Why focus on Institutional Transformation

The benefits of following a gender equality policy and, in accordance with this policy, implementing gender mainstreaming are manifold.

There is an extrinsic as well as an intrinsic motivation for promoting gender equality in a targeted and systematic manner.

More about motivational model

Film on the benefits of gender mainstreaming from Sweden

A video on gender mainstreaming, produced by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions shows practical example of gender mainstreaming on a communal level. It highlights on the benefits of gender mainstreaming not only from a perspective of justice but also explaining why it contributes to the efficiency of local administration. The film is easily understandable and has been translated from Swedish into English, German, French, Spanish and Finnish.
 

Download the video

Incentives for promoting equal opportunities as part of the implementation of gender mainstreaming

The benefits discussed above should be translated into the personnel management. This means teams and individual staff should have adequate incentives for actively promoting gender equality both in regard to the external (governance) as well in regard to the internal (equal opportunities of staff) dimension.
There are so called soft and hard incentives to promote gender equality:

Soft incentives

These refer to mechanisms of approval and recognition which relate to the organisational and leadership culture of an organisation. If, for example an executive is openly addressing gender equality as an important subject in a team meeting and also lauds staff being active in the field, this will also motivate the rest of the staff to engage in gender equality activities.

A clear commitment by the organisation as well as the management is a framework and precondition for these kinds of soft incentives in the daily routines. The relevance of “soft” incentives should not be underestimated.

Hard incentives

These refer to the formally regulated incentives like performance appraisal mechanisms. If, for example, gender competence is part of a job description, also corresponding with the respective criteria for performance assessment, staff will have a very concrete and clear incentive for performing well in regard to integrate gender equality issues in their working routines.