News
Twinning project boosts gender equality in Estonian private sector
January 2008
Linking gender equality experts from Estonia and France, an EU funded twinning project is promoting gender equality as an asset for companies. A first report compiled by the French experts presents a wealth of good practice which forms a solid body of knowledge for the use of key players in the Estonian economy and is also of interest for any actor across Europe working in this field.
The report [1]contains 50 best practice fiches showcasing examples from 15
European countries and two international organisations. A good number of EQUAL
achievements and tools are included in this work book. It is structured into
chapters based on the different ways of promoting gender equality in the private
sector. These so-called "Action Steps" include:
- Identifying and analysing gender inequalities and issues in private
enterprises;
- Informing and raising awareness on gender equality for private sector actors;
- Increasing the competencies of private sector actors in gender equality;
- Company practices for promoting gender equality;
- Trade union practices for promoting gender equality;
- Negotiating on gender issues;
- Giving incentives to enterprises for promoting gender equality;
- Using external expertise to help enterprises implement gender equality
strategies.
Vicky Donlevy
Rachel Silvera
Within each Action Step a series of the best practice fiches is provided.
Each fiche consists of the main objective of the good practice, its context
(why the practice was developed in this country), plus a description and an
analysis of the practice. The analysis highlights the key points of interest:
why the approach was considered as best practice, its potential limitations
and necessary adaptations for transfer to Estonia. All fiches indicate the
websites where the good practice can be found, the language(s) in which it
is available and other websites for further information. Although tailored
to the Estonian context, the authors consider that the content can be of
interest to actors working to promote gender equality in the private sector
in any Member State. The quantity, diversity and quality of experiences in
the field of gender equality in the private sector which exist in the
European Union is surprising, even to experts like Vicki Donlevy and Rachel
Silvera, the authors of the report. Activities and tools selected range from
company and trade union practices to publicity campaigns, e-learning,
guidelines, indicators, training courses, labels and awards and, last but
not least, collective agreements. Furthermore, the authors found that most
of these best practices are easily accessible via Internet, and often use a
variety of innovative techniques for conveying the message such as humour,
cartoons, games or catchy images.
Having thoroughly reviewed all those good practices the two experts drew a
number of interesting conclusions. Here are some of the highlights:
- In all Member States the majority of the good practices identified are
implemented by large corporations. These enterprises have understood the
economic benefits of developing gender equality strategies for reducing
turnover and absenteeism, attracting suitable candidates, but also for
creating positive publicity and improving their public image. This is why
the report particularly promotes the development of gender equality policies
in SMEs as many of the measures described are feasible for all companies.
This is true for working time arrangements, recruitment policy, encouraging
access to non-typical occupations or using e-learning tools.
- In other countries (Sweden, Finland, France, Spain, Norway), a
constrictive and/or incentive-based legislative framework has been necessary
in order to implement good practices in the field of gender equality. The
role of the State is therefore important in all the different steps required
for implementing successful strategies in this field: procedures, monitoring
and evaluation.
- However, in other cases where governments play a lesser role in inciting
gender equality (such as the UK), other actors have sometimes taken the lead
in this field, for example independent equality authorities, NGOs and
enterprises themselves.
The authors emphasise that it is important to remember that the notion of
"best practices" has its limits. Good practices are often linked to a specific
national context (history, culture, social, economic, political, religious...),
which may limit their transferability into other contexts. Even if there is a
certain harmonisation in the European Union of gender equality legislation and
principles, different social models continue to persist and strongly influence
implementation.
This publication is the first stage of a strategy designed to enabling
Estonian actors to learn about the successful experiences carried out in other
Member States or at European level. The examples provided are all aimed to
stimulate business people to consider the implementation of new approaches and
strategies related integrating gender equality into both organisational
development and personnel policies.
The twinning project whose lifespan is
exactly one year (August 2007 – August 2008) is a cooperation between the
Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs and
RACINE, the French national support
structure for EQUAL. More stages are being prepared to ensure lasting success
and impact, says Vicki Donlevy: "We are now producing a series of guidelines for
Estonian companies on gender equality, in the form of a user friendly manual,
which we hope will be both interesting and entertaining. Later we will be
carrying out training sessions for big and small enterprises, social partners as
well as gender and management experts. Finally we plan to set up a gender
equality network of Estonian companies."
Download the report : pdf
[1] Vicki Donlevy and Rachel
Silvera: Implementing Gender Equality in Enterprises – Report on Best Practices
and Tools in Europe. Produced in the framework of " Equality between Women and
Men – Principle and Goal for Sustainable and Effective Enterprises" – Estonian-French
Twinning Project.
Top
