Modern Administration” [German] achieved?
In summing up the achievements of the government programme “Modern State – Modern Administration” for 2002, the federal government called Gender Mainstreaming a factor in the successful conclusion of the programme. It was also established that an effective administration that is oriented to needs and services cannot afford to disadvantage men or women. On the basis of this summary, the fourth step in the implementation process was initiated: Gender Mainstreaming is ti be established as an element of modern administration in the administrative departments.

2003

Opening of the GenderCompetenceCenter
The GenderCompetenceCenter has been set up as an independent research and consultancy institution at the Humboldt University in Berlin and was officially opened on 27 October 2003 by the Federal Minister, Renate Schmidt. The GenderCompetenceCenter is an externally funded project attached to the Chair of Prof. Susanne Baer in the Faculty of Law and financed by the Federal Ministry for the Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

Further information:
History of the GenderCompetenceCenter

End of the pilot project phase in the Federal Ministries[German]
A total of 33 pilot projects in implementing Gender Mainstreaming were carried out up to December 2003 in the Federal Ministries. The projects were intended to integrate gender equality aspects into the work of the ministries using specific examples, and at the end were covering the entire gamut of policy administration action. The results of the pilot projects were presented by the respective departments in the Inter-Ministry Working Group on Gender Mainstreaming as “best practice” and discussed with particular emphasis on their transferability to all departments. The most important results to emerge were cross-departmental working aids and checklists as well as the Gender Mainstreaming Knowledge Network.
The pilot project phase was the second step in the implementation of Gender Mainstreaming in the Federal Government.

2004

New website of the Federal Government on Gender Mainstreaming [German]
Since 8 March 2004, a modernised website on Gender Mainstreaming has been available. This includes links to individual departments in the ministries and to the federal states. The implementation process of the Federal Government with the main results such as knowledge network and working aids is outlined on this website. Visitors to the Gender Mainstreaming website can also put questions and offer tips on Gender Mainstreaming to the Federal Ministry for the Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

2005

Coalition Agreement by CDU, CSU and SPD [German]
On 11 November 2005, the Coalition Agreement was signed between the CDU, CSU and SPD. In Chapter VI, “Family-friendly society”, this also deals with “policy on gender equality and women”. It reads, “We intend to strengthen gender competence and will ensure that the necessary and appropriate tools are available for the implementation of Section 2 of the Joint Rules of Procedure (GGO), such as the GenderCompetenceCenter. Once in each legislative period, we shall submit a report on equality between women and men and in a subsequent Government statement identify progress, disclose remaining deficits and set out the resulting consequences."

Data report on gender equality between women and men in Germany [German]
On 29 November 2005, an annotated data report on gender equality between women and men in Germany was published. The report was drawn up by the German Institute for Youth (DIJ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and contains a comprehensive and up-to-date description of the position regarding gender equality on the basis of official and representative data. The data report sets out the situation of women and men from different backgrounds in various areas of life (employment, training, compatibility of family and working life, social security, health status and exposure to violence). The data report came to the conclusion that the gap between the life situation and opportunities for participation of women and men has continued to close in many areas, but that there nonetheless continue to be significant differences in, for example, the employment market and in political and social participation.