History of Gender Mainstreaming at international level and at EU level

1985

3rd United Nations World Conference on Women in Nairobi
Within the framework of the 3rd World Conference on Women in 1985, criticism of the existing form of development policy and the resulting demand for stronger integration of women into the mainstream was gone into. This is also reflected in the Final Report from Nairobi: “Women should be an integral part of the process of defining aims and shaping development ... Organizational and other means which enable women to contribute their interests and preferences into the evaluation and selection of alternative development goals should be identified. This would include specific measures which are conceived in such a way that the autonomy of women is enhanced so that they bring women into the mainstream of the development process on the same basis as men.” (UN 1986). Even though this paper mentions neither Gender nor Mainstreaming, the 3rd World Conference on Women can nonetheless be regarded as an important building block in the development of the strategy Gender Mainstreaming.

Literature:
Report of the World Conference to review and appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for the Women: Equality, Development and Peace: Nairobi, 15 – 26 July 1985. United Nations Publication (Sales No. E.85.IV.10). New York, 1986, 304 pp.

1994

Council of Europe sets up Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men
In 1994, the Council of Europe set up a Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men (CDEG), which took up the concept of Gender Mainstreaming at the level of the Council of Europe for the first time. This Committee reports directly to the Council of Ministers and is responsible for measures to promote equality.

Council of Europe declares equal opportunities to be a primary task of the EU
At its conference in Essen in 1994, the Council of Europe declared equal opportunities for women and men to be one of the primary tasks of the EU.

1995

4th United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing
At the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, Gender Mainstreaming was at last introduced as a strategy in international gender equality policy, given force as a cross-sectional topic and established in the 4th Working Platform of the World Conference on Women. The consequence of this was that all Member States are obliged to develop a concept for the implementation of Gender Mainstreaming as part of their national strategies for the implementation of the 4th World Conference on Women.
But the strategy is not explicitly referred to as “Gender Mainstreaming” in this document either. What it does include, however, is a description of the concept: “Governments and other actors should promote and active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies and programmes so that before decisions are taken, an analysis is made of the effects on women and men, respectively.” (UN 1996)

At the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing, delegates from 189 countries on 15 September 1995 signed the Beijing Declaration and the Beijing Global Platform for Action, which sets out a unique programme for equality between women and men in twelve critical topic areas. These topic areas are: “Women and Poverty”, “Education and Training of Women”, “Women and Health”, “Violence Against Women”, “Women and Armed Conflicts”, “Women and Industry”, “Women in Positions of Power and Decision-Making”, “Mechanisms for Promoting Women”, “Women’s Human Rights”, “Women and Media”, “Women and the Environment”, and “Girls”. These twelve critical topic areas are of fundamental importance if real equality between women and men is to be achieved.

Further information:
Fourth World Conference on Women

European Commission initiates Inter-Directorate Group
The Inter-Directorate Group is responsible for communicating Gender Mainstreaming in the Directorate General. It develops training programmes and Community strategies of relevance for gender equality. The Inter-Directorate Group is also responsible for the exchange of model examples and information. At the end of 1995, the President of the European Commission initiated a “Group of Specialists on Mainstreaming”.

Literature:
Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1 – 15 September 1995, provisional edition, New York, 1995, 180 pp.

1996

European Commission commits itself to the strategy Gender Mainstreaming
In the Communication from the European Commission dated 21 February 1996, “Incorporating Equal Opportunities for Women and Men into all Community Policies and Activities”, the EU committed itself to the strategy Gender Mainstreaming. According to the European Commission, Gender Mainstreaming means “that in all phases of the political process – planning implementation, monitoring and evaluation – account is taken of the gender perspective. The goal is the promotion of gender equality between women and men. Under the Gender Mainstreaming concept, all policy measures must constantly be monitored for their effects on the life situation of women and men and, if necessary, revised. Only in this way can equality of the sexes become a reality in the lives of women and men. All people – within organisations and communities – must be given the opportunity to make their contribution to the development of a communal vision of sustained human development and to the realisation of this vision.”

Further information:
Commission of the European Communities, Communication from the Commission “Incorporating Equal Opportunities for Women and Men into all Community Policies and Activities”. COM (96) 67. Brussels, 21 February 1996


First Annual Report “Equality for Women and Men in the EU”
The European Commission published the first annual report on the subject of “Equality for Women and Men in the European Union”. This report gives a general overview of developments and activities in 1996.
Since then, the European Commission has been publishing annual reports on “Equality for Women and Men in the European Union”. It is aimed at the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committees of the regions, and sets out the current state of implementation of and specific measures for the strategy Gender Mainstreaming.


Fourth Equal Opportunities Programme (1996 – 2000)
In the fourth medium-term programme for action on equal opportunities for women and men, Gender Mainstreaming is the central theme. The aim of the programme is “to promote the integration of equal opportunities for women and men into the preparation, implementation and monitoring of all policies and activities of the Union and Member States, while respecting their specific responsibilities”.
According to this formulation of the objectives, equal opportunities is seen as a cross-sectional task and the area of action and influence of the strategy Gender Mainstreaming is extended to national, regional and local levels.
The programme focuses upon the following six objectives:

• promotion of the integration of equal opportunities into all policies and actions;
• mobilisation of those playing an active role in economic and social life in order to achieve equal opportunities for women and men;
• promotion of equal opportunities in a changing economy, particularly in the fields of education, vocational training and the labour market;
• reconciliation of family and working life for women and men;
• promotion of balanced participation of women and men in decision-making;
• enabling people to exercise their right to equal opportunities.

1997

European Commission appoints Gender Mainstreaming Officers
In early 1997, the Inter-Directorate Group drafted a strategy paper on the concrete implementation of the strategy Gender Mainstreaming. As a consequence of this, high-ranking officials were appointed in 29 departments as Gender Mainstreaming Officers to develop specific Gender Mainstreaming policies. They drew up papers such as the “Guide to Gender Impact Assessment”, which is intended to support the implementation of the strategy Gender Mainstreaming.

Literature.
Commission of the European Communities: Guide to Gender Impact Assessment, Luxembourg, 1998.


European Parliament recommends continuation of double strategy
In its resolution of September 1997, the European Parliament recommended the continuation of the double strategy (Gender Mainstreaming plus special promotion measures) as further step towards achieving equality between women and men. Furthermore, the creation of suitable coordination structures, the drawing up of evaluation criteria, monitoring of all proposed legislation for its impact on gender equality (gender equality test) and the gathering of data and statistics that are differentiated by gender are also proposed.

1998

Council of Europe issues a definition of “Gender Mainstreaming”
The Council of Europe published “Gender Mainstreaming: Conceptual framework, methodology and presentation of good practice”, in which Gender Mainstreaming is defined as “the (re)organisation, improvement, development and evaluation of policy processes, so that a gender equality perspective is incorporated at all levels and at all stages, by the actors normally involved in policy-making”.
During 1998, the European Commission adopted the Council of Europe’s definition of Gender Mainstreaming.

Literature:
Mückenberger, Ulrich/ Tondorf, Karin/ Krell, Gertraude: Gender Mainstreaming.-Informationen und Impulse-, Herausgegeben vom Niedersächsischen Ministerium für Frauen, Arbeit und Soziales; 2. Auflage 2001.  [German]


European Commission publishes the first research report on GM
In March 1998, the European Commission published the “Progress Report of the Commission on Follow-Up Measures to the Communication “Incorporating Equal Opportunities for Women and Men into all Community Policies and Activities”. In this report, initial experiences with the implementation of the strategy Gender Mainstreaming and criteria for the future of the process were described.

Literature:
Commission of the European Communities, Progress Report by the Commission on Follow-Up Measures to the Communication “Incorporating Equal Opportunities for Women and Men into all Community Policies and Activities”, COM (1998) 122, Brussels, 4 March 1998.


Fifth EU Research Programme integrates Gender Mainstreaming
The strategy Gender Mainstreaming was integrated into the Fifth Framework Programme in the field of research, technological development and demonstration, which ran for five years from 1998. This programme involves, firstly, promotion of dialogue between scholars and political decision-makers on the subject of “Women in Science” and, secondly, the development of a system for observing the conditions for women in science. Studies on gender-specific effects were undertaken during the entire course of the Fifth Research Programme to monitor whether gender-specific interests were being appropriately taken into account.
In the latest phases of the Leonardo da Vinci, Socrates and youth programmes, too, the focus was on equality between women and men.

1999

Treaty of Amsterdam comes into force
On 1 May 1999, the Treaty of Amsterdam came into force, establishing a binding legal basis for the strategy Gender Mainstreaming at EU level. Article 2 and Article 3 paragraph 2 of this EC Treaty commit the Member States to an active gender equality policy in the sense of Gender Mainstreaming.

Further information:
Legal bases of Gender Mainstreaming
Equal treatment in the EC Treaty


Establishing GM in the EU employment guidelines
Since 1998, the EU employment guidelines have been fixed each year. These guidelines cover four areas: improving employability, developing entrepreneurship, encouraging adaptability in businesses and their employees, and strengthening the policies for equal opportunities in the employment market.
With the strategy Gender Mainstreaming established in the EU Employment Guidelines, measures for promoting equality between women and men can be seen not only in the light of area 4 (strengthening the policies for equal opportunities in the employment market), but is also defined as a cross-sectional task for the other three areas as well. The implementation of these Guidelines in the national action plans for employment by the individual Member States is monitored and evaluated annually by the Commission.

2000

Beijing + 5
Five years after Beijing, the 23rd Special General Assembly of the United Nations on Beijing + 5 took place in New York from 5 to 10 June 2000, in order to recapitulate what had been achieved and initiate further developments. However, there was criticism during the conference both from NGOs (“Global Alternative Report. 5 years after Beijing”) and from the United Nations (official evaluation documentation “Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action”) of the lack of progress at the level of action. Also, factors including a swing to the right within the power structures of the UN member states resulted in rights that had already been established now being questioned and having to be defended.
At the end of the conference, a political declaration was published re-confirming documents that had already been adopted (“Resolution: Political Declaration”). Resolutions were also adopted on the implementation of women’s rights and demands for equal treatment (“Resolution: Further actions and initiatives to implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action”). These resolutions did not, however, go significantly further than the 1995 Platform for Action.

2001

5th Action Programme on Gender Equality (2001 – 2005)
The purpose of the 5th Community Programme on Gender Equality is in particular to provide assistance and support for the Community framework strategy on gender equality. It is intended to co-ordinate, support and finance the implementation of horizontal transnational activities under the fields of intervention of the Community framework strategy on gender equality. Specifically, the 5th Action Programme is intended to promote and disseminate the values and practices underlying gender equality. It is furthermore intended to improve the understanding of issues related to gender equality, including direct and indirect gender discrimination and multiple discrimination against women. This should take place by means of evaluating the effectiveness of policies and practice through prior analysis, monitoring their implementation and assessing their effects. Moreover, the capacity of players to promote gender equality effectively should be developed, in particular through support for the exchange of information and good practice and networking at Community level.

2005

Beijing + 10
Ten years after the signing of the Final Document of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the Forty-Ninth Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women was held from 28 February to 11 March 2005 in Beijing. At this conference, both the implementation of the Platform for Action and the final documentation from the 23rd Special UN General Assembly adopted in 2000 for Beijing + 5 were reviewed. Current challenges and future strategies for achieving gender equality between women and men were also identified.
In preparation for the review process, all signatory states were requested to report in a questionnaire on the status of their national implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. Preparatory conferences were then held in all five UN regions, coordinated by the regional UN economic commissions.


Report on the equality of men and women in the European Union, 2005
The annual report presented by the European Commission on 14 February 2005 gives an overview of developments in gender equality in the European Union. It says that while gender-specific differences in the EU in the areas of employment and education were reducing, the gender-related wage gap remained much the same.

2006

Report on the equality of men and women in the European Union, 2006
The “Report on the equality of men and women 2006” expects more support for women from the Member States in combining family and career responsibilities. The report requests Member States to support men as well as women in the balancing act between working and private lives, for example through more extensive and better availability of child care facilities, innovative and flexible working conditions or targeted gender equality policy. The Member States are also requested to eliminate the employment and income gaps between women and men using money made available by the EU structural fund.


Roadmap for equality between women and men 2006 - 2010
The “Roadmap for equality between women and men 2006 - 2010” of the European Commission provides, inter alia, for the promotion of the elimination of pay differences between women and men, the improvement of the work-life balance, the fighting of people trafficking, the support of gender budgeting and the equal treatment of the sexes within and outside the EU. The following areas of action are made a priority for the period from 2006 to 2010:

• equal economic autonomy for women and men;
• better compatibility of working life, private life and family life
• promotion of equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes;
• fighting gender-related violence and gender-related people trafficking;
• elimination of gender stereotypes in society;
• promotion of gender equality outside the EU.

Fiftieth Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women
The Fiftieth Session of the UN Commission of the Status of Women (CSW) took place in New York from 27 February to 10 March 2006 and, among other things, demanded equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels.
In the final document on the subject of “equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes”, the European Union also established, on the German initiative, the following points:

• the importance of CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women),
• the necessity for gender-responsive education,
• support for targeted training and programmes to enable women and girls to take on decision-making positions,
• its support for the fair distribution of work in employment and the family between women and men and
• the necessity for taking account of the role of men and boys in the promotion of gender equality.

2007

European Institute for Gender Equality
A European Institute for Gender Equality is to start work on 1 January 2007. This institute will support the EU’s institutions and the Member States in promoting gender equality between women and men and fighting discrimination based on gender. The Institute, according to EU Commissioner Vladimír Špidla, is to be a center of excellence for matters of gender equality, making its specialist knowledge and skills available and improving the general level of knowledge. Its tasks will include bringing EU gender equality policy closer to EU citizens, collecting and evaluating objective and reliable that can be compared at EU level, and developing new methodological tools.

Further information:
Commission proposes Institute for Gender Equality