The politics of backlash. From gender mainstreaming to mainstreaming equality for all Maria Stratigaki, Panteion University, Greece ATHENA 3 WG3A: strengthening cooperation between academic and social organizations addressing women or gender differences

A constant reinforcement of EU gender equality policies (till 1997) The Treaty or Rome (article 119) The action programs (1 st,2 nd, 3 rd ) The Directives (equal treatment in the labour market) Increase number of Women Commissioners in (1995) More women MEPS (1994) The Beijing Conference (1995) The Treaty of Amsterdam (Article 2, 141) 1997

Analysis of EU Documents EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND Regulation 2084/1993, Regulation 1784/1999, Regulation 1081/2006, ACTION PROGRAMMES 4 th Action Programme on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men Framework-Strategy on Gender Equality (5th action programme) Road Map for Equality Between Women and Men

The Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) Article 13..take action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation Article 3, par..2 In all the activities … the Community shall aim to eliminate inequalities, and to promote equality, between women and men.

Opportunities of Article 13 New legal base for tackling discrimination including on the basis of sex. -Directive 2004/113 on equal treatment of women and men in access to goods and provision of services -Anti discrimination Directives 2000/43 and 2000/78 Introducing new “types” of discrimination in the EU policy agenda. –New opportunities for NGOs

Progress Action Programme (Framework Strategy ) OBJECTIVE: “equal opportunities” to “gender equality” GENDER MAINSTREAMING: “dimension of equal opportunities” to “objective of equality” “take equality into account” to “aiming at equality” The European Social Fund (3 rd period ) Double approach Specific Funds Transversal policy priority

Table 1. Gender Equality in Medium-Term Action Programmes Terms (dual approach) Fields of ActionGender MainstreamingBalance between gender mainstreaming and specific action th Action Programme on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men COM (1995) 381 Equal Opportunities between women and men (objective). Principle of integrating the equal opportunities for men and women dimension in all policies and activities 1. Partnership 2. Labour Market 3. Reconciliation 4. Decision Making 5. Women’s Rights 1. In all fields of economic and social life (employment, local development) 2. Integration of equal opportunities in the Structural Funds 3. Integration of equal opportunities in Community Policies Specific action is more important than gender mainstreaming Council Decision (95/593/CE) adopted after Beijing upgraded gender mainstreaming to the first priority in all EU and national policies (art. 2) Framework- Strategy on Gender Equality (5th action programme) COM (2000) 335 Gender Equality Strengthening the gender equality dimension of Community Policies 1. Economic life 2. Participation and representation 3. Social Rights 4. Civil Life (violence) 5. Roles and Stereotypes 1. Employment Strategy 2. Community policies influencing everyday life 3. Education policies, culture etc (stereotypes) Formulation : Dimension of equality between women and men Gender dimension Gender Perspective Balance between specific actions and gender mainstreaming Gender mainstreaming appears as an operational objective aiming at achieving the strategic objective (gender equality in 5 fields)

Tableau 2. Gender Equality in the Regulations of the European Social Fund. DurationTermsPosition in the document Fields of ActionOperational Issues (activities, plans, evaluations) Relative position of social exclusion Regulation 2084/1993 Equal Opportunities between Women and Men in the labour market. One of the 4 fields of objective 3 of ESF. Employment, under- representation, qualifications, accompanying actions. Measurement of gender gap in employment. Impact assessment of ESF action for equal opportunities between women and men. Studies, pilot projects etc. Equal I ntegration of vulnerable people at risk for exclusion form the labour market is one field of action in Objective 3 of of the ESF Regulation 1784/1999 Women’s Access in the labour market (specific action) And Equality between Women and Men (transversal dimension). One of the 5 policy priorities of the ESF. Labour Market, career perspectives, entrepreneurship reduction of vertical and horizontal segregation based on sex. Support to structures and systems facilitating reconciliation of family and working life. Services et infrastructure for caring of independent people. Inferior Equal opportunities for All is one of the 5 policy fields of the ESF. It is not a transversal dimension!.

Backlash since 2006 THE ROAD MAP ( ) –Objective –Political importance –Budget The ESF (4 th period ) –Integration of two types of equality –Gender equality inferior to equality for all –Reduction of projects/ political pressure

Framework- Strategy on Gender Equality (5th action programme) COM (2000) 335 Gender Equality Strengthening the objective of gender equality in Community Policies having an impact on women’s lives 1. Economic life 2. Participation and representation 3. Social Rights 4. Civil Life (violence) 5. Roles and Stereotypes 1. Employment Strategy 2. Community policies influencing everyday life 3. Education policies culture etc Formulation : Dimension of equality between women and men Gender dimension Gender Perspective Balance between specific actions and gender mainstreaming Gender mainstreaming appears as an operational objective aiming at achieving the strategic objective (gender equality in 5 fields) Road Map for Equality Between Women and Men COM (2006) 92 Equality Between Women and Men Integration of a gender dimension in all policy areas 1. Economic Independence 2. Reconciliation 3. Participation 4. Violence, trafficking of human beings 5. Stereotypes 6. Gender Equality outside the EU Gender Mainstreaming is a key-action in all fields (employment and social protection, education, research, culture, structural funds, external relations, human aid). Gender mainstreaming is more important than specific action. Gender Mainstreaming is everywhere, it «replaces » specific action. Its meaning does not differentiate in difference policy fields

ESF Regulation 1784/1999 Women’s Access in the labour market (specific action) And Equality between Women and Men (transversal dimension). One of the 5 policy fields of the ESF. Labour Market, career perspectives, entrepreneurship, reduction of vertical and horizontal segregation based on sex. Support to structures and systems facilitating reconciliation of family and working life. Services et infrastructure for caring of independent people. Inferior Equal opportunities for All is one of the 5 policy fields of the ESF. It is not a transversal dimension! ESF Regulation 1081/2006 Women’s Access in employment Segregation in educations One of the 4 under- priorities of priority 2 of ESF. Long-term participation, progression of women. Reduction of segregation, pay gap. Integration of equality between women and men and equal opportunities in all operational programmes Superior Social Inclusion and the fight against all forms of discrimination is one of the 5 priorities of the ESF

Some (interlinked) reasons for the backlash Enlargement –Reduction of policy mechanisms at EU –Decentralization to national governments –Merging of policy issues/fields Political conservatism in Commission and the Parliament Anglo-Saxon approach to inequality (vulnerable people, personal problems)

Perspectives Equality for All (are women included? ) Diversity management (is gender included?) Merging of budgets (ex. Progress) Merging of policy issues (ex. Year of Equal Opportunities for All) Merging of civil stake holders (ex. European Social Platform)

Main Challenges How to save specific gender equality institutions (EP, EWL ?? ) and budgets? How to avoid dilution of sex discrimination in anti-discrimination policies? How to avoid to see women as a minority group? How to keep on the policy agenda the structural character of gender inequality?

Cahiers du Genre No. 44/ 2008 Numéro spécial coordonné par Sandrine Dauphin et Réjane Sénac-Slawinski Gender mainstreaming: De l’égalité des sexes a la diversité? Article: La politique du recul. De l’intégration de l’égalité “des sexes” a l’intégration de l’égalité “pour tous”. pages