Chapter 3 Mainstreaming Equality: Challenges and Opportunities for Public Management

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to consider “equality mainstreaming” as an international policy and to explore some of the implications this raises for public management.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The methodology is based on literature review looking at the way gender mainstreaming practices have developed a wider application to equality mainstreaming. Examining the relationship between mainstreaming and evidence-based management, it comments on the challenges this poses for public management.

Findings – Equality mainstreaming and its implications have been largely absent from public management discourse despite the growth of equality mainstreaming in international policy.

Research limitations/Implications – Research in public management should address mainstreaming and its potential for social change.

Practical implications – This chapter brings this issue to the forefront in an effort to engage academics and public managers.

Social implications – This chapter raises theoretical questions about mainstreaming and social change in favor of equality. It is a starting point for further research on public management as a tool for shifting organizational and societal values.

Originality/Value – The chapter provides an overview of previous literature and policy development in this area and then moves on to explore the implications of extending mainstreaming as a concept to other policy areas and examines both challenges and opportunities raised by this approach for the management of values in public services.

Citation

Speeden, S. (2012), "Chapter 3 Mainstreaming Equality: Challenges and Opportunities for Public Management", Diamond, J. and Liddle, J. (Ed.) Emerging and Potential Trends in Public Management: An Age of Austerity (Critical Perspectives on International Public Sector Management, Vol. 1), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 47-72. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2045-7944(2012)0000001006