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1 – 10 of over 1000Purpose – 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…
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.
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This paper aims to discuss the gendered dimensions of management control. Gender mainstreaming is a worldwide strategy for gender equality. The question raised in this paper is…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the gendered dimensions of management control. Gender mainstreaming is a worldwide strategy for gender equality. The question raised in this paper is how a management control system functions under the pressure of mainstreaming gender into a core business.
Design/methodology/approach
The evidence stems from a case study at two Swedish Governmental public transport administrations. Interviews, observations of meetings and close reading of documents furnish this paper with data over a five-year period regarding the management control of the policy goal of a gender-equal transport system. The practice of management control for gender mainstreaming is studied by adopting sociological institutional theory and a gender perspective.
Findings
The management control system proves to hamper gender equality. In a technocratic core business, the control system fails to support gender mainstreaming. In this paper, the control of a gender-equal transport system results in a quantitative perspective on women and men instead of a qualitative gender perspective on the transport system.
Practical implications
This paper has practical implications both for accountants being involved in management control for gender mainstreaming and for all persons involved in promoting gender mainstreaming.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the scarce literature from research with a gender perspective on management control systems. Being exposed to gender mainstreaming, the gender perspective discloses dysfunctional dimensions within the management control system.
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Hélène Lee-Gosselin, Sophie Briere and Hawo Ann
For decades, numerous mechanisms have been adopted to accelerate the progression of women in decision-making levels, and many organizations have developed programs to promote…
Abstract
Purpose
For decades, numerous mechanisms have been adopted to accelerate the progression of women in decision-making levels, and many organizations have developed programs to promote gender mainstreaming. In practice however, literature has shown that experience in gender mainstreaming faces many important challenges and under-representation persists at higher organizational levels. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This research brings together the results of two case studies on gender equality in the higher echelons of public and private sector organisations in Canada (Québec) and Morocco. Based on the analytical framework used as a theoretical basis for the analysis of change and resistance to gender mainstreaming, the data were revisited to explore common trends and patterns, despite the differences in context.
Findings
The analysis shows that common factors support and limit women's progress in organizations. Equity initiatives are limited to the technical agenda and scant effort goes to managing political and cultural dimensions. The study shows that those dimensions play a central role in the production of gender inequality and that actions and measures targeting political and cultural dimensions must be prioritized.
Originality/value
An improved conceptual framework is proposed for practical interventions and theory building. The new matrix feeds into the reflection for a new learning approach for organizations who want to achieve gender mainstreaming, to better identify the dimensions that should be addressed or to assess the measures taken and their impact and also offers a basis for new studies and research to test the matrix, its usefulness for theory building for intervention.
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Tri Yumarni and Dilanthi Amaratunga
The purpose of this paper is to discuss policy-relevant findings regarding strategies for mainstreaming gender in achieving sustainable post-disaster reconstruction (PDR).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss policy-relevant findings regarding strategies for mainstreaming gender in achieving sustainable post-disaster reconstruction (PDR).
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory case study was used to explore the implementation of gender mainstreaming strategies and the link to sustainable PDR. The Bantul and Sleman regencies of Yogyakarta province provide a unique site for researching PDR as they are located in a region that is more strongly affected by earthquakes than nearly any other in Indonesia. Data were collected through interviews with 17 key stakeholders and 26 beneficiaries who were involved during and after the earthquake. To support the interview findings, surveys involving 50 policy makers and 150 beneficiaries were conducted. Content analysis and t-statistics were used in analyzing the data.
Findings
Gender mainstreaming strategies within sustainable reconstruction should incorporate strategies for protecting against gender vulnerabilities and for promoting gender capacities. Both are fundamental to the achievement of sustainable PDR.
Originality/value
The paper establishes comprehensive strategies for mainstreaming gender under three pillars (i.e. economic, social and environmental) of sustainable development. The findings benefit relevant policy makers by improving the policy performance of gender mainstreaming in the affected communities in enhancing sustainable PDR.
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Ruben Yu-an Chung and Anna Grichting Solder
This trigger article explores established European gender-mainstreaming urban planning frameworks of urban parks to analyze and identify ways that could be applied or adapted for…
Abstract
Purpose
This trigger article explores established European gender-mainstreaming urban planning frameworks of urban parks to analyze and identify ways that could be applied or adapted for Arabian Gulf cities. It aims to accelerate the mainstreaming process, increasing women’s participation and inclusion in urban spaces, paving the way for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
Analytical frameworks are created by reviewing legal and policy evolution, city-issued guidelines and European cities’ case studies (Barcelona, Berlin, Paris and Vienna) engaged in gender mainstreaming in urban planning. These analytical tools are then applied to assess two Arabian Gulf parks (Al Azaiba Wadi Park, Muscat, Oman, and Dahl Al-Hamam Park, Doha, Qatar), suggesting a possible future research methodology.
Findings
Success factors in European cities include integrating female perspectives, detailed user analysis, specific planning solutions and political will. Despite differing social and cultural contexts, commonalities exist for female park users in Europe and the Arabian Gulf. This trigger article proposes a methodology for assessing the potential effective application or adaptation of European established frameworks in the Gulf context to accelerate gender mainstreaming.
Research limitations/implications
The paper proposes a methodology for future research, noting limitations such as limited input on design preparation processes in Gulf City park case studies, a lack of feedback from park users and only a brief overview of sociocultural differences. Future research should explore nuanced cultural contexts, including historical processes and gender dynamics, thorough literature review, expanded case study analysis and participatory approaches. The proposed methodology aims to demonstrate how European frameworks can guide gender-mainstreaming efforts in diverse contexts, facilitating collaborative solutions for inclusive urban planning.
Practical implications
Drawing from decades of European gender-mainstreaming activities, the paper distills urban planning principles and best practices for application or adaptation in the Arab Gulf.
Social implications
Enhancing the park experience for women through planning and design boosts gender equality in cities, benefiting their physical and social well-being.
Originality/value
An original methodology is suggested for adapting well-developed European gender-mainstreaming frameworks to Arabian Gulf parks. Authored by a male, this paper aims to advance gender issues in planning while exploring the role men can play in contributing to such.
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Kanchana Ginige, Dilanthi Amaratunga and Richard Haigh
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of gender mainstreaming into disaster reduction decision making as a way of reducing disaster vulnerabilities of women, a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of gender mainstreaming into disaster reduction decision making as a way of reducing disaster vulnerabilities of women, a highly vulnerable group to disasters.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper builds a discussion around disaster reduction, the importance of gender mainstreaming in disaster reduction and the ways of mainstreaming gender based on a literature review. It reviews academic literature as well as papers and reports produced by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) and various other institutions.
Findings
The paper highlights the importance of the role of gender mainstreaming in disaster reduction as a means of reducing disaster risk through considering women's needs and concerns in particular. Further, on the basis of the literature reviewed, the paper emphasises the need for enhancing gender balance in disaster reduction decision making in order to understand the possible effects of policies and measures developed for disaster reduction on gender roles.
Practical implications
The paper paves the way forward to identify how gender mainstreaming could be achieved in the context of construction as construction has a significant relationship with development that could create or reduce disaster risk.
Originality/value
The paper attempts to contribute to disaster reduction through emphasising the need for mainstreaming gender into the disaster reduction decision‐making process and also towards reducing disaster vulnerabilities of women. In this context, the paper brings an insight into the necessity for mainstreaming gender in disaster reduction in construction.
Marte C.W. Solheim and Sigrun Marie Moss
The purpose of this paper is to explain how theories of inter-organizational learning can create new insights and nuances to how processes of intra-organizational learning come…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain how theories of inter-organizational learning can create new insights and nuances to how processes of intra-organizational learning come about in a single, complex and multi-sited organization.
Design/methodology/approach
A constructivist thematic analysis of the “Handbook of Feminist Foreign Policy” produced by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SMFA) is completed, exploring the organization’s own presentation of the complex learning processes that took place when implementing the new policy in 2014.
Findings
The literature on inter-organizational learning has a so far unexplored explanatory potential to understand learning processes that take place in complex, multi-sited organizations. This case demonstrates why and how this potential is relevant to exploit. Five themes are constructed from the analysis; four pointing out how gender mainstreaming is spread throughout the different parts of the organization and one detailing how the learning process has provided the SMFA knowledge exportable to other organizations.
Originality/value
Due to the complexity in large, multi-sited organizations today, this paper argues what is classically understood as solely inter-organizational processes could also apply to a single organization, as the learning processes this engages in, transitions intra- and inter-organizational learning. The study advances current understandings through exploring mechanisms of gender mainstreaming.
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Kwadwo Adusei-Asante, Peter Hancock and Max Oliveira
This chapter critiques the forceful institutionalization of gender mainstreaming into development programs.
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter critiques the forceful institutionalization of gender mainstreaming into development programs.
Methodology/approach
The data was generated from literature review and a research-based case study of the World Bank’s Community-Based Rural Development Projects in a Ghanaian township using ethnographic research methods such as participant-observation, focus group discussion, and individual interviews.
Findings
Our study found that gender mainstreaming has become popular, with the majority of international development agencies, such as The World Bank, AusAID, USAID, and the UNDP, adopting it as an overarching framework for developing and delivering their programs and services. The concept has also made its way into government policies globally over the past decade and has a strong influence on aid projects, even on gender-neutral programs. Our ethnographic research revealed that it is problematic to simply use gender mainstreaming as a policy initiative. The research case study presented showed that, in their quest to involve women in decision-making processes in rural localities, officials who implemented the CBRDP targeted women, although improving gender equality (through the process of gender mainstreaming) was not an objective of the CBRDP project per se. As a result, the project was jeopardized, some local people misconceptualized the CBRDP as a “women’s empowerment initiative,” leading to apathy on the part of men, some of whom resented the CBRDP by preventing their wives and daughters from participating in it, ultimately causing a negative outcome.
Originality/value
We seek to alert international development organizations and practitioners that implementing gender mainstreaming programs and policies without considering local conditions and social relationships will fail to deliver the desired outcomes for the intended beneficiaries.
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Elias Andersson, Maria Johansson, Gun Lidestav and Malin Lindberg
In Sweden, gender mainstreaming policies have a long political history. As part of the national gender equality strategy of the Swedish forest industry, the ten largest forestry…
Abstract
Purpose
In Sweden, gender mainstreaming policies have a long political history. As part of the national gender equality strategy of the Swedish forest industry, the ten largest forestry companies committed themselves to gender mainstream their policies. Limiting the impact of policies and the agency of change, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the varied and conflicting meanings and constitution of the concepts, the problem and, in extent, the organisational realities of gender mainstreaming.
Design/methodology/approach
In both, implementation and practice, gender mainstreaming posse challenges on various levels and by analysing these documents as practical texts from the WPR-approach. This paper explores constructions of gender and gender equality and their implications on the practice and the political of gender mainstreaming in a male-dominated primary industry.
Findings
The results show that the organisations themselves were not constituted as the subject of the policy but instead some of the individuals (women). The subject position of women represented in company policy was one of lacking skills and competences and in the need of help. Not only men and the masculine norms but organisational processes and structures were also generally invisible in the material. Power and conflict were mainly absent from the understanding of gender equality. Instead, consenting ideas of gender equality were the focus. Such conceptualisations of gender equality are beneficial for all risk concealing power structures and thereby limit the political space for change.
Originality/value
By highlighting the scale of policy and the significance of organisational contexts, the results indicate how gender and gender equality are constitutive through the governing technologies of neoliberal and market-oriented ideologies in policy – emphasising the further limiting of space for structural change and politicalization within the male-dominated organisations of Swedish forest industry.
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De-Graft Owusu-Manu, David Mensah Sackey, Dickson Osei-Asibey, Rachelle Kyerewah Agyapong and David John Edwards
The purpose of the study is to investigate the challenges in improving women's energy access, rights and equitable sustainable development from a Ghanaian perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to investigate the challenges in improving women's energy access, rights and equitable sustainable development from a Ghanaian perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The research utilizes a mixed method. A qualitative in-depth exploratory design was chosen to understand how gender is mainstreamed within Ghana's energy sector. This included semi-structured interviews with key managers, experience policy experts and focus groups. The semi-structured interviews were analyzed using thematic content analysis (TCA).
Findings
The study reveals that the National Energy Policy of 2010, as the main energy policy regulating the energy sector in Ghana, does make provision for gender equality, safety especially women, in line with Ghana's sustainable development goals. The energy policy aims to empower women and create gender parity in the sector. Nevertheless, the study also found major challenges to gender mainstreaming in the energy sector, including poor analysis in formulating energy policies, inadequate financial resources, and poor monitoring and evaluation.
Originality/value
The paper exposes gender equity challenges associated with the energy sector in Ghana. It also offers a new policy angle which connects gender mainstreaming to sustainable development. The research describes how women are included in developing energy policies and in addressing gender challenges in the energy sector.
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