Factsheet 1: Pandemic and Gender Mainstreaming
Decades of work towards intersectional gender mainstreaming wiped out during the crisis
SUMMARY: Although gender mainstreaming has been adopted as an approach in EU policymaking for over two decades, national-level policies are largely still not mainstreamed. Gender mainstreaming should not only be an ambition, it should also be implemented, monitored, and evaluated, with concrete results and impact. In particular, policies should not only focus on so-called “traditional” or “typical” family models, citizenship criteria, and standard employment contracts, as this focus results in the exclusion of large segments of European societies (e.g., LGBTQI+ people, the unemployed, migrants etc.).
RESISTIRE Recommendations:
10 Steps to mainstream gender in policies related to the pandemic
- Early in the policy process, establish what are the main gender-related concerns in the policy area, what are the potential impacts of the pandemic on the policy area and how the pandemic may impact the policy area.
- Partner with CSOs and actors working on the ground with communities and vulnerable groups, investigate and issue reports and generate media coverage concerning the marginalised groups.
- Arrange cross-community, cross-sector, and cross-issue workshops/meetings to analyse policies impacts, particularly on the most vulnerable.
- Use gender+ disaggregated data as much as possible; these are often generated by CSOs as can be seen in the LGBTQI+ survey above.
- Make sure that all objectives, targets, indicators are gender sensitive.
- Establish mechanisms for gender sensitive monitoring and evaluation.
- Distribute concrete responsibilities to dedicated actors (rather than taking the sole responsibility for all).
- Make sure that all actors involved have sufficient gender training.
- Bring in external gender expertise and the involvement of target groups.
- Increase the participation of diverse women in policy making.
