What is "gender mainstreaming"?
Gender equality is not just about equal rights for women and men enshrined in law. It is important that these rights can be realized in practice: finding a job, building a career, having decent pay, and participating in decision-making.
This is what they use gender mainstreaming — an approach in which the needs, experiences, and potential risks of different groups of women and men are taken into account when developing and implementing public policy.
Gender equality
The mere fact that legislative guarantees exist does not mean that inequality automatically disappears.
For example, the law may prohibit discrimination in employment, but in practice women and men may still have different career opportunities. This is influenced not only by rules but also by stereotypes, the division of household work, childcare, access to resources, and perceptions of “feminine” and “masculine” professions.
Therefore, gender mainstreaming helps move from asking "Do women and men have the same rights?" to another: "Can they equally exercise these rights in practice?"
How inequality arises in the labor market
One example is gender occupational segregation. This is a situation where women and men are unevenly represented in different professions, industries, or at different levels of the job hierarchy.
She can be horizontal — when women and men mostly work in different fields, and verticalwhen members of one gender have fewer opportunities to advance in the career ladder.
For example, certain professions are traditionally perceived as “feminine” – education, social work, while others are perceived as “masculine” – construction, technical specialties, engineering professions. Such perceptions can influence educational and professional choices long before a person enters the labor market.
Inequality is particularly noticeable in leadership positions. Even if women are widely represented among workers in a particular field, their share among management may be significantly lower.
As a result, women are more likely to be concentrated in lower-paying fields and professions and have fewer opportunities to influence decision-making.
Why is it harder for women to build a career?
One reason is the unequal distribution of unpaid domestic and care work.
Women often combine paid work with caring for children, relatives or other family members. This affects their ability to work full-time, pursue further education, accept business trips or build a career.
As a result, a paradox arises: women are simultaneously expected to achieve professional fulfillment and perform the bulk of the housework.
That is why the issue of gender equality cannot be reduced to just how many women and men work in a particular industry. It is necessary to look at the broader picture – working conditions, career development opportunities, pay, and access to leadership positions.
Gender mainstreaming — about systemic change
Gender mainstreaming does not mean that every government program should be specifically targeted at women. Its essence is to understand how a decision will affect different population groups before making it.
This can be an opportunity for change: creating more accessible infrastructure, expanding employment opportunities, supporting female entrepreneurship, more equitable distribution of care work, and greater participation of women in decision-making.
Ago Gender mainstreaming is about ensuring that public policy takes into account people's real lives and sees inequality where it exists.
If you have been a victim of domestic violence or gender discrimination, please contact the National Hotline for Prevention of Domestic Violence, Human Trafficking and Gender Discrimination for advice and assistance:
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This article was made possible by the support of the Norwegian people through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway (MFA of Norway) within the framework of the project “Building a Gender-Inclusive Recovery with the Women’s Movement of Ukraine” (GEN-Recovery). Responsibility for the content of the information lies with the NGO “La Strada-Ukraine”. The information presented in this article does not necessarily reflect the views of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway or the Government of Norway.
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