Gender Mainstreaming
-Janet Schayan, Germany
It almost goes without saying that in any
decision-making process-whether public or the private sector-the factor of cost plays a
role, a very major role. Nowadays the environmental impacts of decisions are also likely
to be considered. Perhaps, however, an additional issue also needs to be raised: Does this
decision or measure have different impacts on women tan it does on men? Essentially, such
an approach could be applied in every conceivable field- from decisions about building a
new car park, human resource development, and local youth work to allocation of funds for
development cooperation. "Gender mainstreaming" is the term used to describe
considering the gender perspective and improving measures in such a way that men and women
can draw the same benefits from them. It involves taking the issue of gender equality into
the mainstream, mobilizing all general policies and measures specifically for this
purpose. In a nutshell, gender mainstreaming is a systematic strategy to promote equal
opportunities for women and men and to break down traditional role patterns.
Although it has gone largely unnoticed by the
general public, this strategy is already being introduced into the organizational
structures of many European Countries. Yet the process is not occurring spontaneously and
entirely voluntarily. The idea is being promoted by, far from gentle, pressure from
Brussels. The gender mainstreaming approach was first anchored in European Law as part of
the Treaty of Amsterdam, which came into force in 1999. All 15 EU member states-and the
future accession countries-committed themselves to an active equal opportunities policy
based principles of gender mainstreaming. In fact, any one applying for support from the
European Structural Fund will only receive financial assistance for programs and projects
that have been planned in accordance with gender mainstreaming criteria. In 1999, the
German government recognized the equality of men and women as an absolute principle and
resolved to promote this commitment with the aid of the gender mainstreaming strategy. It
is an integral part of the program for Modern Government-Modern Administration. IN May
2000, an interministerial working group on gender mainstreaming began work under the
auspices of the federal ministry of family affairs, Senior citizens, women and youth with
participation from all federal government departments. Each ministry has pledged to
provide training for its employees that enables them to consider the needs of gender
mainstreaming and promised to devise one pilot project in which the gender mainstreaming
strategy can be put into practice for the first time. Checklists are being drawn up for
everyday use that are intended to help assess projects with regard to their equality
policy suitability.
"However, gender mainstreaming does not
provide a solution, it initiate a process," says Dr. Susanne Baer of the Humboldt
University in Berlin. The lawyer and gender expert is a member of the research group that
is supporting the federal ministries that is supporting the federal ministries in their
effort to introduce gender mainstreaming. This is how she describes the conventional
women's right work: "Gender mainstreaming is more wide-ranging since it pursues
equality policy at all levels, as a mainstream effort. It is thus a matter for men and
women-and not for individual women's rights officers. And gender mainstreaming pursues a
top-down approach." This means that gender mainstreaming is a matter for senior
managers and is introduced from the top-downwards. No one can evade it.
Gender mainstreaming made its first rather
tentative public appearance as a policy strategy option in 1985 in Nairobi at the UN Third
World Conference on Women. Since then the concept has been highly successful. At the
International level it was first implemented at the Council of Europe at the UN in the
mid-1990s. In particular, Sweden pioneered the concept and began implementing gender
mainstreaming at the national, regional and municipal levels as early as 1994. Norway, the
Netherlands and Finland have also been gaining experience with gender mainstreaming at the
government level since the end of 1990s. In Germany, a number of cities have made
considerable progress with its implementation, and Ver.di, the service sector union, has
become the first union to anchor gender mainstreaming in its statutes. Among the German
Lander, the states, Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony are the trailblazers in this area.
Since July 2001, Saxony-Anhalt has also been home to GISA, Germany's first gender
institute. Under the directorship of Thomas Claus, GISA offers training courses, produces
analyses, and compiles databases. The Institute was selected by the EU as an example of
"best practice" and will probably be used as the model for European Gender
Institute when it is established.
How great is the willingness to accept gender
mainstreaming? "Initially, receptiveness is rather limited-especially among women who
subjectively do's feel disadvantaged at all", explains GISA Director Thomas Claus.
Yet the "aha" experience soon comes. "After all, there are examples of
shortcomings in equality questions almost everywhere. We also receive a positive response
from men when it becomes clear we're not simply involved in promoting women"'.
Gender mainstreaming goes far beyond
conventional women's rights activity-but it by no means makes it superflous. Women's
support programs are also regarded as instruments for modifying the imbalances detected by
gender mainstreaming. Accordingly, the active equality policy of the German federal
government has made significant progress in a number of areas over the past few years. At
the end of April 2002, Christine Bergmann, federal minister for family affairs, senior
citizens, women and youth, published a report on the job and income situation of women and
men, which focused precisely on gender-specific division of the labor market. One finding
was that the proportion of working women in Germany is now higher than ever before. The
minister sums up the situation as follows:; "Women have made significant progress
when it comes to qualifications and training. Nevertheless, there is still a gap between a
women's qualifications and their actual positions and incomes, and career prospects".
The author is an editor of
"Deutschland" magazine. Source the same magazine E4 N3/2002 June/July. Embassy
of Germany in Kathmandu.
Targeting “the innocent”?
Terrorism: No Prohibition without Definition
Boaz Ganor ICT Executive Director ,
Israel
Not only terrorists and their allies use the
definition of terrorism to promote their own goals and needs. Politicians in countries
affected by terrorism at times make political use of the definition of terrorism by
attempting to emphasize its brutality. One of the prevalent ways of illustrating the
cruelty and inhumanity of terrorists is to present them as harming “the
innocent.” Thus, in Terrorism: How the West Can Win, Binyamin Netanyahu states that
terrorism is “the deliberate and systematic murder, maiming, and menacing of the
innocent to inspire fear for political ends.”
This definition was changed in
Netanyahu’s third book, Fighting Terrorism, when the phrase “the innocent”
was replaced by the term “civilians”: “Terrorism is the deliberate and
systematic assault on civilians to inspire fear for political ends.”[
“Innocent” (as opposed to
“civilian”) is a subjective concept, influenced by the definer’s viewpoint,
and therefore must not be the basis for a definition of terrorism. The use of the concept
“innocent” in defining terrorism makes the definition meaningless and turns it
into a tool in the political game. The dilemma entailed by the use of the term
“innocent” is amply illustrated in the following statement by Abu Iyad:
As much as we repudiate any activity that
endangers innocent lives, that is, against civilians in countries that are not directly
involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict, we feel no remorse concerning attacks against
Israeli military and political elements who wage war against the Palestinian people . . .
Israeli acts of vengeance usually result in high casualties among Palestinian
civilians—particularly when the Israeli Air Force blindly and savagely bombs refugee
camps—and it is only natural that we should respond in appropriate ways to deter the
enemy from continuing its slaughter of innocent victims."
Abu Iyad here clarifies that innocent victims
are civilians in countries that are not directly involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict
(implying that civilians in Israel, even children and old people, are not innocent), while
he describes Palestinian civilians as innocent victims.
Proposing a Definition of Terrorism
The question is whether it is at all possible
to arrive at an exhaustive and objective definition of terrorism, which could constitute
an accepted and agreed-upon foundation for academic research, as well as facilitating
operations on an international scale against the perpetrators of terrorist activities.
The definition proposed here states that
terrorism is the intentional use of, or threat to use violence against civilians or
against civilian targets, in order to attain political aims. This definition is based on
three important elements:
1. The essence of the activity—the use
of, or threat to use, violence. According to this definition, an activity that does not
involve violence or a threat of violence will not be defined as terrorism (including
non-violent protest—strikes, peaceful demonstrations, tax revolts, etc.).
2. The aim of the activity is always
political—namely, the goal is to attain political objectives; changing the regime,
changing the people in power, changing social or economic policies, etc. In the absence of
a political aim, the activity in questwill not be defined as terrorism. A violent activity
against civilians that has no political aim is, at most, an act of criminal delinquency, a
felony, or simply an act of insanity unrelated to terrorism. Some scholars tend to add
ideological or religious aims to the list of political aims. The advantage of this
definition, however, is that it is as short and exhaustive as possible. The concept of
"political aim" is sufficiently broad to include these goals as well. The
motivation—whether ideological, religious, or something else—behind the
political objective is irrelevant for the purpose of defining terrorism. In this context,
the following statement by Duvall and Stohl deserves mention:
Motives are entirely irrelevant to the
concept of political terrorism. Most analysts fail to recognize this and, hence, tend to
discuss certain motives as logical or necessary aspects of terrorism. But they are not. At
best, they are empirical regularities associated with terrorism. More often they simply
confuse analysis.
3. The targets of terrorism are civilians.
Terrorism is thus distinguished from other types of political violence (guerrilla warfare,
civil insurrection, etc.). Terrorism exploits the relative vulnerability of the civilian
"underbelly"—the tremendous anxiety, and the intense media reaction evoked
by attacks against civilian targets. The proposed definition emphasizes that terrorism is
not the result of an accidental injury inflicted on a civilian or a group of civilians who
stumbled into an area of violent political activity, but stresses that this is an act
purposely directed against civilians. Hence, the term "terrorism" should not be
ascribed to collateral damage to civilians used as human shields or to cover military
activity or installations, if such damage is incurred in an attack originally aimed
against a military target. In this case, the responsibility for civilian casualties is
incumbent upon whoever used them as shields.
The proposed definition of terrorism also
addresses a lacuna in present international legislation and international conventions, in
order to develop a fundamental tool for international cooperation against terrorism. In
order to achieve as wide an accord as possible, this definition must be founded on a
system of principles and laws of war, legislated and ratified in many countries.
Text courtesy: Embassy of Israel,
Kathmandu. |
