096_CDEG-GM(2001)01

Strasbourg, 27 June 2001

CDEG-GM (2001) 01

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Steering Committee for Equality between
women and men

Workshop on Gender Mainstreaming, organised for Steering Committees of the Council of Europe

Strasbourg, 5 September 2001

Room 2
Opening at 9h30

Secretariat Memorandum prepared by the
Directorate General of Human Rights

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Introduction
II. The Committee of Ministers’ response to the work of the CDEG
III. The Steering Committees’ response to the Committee of Ministers message
IV. Further action taken and envisaged by the CDEG in the field of gender mainstreaming
V. Preparation of the workshop
VI. Objectives of the Workshop
VII. Follow-up to the Workshop
Appendix I - Message of the Committee of Ministers to steering committees of the Council of Europe on Gender Mainstreaming
Appendix II - Recommendation no. R (98) 14 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on Gender Mainstreaming
Appendix III - Terms of reference of the CDEG

I. Introduction

1. Gender mainstreaming appears today to be one of the main strategies to reach the goal of gender equality. Explicitly endorsed by the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), gender mainstreaming is still a strategy in full development. There is not always a clear understanding of what is meant by this concept. By way of example, it has often been mixed up with “traditional” or gender equality or equal opportunities policies and plans of action to redress inequalities.

2. Conscious of this, the Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men (CDEG) set up a Group of Specialists on gender mainstreaming in 1996 in order to give a concrete follow-up to the Beijing Platform for Action. This Group had the task of defining the concept of gender mainstreaming and proposing a methodology for its implementation. The Group produced, in 1998, a report setting out a definition of gender mainstreaming, the conceptual framework for gender mainstreaming, a methodology for its implementation as well as examples of good practice. This report has become a reference throughout member States of the Council of Europe and has been translated into more than 10 languages.

3. Using the strategy of gender mainstreaming means, in simplified terms, taking into account the needs, interests, competence and skills of both women and men at all stages of policy development and implementation. It also means that any policy project or programme must, in its early stages, be evaluated from the point of view of gender equality in order to find out its possible impact on women and men.¹

II. The Committee of Ministers’ response to the work of the CDEG

4. The Committee of Ministers, having taken note of the above-mentioned report, adopted, at the 628th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies in April 1998, a Message on gender mainstreaming to Council of Europe Steering committees, encouraging them to use this strategy while implementing their programme of activities (see Appendix I). On 7 October 1998, the Committee of Ministers further adopted Recommendation N° R (98) 14 to member States on gender mainstreaming (Appendix II). The Committee of Ministers has not taken any concrete actions to follow up the adoption of these texts other than forwarding them to the Committees. However, the adoption of these two texts proves that there is clearly a political consensus among the member States regarding the usefulness of gender mainstreaming.

III. The Steering Committees’ response to the Committee of Ministers message

5. The 9th report by the Secretary General on Equality between Women and Men in the Council of Europe (for the year 1999), which will be examined by the Ministers’ Deputies on 18 July 2001, shows that the response to the message on gender mainstreaming has been rather poor and that many committees need to make serious efforts if they wish to implement the message. Most committees deal with equality issues on an irregular basis, or refer to past achievements. A certain number of Steering Committees which have not contributed to the report do not even indicate what difficulties they encounter or why they take no action in this field.

IV. Further action taken and envisaged by the CDEG in the field of gender mainstreaming

6. In 1999, the CDEG decided to contribute to the implementation of Recommendation N° R (98) 14 by holding a Conference on gender mainstreaming in practice in member States. This Conference was held in Athens in September 1999 at the invitation of the Greek authorities, as a contribution of the CDEG to the 50th anniversary of the Council of Europe. A strong focus was put on practical and concrete projects. The proceedings have been published and constitute a useful piece of information about such projects in the different member States (EG/ATH (99) 9).

7. In accordance with its terms of reference (Appendix III), the CDEG has constantly tried to foster co-operation with other Steering Committees and has initiated many projects with Committees such as the CDMG, CDMM, ECRI or CC-ED. A description of these can be found in the successive reports of the Secretary General on Equality between women and men in the Council of Europe. Experience shows, however, that as soon as the projects are completed, the committees do not continue to take the gender dimension into account in their work. One of the main reasons might be that they lack the necessary information and training.

8. Given how little reaction there has been to the Message of the Committee of Ministers to Steering Committees on gender mainstreaming, the CDEG decided in 2000 to include in its programme of activities for 2001 a workshop on gender mainstreaming for some Chairs and Secretaries of Steering Committees willing to take part in such a workshop. The CDEG indicated from the start that only 3-4 committees should take part in the workshop which might eventually lead to a pilot project, and asked its Secretariat to identify committees willing to take part in this exercise.

9. The following Steering Committees have agreed to take part in the workshop: Ad hoc Committee of Experts on Legal Aspects of Territorial Asylum, Refugees and Stateless Persons (CAHAR); Committee for the Development of Sport (CDDS); European Committee for Social Cohesion (CDCS); European Health Committee (CDSP).

10. Gender mainstreaming has been supported by the Secretary General who, in his introduction to the 9th Report on equality between women and men in the Council of Europe, calls for the setting up of a pilot project on gender mainstreaming, focusing efforts on a limited number of sectors.

V. Preparation of the workshop

11. A consultant expert on gender mainstreaming has been recruited by the CDEG². She will study the committees’ programmes for 2002, consult with the Secretaries of the committees as well as the Secretary to the CDEG and come up with proposals for how to incorporate the gender mainstreaming perspective into (some of) their activities. It is expected that these proposals will contain an explanation of how gender equality relates to the activities chosen as well as ideas for discussion on how it might be possible to proceed. These proposals will serve as a basis for the one-day workshop on 5 September 2001 at the Palais de l’Europe, which will bring together the Chairs and the Secretaries of the Steering Committees in question, the Chair of the CDEG and its Secretariat, as well as the expert involved in the preparatory work.

VI. Objectives of the Workshop

12. After an introduction of the subject by the expert, the workshop will give participants the opportunity for a general exchange of views on gender mainstreaming and on the impact it may have on the various subjects which the Committees are working on.. The expert's proposals will then be discussed with the representatives of the committees and their secretariat and ways and means of using the strategy will be identified. The discussion may also include the possibility of setting up a pilot project in which all or some of the Steering Committees present would take part. Such a pilot project might include the organisation of joint seminars with the CDEG, training sessions and/or workshops for all members of the committees, etc.

VII. Follow-up to the Workshop

13. After the Workshop, the expert consultant will be asked, as a first step, to draft guidelines for gender mainstreaming to be used by the Steering Committees and their Secretariat. These guidelines should be ready before the end of 2001.

14. Whatever the decision is regarding a pilot project, the possible organisation of a joint Seminar with the CDEG by one or two Steering Committees (see para 12) it might in any case be useful to plan an evaluation meeting in late 2002.

Appendix I - Message of the Committee of Ministers to steering committees of the Council of Europe on Gender Mainstreaming

1. The Committee of Ministers is of the opinion that the promotion of equality between women and men should become a central and permanent issue for the Council of Europe. It should become widely accepted that the promotion of equality concerns both women and men and society as a whole. One of the strategies to achieve equality between women and men is gender mainstreaming. This consists of the (re)organisation, improvement, development and evaluation of policy processes, so that a gender equality perspective is incorporated in all policies at all levels and at all stages, by the actors normally involved in policy-making. In concrete terms, this implies that the needs, interests, competence and skills of both women and men are taken into account.

2. The Committee of Ministers welcomes the work of the Steering Committee for equality between women and men (CDEG) on gender mainstreaming. The CDEG has, through the work of a Group of Specialists, produced a report setting out the conceptual framework for mainstreaming and a methodology for its implementation, accompanied by examples of good practices. The Committee of Ministers is convinced that gender mainstreaming is an important strategy, not only because it promotes equality and makes visible the gender dimension of each policy and activity, but also because it makes full use of all human resources and should lead to better informed and better targeted policy-making.

3. The Committee of Ministers would therefore ask all Steering Committees of the Council of Europe to study carefully the appended report on gender mainstreaming, with a view to taking inspiration from it and implementing this strategy in their programme of activities. In particular, when preparing their programmes of activities, Committees should take care to think about 1) the relevance and the interest of the activity for both women and men; 2) whether there are differences between women and men in the field concerned by the activity with regard to rights, resources, positions, representation, values and norms.

Appendix II - Recommendation no. R (98) 14 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on Gender Mainstreaming

(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 7 October 1998
at the 643rd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies)

The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 15.b of the Statute of the Council of Europe,

Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the ideals and principles which are their common heritage;

Considering that achieving effective equality between women and men is an integral part of these ideals and principles;

Having regard, in this context, to its Declaration on equality of women and men, adopted on 16 November 1988;

Bearing in mind the objectives set forward in the Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995);

Recalling the Declaration adopted at the Second Summit of the Council of Europe (October 1997), in which the Heads of State and Government of the member States of the Council of Europe stressed “the importance of a more balanced representation of men and women in all sectors of society, including political life” and called for “continued progress with a view to achieving effective equality of opportunities between women and men”;

Having regard to the Declaration on equality between women and men as a fundamental criterion of democracy, adopted by the 4th European Ministerial Conference on Equality between Women and Men (Istanbul, November 1997);

Convinced that one of the main strategies to achieve effective equality between women and men is gender mainstreaming;

Welcoming the Report on Gender Mainstreaming, produced by its Steering Committee on Equality between Women and Men (CDEG), setting out the conceptual framework for gender mainstreaming and a methodology for its implementation, accompanied by examples of good practice;

Convinced that the implementation of the strategy of gender mainstreaming will not only promote effective equality between women and men, but also result in a better use of human resources, improve decision-making and enhance the functioning of democracy,

Recommends that the governments of member states:

disseminate widely the CDEG’s report on gender mainstreaming and encourage its use as a tool for implementing this strategy in the public and private sectors;
encourage decision-makers to take inspiration from the report in order to create an enabling environment and facilitate conditions for the implementation of gender mainstreaming in the public sector.

Appendix III - Terms of reference of the CDEG

Specific terms of reference

1. Name of committee: STEERING COMMITTEE FOR EQUALITY BETWEEN WOMEN AND MEN (CDEG)

2. Type of committee: Steering committee

3. Source of terms of reference: Committee of Ministers

4. Terms of reference:

Having regard to the major lines of intergovernmental action set out in the Declaration on the future role of the Council of Europe and Resolution (89) 40, adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 5 May 1989, and within the framework of the annual Intergovernmental Programme of Activities:

to examine the situation as regards equality between women and men in European society and consider its progress;

to promote European co-operation between member States with a view to achieving real equality between women and men as a sine qua non of genuine democracy and to stimulate actions at both national and Council of Europe level, having regard to activities undertaken within other international fora, in particular the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women;

to this effect, to establish analyses, studies and evaluations, to confront national policies and pool experiences, to work out concerted policy strategies, measures and tools for implementing equality and, as necessary, to prepare appropriate legal and other instruments;

to prepare the European Ministerial Conferences on equality between women and men and ensure the follow-up thereto, having regard to the relevant decisions of the Committee of Ministers;

to co-operate with other steering and ad hoc committees in the implementation of various projects and to encourage them to implement the strategy of gender mainstreaming with a view, in particular, to improving and developing their activities so as to contribute to the implementation of the objectives coming under ii. above, for which the CDEG has principal responsibility;

to comment on the annual reports of the Secretary General on the implementation of the equality objective within the Secretariat and activities of the Council of Europe

5. Membership of the committee:

a. The governments of all member States are entitled to appoint members with the following desirable qualifications: persons with high-level responsibility for policies in favour of equality between women and men, or other highly qualified specialists.

The Council of Europe's budget bears travelling and subsistence expenses for one expert per member State (two in the case of the State whose expert has been elected Chairperson).

b. The Parliamentary Assembly may be represented at the meetings of the Steering Committee(1).

c. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe may be represented at the meetings of the steering committee(3).

d. The European Commission may send representatives, without the right to vote or defrayal of expenses ³, to meetings of the Committee.

e. The following states having observer status with the Council of Europe may send a representative without the right to vote or to refund of expenses to meetings of the committee: Canada, Japan, United States of America.

f. The following States or organisations may send representatives, without the right to vote or defrayal of expenses, to meetings of the Committee:

Holy See(5)

Belarus(5)

UNO: the appropriate organs and specialised institutions,

OECD

NGO Grouping for "Equality", with consultative status at the Council of Europe(2)

Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR-OSCE)(4)

the Standing Committee of women elected representatives of local and regional authorities of the CEMR.(5)

6. Working structures and methods:

Within the framework of its terms of reference, the CDEG shall have the possibility to have whatever contacts or consultations with professional bodies that it deems necessary for the implementation of its terms of reference.

7. Duration:

These terms of reference shall be reviewed before 31 December 1998.(5)
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Adopted: see CM/Del/Concl(91)458/18 and (92)472/17, Appendix 7
Revised:

see CM/Del/Dec(93)500, item 48

see CM/Del/Dec(94)513/4.1 Concl 4

see CM/Del/Dec(95)525, item 9.3

see CM/Dem/Dec(96)566, item 2.5

see CM/Del/Dec(97)583, item 4.1 and Appendix 2