Instruments for Gender Analysis
In the course of gender mainstreaming practice, a number of instruments have been developed, which mainly relate to a gender analysis of organizations or competence development. These are presented on various websites, which we refer to under the tab Links. Here we focus on instruments that can be used to analyze the effects of political strategies, programs, measures or laws on gender relations. These can be carried out with varying degrees of complexity. One of the more in-depth instruments is the Gender Impact Assessment (GIA), which we present in more detail on a subpage.
Key questions for gender analysis in brief: Does the measure have an impact on gender equality policy objectives?
What gender effects could the measure have?
- Which groups of people are directly and indirectly affected by the measure? How are women, men and other genders represented numerically?
- What effects could the measure have on the different life situations, interests and everyday practices of the genders? (see gender dimensions and the GIA in more detail)?
- Who benefits directly and indirectly from the measure (economically; shift of work to the unpaid private sector, etc.)?
- What are the causes of the differences identified? (role models, norms, values, income, etc.)
Representation in technology, science and politics / Power relations
- Share in decision-making positions, control positions, stakeholder groups; possibility to introduce different attitudes, preferences, needs
- Which actors were involved in the development of the measure?
- Which experts and groups should be involved?
- Is gender knowledge present among the actors?
Which data and which findings/knowledge is available
- What other data and information is available/needed (e.g. gender-disaggregated data (ideally not only sex-disaggregated but also gender-disaggregated) to analyze the effects of the measure)?
- Which research needs result from this?
A compilation of instruments for gender mainstreaming can be found on the following website (among others):
- The European Institute for Gender Equality has compiled an extensive collection of methods and instruments for gender mainstreaming, some of which are supported by examples.
Instruments
Gender Impact Assessment - Continuation
Within the framework of the research project “Interdependente Genderaspekte der Klimapolitik” (Interdependent Gender Aspects of Climate Policy) funded by the UBA and BMU, the gender impact assessment was further developed and specifically adapted to climate policy.
A working aid (currently only available in German) for this is published in the appendix to the final report. The report contains an English summary of the research project findings.
GAMMA: Gender Assessment & Monitoring of Mitigation and Adaptation
Within the framework of their international project "Gender into Urban Climate Change Initiative", GenderCC and partners have developed the GAMMA methodology (Gender Assessment & Monitoring of Mitigation and Adaptation) to examine local adaptation and climate protection strategies regarding their gender-specific effects, identify possible entry points for gender aspects and develop recommendations on how to close gender-specific gaps in planning procedures, priorities, strategies and measures. The assessment consists of several steps that cover the institutional environment and procedures, the full range of a city's climate policy and an in-depth analysis of the gender-specific impacts of selected measures. A toolbox for applying GAMMA will be available soon.
The gender dimensions act as a kind of searchlight with which social power relations (causes, structural inequalities and forms) between the sexes are analyzed. This makes it possible to identify potential effects of measures on gender relations and, if necessary, to adapt planned projects accordingly. They were (further) developed and applied to climate policy within the framework of the research project “Interdependente Genderaspekte der Klimapolitik” (Interdependent gender aspects of climate policy).
- Symbolic order (cross-cutting dimension): hierarchizations, attributions and positions of meaning, gender-hierarchical narratives and modernization strategies (cross-section dimension)
- Care economy/care work: attribution, significance, distribution, instrumentalization in societies’ economies
- Market driven/labor economy: horizontal and vertical segregation, economic job valuation, poverty, property, financial capabilities
- Public resources/infrastructures: provision, alignment, prioritization, accessibility, usability
- Institutionalized androcentrism/power of definition: masculinity models set as the standard and benchmark in subject-/action-field-specific rationalities, problem perceptions, methods etc., institutionalized content-related-cognitive gender hierarchizations
- Shaping Power at actor’s level: Participation and consideration of gender expertise in decision-making in science, technology and politics
- Body/health/safety/privacy (intimacy): social organization of sexuality, health, freedom from violence, privacy, sexual self-determination
from: Spitzner, Meike; Röhr, Ulrike; Hummel, Diana; Alber, Gotelind; Stiess, Immanuel (2020): Interdependente Genderaspekte der Klimapolitik. Gendergerechtigkeit als Beitrag zu einer erfolgreichen Klimapolitik: Wirkungsanalyse, Interdependenzen mit anderen sozialen Kategorien, methodische Aspekte und Gestaltungsoptionen. Endbericht. Umweltbundesamt (Hg.) Texte 30/2020, Dessau-Roßlau. (English summary on pp. 29-43)