Estonia
Legislative and policy framework
Gender issues began to receive attention in Estonia in the late 1990s following the ratification of international conventions and during the preparatory phase for accession to the European Union (EU). The legal framework for gender equality is enshrined in the Estonian Constitution, which states in Article 12 that everyone is equal before the law, and no one shall be discriminated against on the grounds of sex. The legislative framework in Estonia includes the Gender Equality Act which has been in force since 2004 following Estonia’s accession to the EU in 2004 and was followed by the Equal Treatment Act in 2009. The latter has the broader aim of protecting people from discrimination on the grounds of nationality (ethnic origin), race or skin colour, religion or other beliefs, age, disability, or sexual orientation. It provides for the principles and promotion of equal treatment, defines the responsibilities for implementation, and sets out the procedure regarding the settlement of discrimination-related disputes.
The 2004 Gender Equality Act aims to ensure the equal treatment of women and men specifically, by defining and prohibiting gender-based discrimination in both the public and private sector, obliging the State and local government authorities, educational and research institutions, and employers to promote equality between women and men, while also providing the right to compensation. The Act defines equality of women and men as a fundamental human right and provides for the mainstreaming of gender equality into all areas of social life. In 2018, the government approved amendments to the Gender Equality Act that aimed to reduce the gender pay gap and the parliament discussed them. The reform strengthens employers’ obligation to collect data disaggregated by gender, by defining the type of data and setting timeframes.
In Estonia, there is a national strategy for gender equality in place for the years 2016 to 2023. This strategy is contained within the Welfare Development Plan[1] for these years and is implemented through the Gender Equality Programme 2021-2024.[2]
In 2016, the Government of Estonia approved the Welfare Development Plan 2016-2023, which contains four sub-goals. The plan includes the overall strategic view of the government regarding gender equality. In particular, the Welfare Development Plan 2016-2023 provides a thorough overview of the main objectives, course of action, and issues regarding gender equality as well as labour market, social protection, and equal treatment matters. Gender equality policies within the development plan are implemented through four-year rolling gender equality programmes and are partly costed.
Together, the development plan and the programmes aim to raise awareness and carry out legislative initiatives with the goal of promoting gender equality and implementing gender mainstreaming in different spheres of life. Implementation of the development plan and the programmes are monitored through indicators.[3]
The plan constitutes the sole formal commitment to gender mainstreaming in Estonia; only three monitored targets are set out therein:
- The share of 20–29-year-old women graduates with science, engineering and technology degrees (monitored every year);
- The share of people who think that the gender pay gap is a serious problem (monitored every four years);
- The position of Estonia in EIGE’s Gender Equality Index (every second year).
Structures
Governmental equality bodies
The Government of the Republic Act stipulates that the Ministry of Social Affairs is responsible for equal treatment and for the promotion of equality between women and men. Within the Ministry, the Department of Equality Policy is the government’s gender equality body. Originally established in 1996 as the Gender Equality Bureau, it was renamed the Gender Equality Department in December 2003, with its current name and responsibility for developing gender mainstreaming processes and methodologies adopted in 2005. Currently, the department is mandated with the promotion of gender equality, along with other equality matters.
The Department of Equality Policy Functions
- Drafting gender equality and anti-discrimination policy for the government
- Conducting gender-sensitive analysis of policies and legislations as well as research on gender equality issues
- Coordinating and implementing government decisions on gender equality as well as gender mainstreaming processes and methodologies
- Publishing and disseminating gender equality related information and conducting trainings
- Integrating gender equality considerations in EU and international affairs
- Monitoring progress in achieving gender equality
The Department of Equality Policy has 11 employees, who are at least partly involved in projects focused on gender equality. For instance, the pilot project on gender mainstreaming involves six of the department’s personnel. Among them, only one person is involved on a full-time basis as a project manager, whereas others are involved on a part-time basis.
The Department of Equality Policy is consulted when developing most policies, laws, and programmes. The opinion of this body leads to relevant adjustments in some cases. The Department of Equality Policy is not obliged to regularly report on gender equality initiatives and progress made to the government and/or to representative elective bodies within the Estonian policy-making system. However, the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner (independent body) report to the Constitutional Committee of the Parliament (Riigikogu) once a year.
The law mandated the establishment of a Gender Equality Council as an advisory body, to be located within the Ministry of Social Protection, following the entry into force of the Gender Equality Act in 2004. The Council was duly approved by the government and was set up on 24 October 2013. The Council has 24 members, including the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner (independent body) and representatives of different NGOs working in the field of gender equality. As an advisory body, the Gender Equality Council approves the general objectives of gender equality policy, advises the government on matters relating to strategies for the promotion of gender equality, and presents the government with its opinion on the compliance of national programmes presented by the ministries (Article 9 of the Gender Equality Act sets out how the state and local authorities should promote gender equality).
Independent equality body
The Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner (initially the Gender Equality Commissioner as established in 2005) is an independent gender equality body responsible for monitoring compliance with legislation and policies with the Gender Equality Act and with the Equal Treatment Act.
The Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner Functions
- Conducting gender-sensitive analysis of policies and legislations as well as research on gender equality issues
- Publishing and disseminating gender equality related information and conducting trainings
- Integrating gender equality considerations in EU and international affairs
- Providing legal support for victims of discrimination on the grounds of sex or gender
- Deciding on complaints of discrimination on the ground of sex
- Monitoring progress in achieving gender equality by analysing laws and proposals
- Coordinating with relevant personnel and entities to promote gender equality and equal treatment
Within the Office of the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner, six employees spend approximately 50-70 % of their time specifically focused on gender equality. Consultation with the Commissioner is directly requested regarding selected policies, laws, or programmes.[4] However, all draft policies, laws or programmes are made available to the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner for consultation on a voluntary basis.[5] Once the Commissioner is consulted about new or existing policies, laws or programmes, a relevant adjustment is made in most cases.
Parliamentary body
There is no standing committee within the parliament which has gender as a specific part of its mandate. There is, however, a dedicated association, which allows Members of Parliament (Riigikogu) to draw attention to specific issues, support or protect the interests of a narrower field. In October 2017, the parliament’s Women’s Association - currently known as the ‘Riikgikogu Women’s Union’[6] - was formed. The Women’s Association is composed of 13 Members of Parliament, all women. The association aims to tackle the gender pay gap, gender-based violence, domestic violence and inequality between women and men in decision-making. In addition to seeking solutions to these issues, they also aim to monitor the inclusion of a gender perspective in all new legislative acts.
Consultation with civil society
There are two provisions within the Gender Equality Act that relate to the involvement of civil society. Article 24(1) establishes the Gender Equality Council, which includes representatives of NGOs.[7] The Act also sets forth the involvement of relevant interest groups and non-profit organisations that have a legitimate interest in helping to combat discrimination based on sex to support compliance with the principle of equal treatment.[8] In addition, Article 1(5) of the Rules for Good Legislative Practice and Legislative Drafting stipulates that interest groups and the public are to be involved in the preparation of a legislative intent, concept and draft Act.
Methods and tools
Gender impact assessment
A key method used to implement gender mainstreaming is the use of gender impact assessments. According to the Rules of Procedure of the Government of the Republic, the impact of draft acts, strategic development plans, and the positions of Estonia concerning European Union draft legislation and other European Union affairs must be assessed based on the Impact Assessment Methodology (IAM) approved by the Government of Estonia. Other important matters requiring a decision by a minister or submission to the Government of the Republic must also be assessed using the IAM. The current IAM refers to the Gender Equality Act and the Equal Treatment Act. Particularly, it states that when assessing the impact (direct, indirect, and unwanted), different social groups (including women and men) within the wider target group must be analysed from the point of view of their needs and societal status.
Gender budgeting
No new developments on gender budgeting in Estonia have taken place since the project ‘Mainstreaming a gender perspective into the State budget’ was implemented in April 2012. That project was launched by the Ministry of Social Protection and the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner and saw the publication of a tailored gender budgeting handbook.[9]
Training and awareness raising
Currently, employees working in some ministries/departments are involved in regular gender equality training on an ad-hoc and voluntary basis.
The Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Competence Centre has carried out several initiatives over the past three years to raise awareness on gender equality among ministries and other governmental bodies. These include the distribution of online and printed materials and the organisation of workshops, among other initiatives. Concrete examples include the publication of an online report in 2019, ‘Europe 2020 and Equal Opportunities’ on the use of the cohesion policy funds, which draws together data about different social groups, including women and men. Moreover, in 2020, the Competence Centre conducted an analysis focusing on educational projects co-financed by the structural funds to determine whether the projects promoted gender equality. In 2021, the Competence Centre also carried out a study, ‘Gender Equality and Equal Treatment in the projects financed under the ESIF: awareness, motivation and opportunities for increasing them’. Similarly, in 2021, an electronic collection of articles, ‘Towards a Balanced Society. Women and Men in Estonia’ was published. The aim of this compilation was to analyse the gender equality situation and developments in different fields during the last 10 years in Estonia. These initiatives, however, do not address the importance of gender-sensitive language among ministries and other governmental bodies.
Gender statistics
Statistics in Estonia are regulated by the Official Statistics Act, which does not stipulate any requirements to collect sex-disaggregated data. As such, no specific unit is charged with the production of sex-disaggregated data within Statistics Estonia – the national statistical office - nor is there a website or section of a website devoted to gender statistics. However, a considerable proportion of the key indicators produced by Statistics Estonia are sex-disaggregated and there is a specific page presenting data on the gender pay gap.[10] There are also ad-hoc publications on gender statistics. These include 'The Life of Women and Men in Europe' in 2020[11] and 'Gender Equality Monitoring' in 2016.[12]
There is also an ad-hoc agreement in place related to the collection of data disaggregated by sex. An example of an initiative under this agreement is the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner led project ‘InWeGe’ (income, wealth gender),[13] which was carried out in cooperation with the University of Tartu and Statistics Estonia. Through this project, the category ‘Wages Application’ (Palgarakendus) was updated to include more occupational groups, a comparison of monthly earnings between women and men, as well as earnings and pension projections.
Monitoring progress
Indicators for monitoring progress on institutional mechanisms for the promotion of gender equality and gender mainstreaming in the EU, under Area H of the Beijing Platform for Action
This section analyses the scores achieved by Estonia for data collection in 2021 for the four officially agreed-on indicators on institutional mechanisms for the promotion of gender equality and gender mainstreaming to monitor progress on Area H of the Beijing Platform for Action. It also analyses scores under an expanded measurement framework, which includes the role of independent gender equality bodies and assesses the effectiveness of efforts to disseminate statistics disaggregated by sex. Institutional mechanisms refer to national machineries that implement, monitor, evaluate, and mobilise support for policies that promote gender equality and gender mainstreaming. All indicators and sub-indicators are available on the Gender Statistics Database here, including metadata about how the scores are calculated.
For Indicator H1 on the status of commitment to the promotion of gender equality and considering only the governmental commitment in line with the officially adopted indicator, Estonia scored 8.5 out of a possible 12, above the EU average of 7.2. It scored particularly high on sub-indicator H1e on accountability of the governmental gender equality body, with 3.5 points out of a maximum possible score of 5.0, because it has a national action plan that is partially costed or budgeted and sets specific targets which are regularly monitored.
Under an expanded measurement framework, which includes sub-indicator H1f on the mandate and functions of the independent gender equality body, Estonia scored an additional 2.0 points, out of a possible 3. It lost 1.0 point because the mandate of the independent gender body is gender equality combined with other non-discrimination areas, rather than exclusively focused on gender equality. The overall score for the expanded H1 indicator was 10.5 out of a possible 15, above the EU average of 9.1.
Indicator H2 analyses the personnel resources of the national gender equality bodies. For sub-indicator H2a, regarding the governmental body, Estonia scored 0.5 out of a possible 2 which was lower than the EU average of 1.0, because there are 5-10 employees working on gender equality in the governmental body. For sub-indicator H2b, regarding the independent body, Estonia’s score was 0.0 because the body has 0-5 employees working on gender equality. The EU average was 0.8. For both sub-indicators, the maximum 2 points was awarded where the number of employees was over 100 as an indication of the body being sufficiently resourced.
Indicator H3 relates to gender mainstreaming. Here, Estonia scored 4.3 out of a maximum possible 12, which was below the EU average of 5.1. Estonia lost 4.7 points, out of the maximum possible score of 6, on sub-indicator H3c on the commitment to and use of methods and tools for gender mainstreaming, because, in part, there was no legal obligation to undertake gender budgeting and no initiative to raise awareness on gender-sensitive language.
Under an expanded measurement framework which includes sub-indicator H3d on consultation of the independent equality body, Estonia scored 4.8 points out of a possible 14, which was below the EU average 5.4. Under this sub-indicator, Estonia lost 1.5 points out of the maximum of 2, because the independent gender equality body is only consulted by departments or ministries on the gender impact of new or existing policies in some cases, although those consultations lead to relevant adjustments in most cases which scored 0.5 points.
For Indicator H4 on the production and dissemination of statistics disaggregated by sex, Estonia scored only 0.5 points, against an EU average of 3.4. The points received were under sub-indicator H4a on government commitment to the production of statistics disaggregated by sex for having an ad hoc agreement to collect data disaggregated by sex. It lost all 4 points available for sub-indicator H4c on the effectiveness of efforts to disseminate statistics disaggregated by sex, as there is no website or section of a website devoted to gender statistics to facilitate dissemination.
References
Endnotes
[1] Estonian Welfare Plan 2016-2023 https://www.globalwps.org/data/EST/files/Welfare%20Development%20Plan%20for%202016-2023.pdf
[2] Gender Equality Programme (2021) https://kompetentsikeskus.sm.ee/et/vordsed-voimalused/sooline-vordoiguslikkus/soolise-vordoiguslikkuse-edendamine/strateegiad-ja-tegevuskavad/eesti-soolise-vordoiguslikkuse-eesmargid
[3]Comprehensive national-level review of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for action 1995 (2019) https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/CSW/64/National-reviews/Estonia.pdf
[4] Rules for Good Legislative Practice and Legislative Drafting (2011) https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/508012015003/consolide
[5] The Draft Information System (EIS) (n.d.) https://eelnoud.valitsus.ee/. This is a working environment where documents are coordinated between agencies, submitted to the Government and the Riigikogu, as well as made available for public consultation.
[6] Parliament of Estonia (n.d) Riigikogu Women’s Union https://www.riigikogu.ee/en/parliament-of-estonia/associations/association/be036b6c-6208-4f61-ac76-3b81aa23c254/Riigikogu%20Women%E2%80%99s%20Union
[7] Rules for Good Legislative Practice and Legislative Drafting (2011) https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/508012015003/consolide
[8] Gender Equality Act (2004) https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/516012019002/consolide
[9] Ministry of Social Protection (n.d.) Gender equality https://www.sm.ee/mida-me-motleme-soolise-vordoiguslikkuse-all.
[10] Statistics Estonia (n.d.) Gender pay gap https://www.stat.ee/en/find-statistics/statistics-theme/work-life/wages-and-salaries-and-labour-costs/gender-pay-gap
[11] Eurostat (2020). The Life of Women and Men in Europe (Naiste ja meeste elu Euroopas) (2020) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/beta/womenmen_2020/ee_et/
[12] Ministry of Social Affairs, Gender Equality Monitoring 2016 (Soolise võrdõiguslikkuse monitooring 2016) https://enut.ee/files/soolise_vordoiguslikkuse_monitooringu_raport_2016.pdf
[13] Statistics Estonia (n.d.) InWeGe http://inwege.cloud.ut.ee/en