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Gender Impact Assessment: Framework for Gender
Mainstreaming
What is it?
The Gender Impact Assessment provides help for policymakers
in incorporating a gender perspective into policies that take account
of the different needs, characteristics and behaviours of the users
at whom they are aimed.
When and where is it used?
Equality Impact Assessments can be applied to legislation, policy
plans and programmes, budgets, reports, and existing policies and
services. Ideally, they should be done at an early stage in the
decision-making process so that policies can be changed - or even
abandoned - if necessary.
Why is it important?
Although there are some policies where it is clear that gender plays
a central role, there are other policies where the relevance of
gender is less obvious. These are as a result sometimes labelled
gender-neutral, for example: health and safety and regional or town
planning. In these examples, it may be tempting to see such policies,
goals and outcomes affecting people as a homogeneous group. If policies
are mistakenly perceived as gender-neutral, opportunities will be
missed to include the views of different groups of women and men
in policy formation and delivery and, in turn, to misjudge the different
effects on each group, and the systems and organisations that support
them.
How is it used?
It provides a methodology for policymakers to assess whether
their policies will deliver equality of opportunity across the board,
and helps to challenge policymakers to question the assumption that
policies and services affect everyone in the same way. It puts forward
key questions for policymakers to ask at each stage of process:
- Define issues and goals
- Define what the policy trying to achieve
- Understand different problems and concerns
- Enable equal contribution
- Collect data
- Gather gender, race and disability disaggregated statistics
- Consult experts, women and men, black and minority ethnic
and disability groups
- Interpret from different perspectives
- Develop options
- Determine impact/implications for different groups
- Offer real choice and opportunities
- Remove stereotyped perceptions
- Communicate
- Integrate with equality commitments
- Design different strategies
- Use inclusive language
- Monitor
- Use the community
- Develop indicators
- Examine differential impact
- Evaluate
- Achieve equality of opportunity and equal outcomes
- Learn lessons
- Spread best practice
Example
Diversity in Public Appointments
The government is taking action to increase women's representation
on the boards of public bodies with the aim that women should hold
45-50% of the national public appointments made by the majority
of central government departments by the end of 2005. In 2002, 34%
of these positions were held by women, with 1.8% held by women from
an ethnic minority background. Research commissioned by the former
Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions shows
that many women underestimate their potential contribution and the
relevance of their experience. Far fewer women than men apply for
national posts. However, when they do, they appear to be just as
successful at getting on public boards as men. Encouraging women
to apply for appointments in the first place is the challenge. In
an attempt to redress the balance, a series of regional seminars
was organised during 2002, aimed at encouraging women from a diverse
range of backgrounds to make the move from local to national-level
appointment. In parallel with this, a research programme was commissioned
by the Women and Equality Unit (WEU) to evaluate the effectiveness
of the seminars and to investigate factors that encourage women
to apply for and hold public appointments.
Source
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