Gender Mainstreaming

With Home Office Crime Reduction funding, South Essex Rape and Incest Crisis Centre (SERICC) commissioned Sheffield Hallam University (contact details below) to undertake work on Gender Mainstreaming in the Thurrock area, to be completed between October 2002 and March 2003. The focus of this work was to look at a Gender Impact Assessment in three areas of service provision (Crime and Disorder, Regeneration and Neighbourhoods and Mental Health) all of which involved a variety of local agencies, including voluntary and statutory organisations.

Gender mainstreaming is now recognised as an important way of taking forward equal opportunity policy relating to gender differences. First developed at International and European levels, it is now an important part of UK government policy, central to the strategy of the Equal Opportunities Commission, and a crucial element in the Equality Standard which forward-thinking agencies are striving to achieve. It is a requirement of all EU Structural Funds programmes, and is viewed by most experts in the field as an essential complement to the legislative and positive action strategies which remain vital to the achievement of equality objectives.

This current project offers a unique learning opportunity on how to develop best practice in this field. Sheffield Hallam University has been working with SERICC on several other projects throughout the past year. We already have good information on the progress made to date in the equalities field. However, these other activities have revealed that there is still a long way to go before policy development and implementation is truly gender sensitive, and before local agencies can be really confident that they are enabling women and men to benefit in equal measure from their services. In this, Thurrock is probably no different from other localities, but the project has offered an opportunity to take significant steps forward, to develop a modern, leading approach in a field more crucial than ever before.

Gender Impact Assessment: Seminar Report

Gender mainstreaming does not offer a 'quick fix', but it can enable organisations to develop sound systems and practices which form the platform for excellence.

You can find out more about Gender Mainstreaming and Gender Equality on the Oxfam web site:

• www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/gender

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