Gender mainstreaming since Beijing: a review of success and limitations in international institutions

Caroline Moser and Annalise Moser

The Beijing Platform for Action prioritised gender mainstreaming as the mechanism to achieve gender equality. A decade later, policy makers and practitioners are debating whether this has succeeded or failed. This article aims to contribute to this debate by reviewing progress made to date, through a review of gender mainstreaming policies in international development institutions. Categorising progress into three stages — adoption of terminology, putting a policy into place, and implementation — the article argues that while most institutions have put gender mainstreaming policies in place, implementation remains inconsistent. Most important of all, the outcomes and impact of the implementation of gender mainstreaming in terms of gender equality remain largely unknown, with implications for the next decade's strategies.

In 1995, governments across the world signed the Beijing Platform for Action. Along with their endorsement of the Plan of Action went a commitment to achieve 'gender equality and the empowerment of women'. Gender mainstreaming (defined in the next section) was identified as the most important mechanism to reach this ambitious goal. Throughout the process, international institutions have provided a variety of support to governments and civil society alike, be it analytical, institutional, or financial in nature.

A decade after the UN Conference on Women, held in Beijing, practitioners around the world are asking if gender mainstreaming has succeeded, while some sceptics are already talking of its 'failure'. This calls for a stocktaking of progress to date. What have been the experiences of gender mainstreaming? Has the enormous range and diversity of activities ultimately had an impact on gender equality on the ground? Are gender training methodologies appropriate today, and are measurement indicators sufficient? It is now an appropriate moment to address these and other critical issues relating to gender mainstreaming.

This is no easy task. The purpose of this article is to begin to tackle this issue through a review of the gender mainstreaming policies of international institutions. It provides an assessment of progress to date in 14 international development institutions or organisations, including bilateral donors, international financial institutions (IFIs), United Nations (UN) agencies, and non-government organisations (NGOs). The review categorises progress in gender mainstreaming in terms of the following three stages:

• adopting the terminology of gender equality and gender mainstreaming;

• putting a gender mainstreaming policy into place;

• implementing gender mainstreaming.

This provides the basis for a synthesis of progress, and the identification of limitations and gaps. It is hoped that these, in turn, will contribute to the development of new strategies for gender mainstreaming in the next decade.

Adopting the terminology of gender equality and gender mainstreaming

At the international level, most development institutions have adopted the terminology of gender equality and gender mainstreaming, and are relatively consistent in its use. Among those that define gender equality, there is a general consensus that it refers to the recognition that women and men have different needs and priorities, and that women and men should 'experience equal conditions for realising their full human rights, and have the opportunity to contribute to and benefit from national, political, economic, social and cultural development' (CIDA 1999).

Most definitions of gender mainstreaming across institutions adhere closely to those set out by the UN Economic and Social Council (UN 1997, 28) as follows:

Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women's as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.

In addition, two further aspects of gender mainstreaming appear in some definitions, namely:

• the institutionalisation of gender concerns within the organisation itself: relating to taking account of gender equality in administrative, financial, staffing, and other organisational procedures, thus contributing to a long-term transformative process for the organisation in terms of attitudes, 'culture', goals, and procedures;

• gender empowerment: promoting women's participation in decision-making processes, as well as having their voices heard and the power to put issues on the agenda.

Putting in place a gender mainstreaming policy

In the past decade, the majority of major development institutions have developed and endorsed a gender policy. Indeed, all those included in this review have endorsed such a policy.

Components of gender mainstreaming policy

The majority of such gender mainstreaming policies share the following six key components, as summarised in Table 1:

• a dual strategy of mainstreaming gender combined with targeted actions for gender equality;

• gender analysis;

• a combined approach to responsibilities, where all staff share responsibility, but are supported by gender specialists;

• gender training;

• support to women's decision making and empowerment;

• monitoring and evaluation.

Three additional components — working with other organisations, budgets, and knowledge resources — are shared by a smaller number of institutions.

Most importantly, all organisations identify a dual strategy of mainstreaming gender equality issues into all policies, programmes and projects, combined with supporting targeted actions for gender equality (100 per cent). The majority mention the need for...