| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The implementation of gender equality needs the support from all policy makers, it is a top-down-process, so it has to involve all key players. Although it took a lot of effort, we managed to do that. In 2016, we can see that all key players are involved and work towards equality (naturally working intersectionally, including cases of multiple discrimination such as age, disability, ethnic background, social status, ….). It is very interesting to see that in many areas gender equality is already in the mainstream, such as city planning, construction, designing public space and planning public transport routes. We also made sure that across the organization there are mixed team meetings to discuss possible further actions to enhance gender equality, which is a very constructive way to bring projects on the way. Thus we can see that our first concept to implement gender equality has led to success. But we also involve external partners (stakeholders, subcontractors, companies, …) thus making sure that gender equality is on the agenda for them as well.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The implementation was a decision of the City government in 2001, the CEO of the administration was appointed the main responsible person for the implementation, on organizational level the Department Women & Equality is responsible for the implementation.
*) all citizens (approx. 300.000): All products and services are designed in a way to meet the different but equal needs of women and men, starting from child care facilities to care homes, social housing, public transport, public parks and playgrounds and so on.
*) employees (approx. 6800): Programs for the enhancement of female careers and for the compatibility of working and private life for both women and men are installed.
*) external partners: External partners are aware that the enhancement of gender equality has to be part of their portfolio in order to be able to obtain public funds. These partners cover a wide range from social organizations to private companies.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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In the beginning the idea was launched by the former city councilor for women affairs, who persistently kept the topic on the agenda and finally convinced the city council to start the process. At first, it took public money to start with the first analyses and surveys, using external expertise. What really got the process started was the participation within a European funded project. This meant that there were funds to cover the first steps. Also very helpful was the international network, so the organization could see that there were other bodies as well striving for gender equality. Further EU funding and building up an international network were essential to make sure that the process was irreversible, notwithstanding the general support of policy makers throughout the time. Also, networking on local, national and international level is essential.
Besides a general training for all executives and designing the process together with them, we also trained special certified gender agents all over the organization (human resources, finances, health care, construction and city planning, …) to make sure that gender expertise is built up. This gender agents network meets on a regular basis, discussing projects, new ideas, progress of the implementation and so on.
Step by step we analyzed all our products and services in terms of gender perspective, which is an ongoing process until today. When at the beginning we had to redesign existing services – which is a lot of effort – now we can see that gender aspects are considered from the beginning on, which shows that in Graz, gender is in many fields of action already in the mainstream.
As for money resources, there is no special gender budget line. The responsible department for the respective product/service has to provide the resources, but in many cases there is not more money needed, it is just differently distributed, sometimes considering gender aspects from the beginning on even reduces cost. Nevertheless, gender budgeting improves transparency, correctness and fairness when using tax payers’ money.
The Department Women & Equality is the controlling unit, making sure that gender aspects (including intersectional diversity aspects as well) are considered and helping other departments, whenever they need support by implementing gender mainstreaming. At the Department Women & Equality we evaluate the progress every two years and document progress and/or exceptional new projects, but also indicate where we still see the need to get going in terms of gender equality.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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*) Graz is member of the Austrian Association of towns. We spread the topic via the various experts’ committees. The Association is a strong partner and supported/supports us through the whole process.
*) We are also in a network with other cities of Austria, where we can spread the topic. In the network we share our experiences, learn from each other and support each other.
*) We initiated a gender equality network with private companies – consisting of 65 companies at present, where we also have equality on the agenda. Thus we make sure that gender equality is also spread outside the administration level.
*) We keep networking on national and international level. For example, the Observatory of the Charter (http://www.charter-equality.eu/) – they have an “Atlas of the Signatories of the Equality Charter, so all signatories can exchange best practices. Or the EIGE – European Institute for Gender Equality (http://eige.europa.eu/).
*) Quite often, we are invited at conferences/meetings in other cities/countries, where we can share our experiences.
*) External partners such as nowa Training Beratung Projektmanagement with their gender competence center (www.nowa.at) brought and bring in their gender expertise and have been consultants since the beginning. The ongoing partnership ensures that all steps of implementation are in accordance to our strategy.
*) European funding at the beginning of the process helped a lot. It provided resources to get the process started but also provided a firm international network, thus supporting work on local level.
*) We have been partners within EU-funded projects since 2003, always bringing in our gender expertise but also constantly learning from others.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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Gender Equality is seen as an interdisciplinary issue, covering all fields of action. Equality is part of all planning processes, which is more efficient than adding it at the end.
It is also more effective to include gender and diversity from the beginning than having to change planning processes, products and services afterwards.
There are many examples of improved accessibility and user satisfaction.
Data analyses show that user behavior has changed accordingly (e.g. as intended more male users in the public libraries, more fathers present at the parents’ meeting center, ….).
Although the implementation process of gender mainstreaming can be seen as irreversible, constant controlling and monitoring is necessary to make sure that all projects stay on track.
As mentioned above, one way to measure this is data analyses. On the other hand, to measure the satisfaction in terms of gender equality is impossible. Citizens simply have to notice that they can use all products and services according to their needs without hindrance. One way to measure this is our regularly conducted life quality survey among the citizens.
Examples:
*) new opening hours of parental councelling centers, raising the attendance quota of fathers,
*) change of offers in public libraries, thereby raising the numbers of male users,
*) new offers for sports and leisure courses for kids, so both girls and boys equally attend the various courses,
*) considering gender aspects in planning and construction, such as public parks, school buildings and underground parking areas,
*) special programs for enhancing female career paths within the organization and raising the numbers of fathers taking parental leave.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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At the beginning of the process resistance was very high, because first of all, hardly anyone knew what exactly gender equality meant and there were misunderstandings about it. Secondly, executives quickly realized that bastions of male power would also be in danger. In 2001 for example, the city had 5 % female executives, in 2016 it is 36%. To overcome resistance it took a lot of training and making sure that gender equality stayed constantly on the agenda. We still train new executives and thus make sure that they know what their responsibilities in terms of equality are.
It takes the support of all policy makers and a clear mandate for keeping the process going. And it takes a structured procedure to make sure that the implementation process can be put into action. We know that there is still a lot to do, but we are definitely on the right way. At present we can clearly feel the conservative backlash that we experience all over Europe, all the more it is important to stay on track and never stop. It has to be clear that gender equality is a management issue, that it is a top-down process and executives are responsible within their working field that the implementation is successful.
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