The importance of gender training was emphasised in the Council conclusions on the effectiveness of institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women and gender equality adopted during the meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council meeting on 9-10 December 2013 in Brussels.
Generally, the Member States were called upon to strengthen efforts to mainstream gender equality in all governmental policy areas at all levels. One of the suggested ways to do it is through developing easily applicable gender mainstreaming methods and tools, including gender training, gender impact assessment, gender budgeting, monitoring and evaluation. A clear emphasis is put on the promotion of the use of these tools in practice.
Moreover, the Council emphasised the importance of gender equality competence among responsible staff by urging the Member States to strengthen expertise in gender equality and gender mainstreaming among public officials accross different sectors. The Member States agreed that gender training should be provided on a regular basis, it should also take into account the needs of the participants. In Council's opinion, training modules on gender equality and gender mainstreaming could become an integral part of the general training structure of the public administration.
The full use of EIGE's capacities, knowledge and products should be made. And, indeed, already now EIGE has a lot to offer with regard to gender training: materials, gender trainers, good practices, research evidence and conclusions, practical tips for improvement and assurance of the quality of gender training programmes.