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LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE: LESSONS IN MAINSTREAMING EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

SECTION 4 LESSONS IN MAINSTREAMING

This section reviews some examples of mainstreaming. A brief description of the project or development and relevant contextual material is given, followed by a report of some of the issues raised. We look at examples from different levels of government and other public bodies in San Francisco (USA), Australia (including New South Wales) and New Zealand; and within Europe, Flanders (Belgium), France, Italy, Slovenia and Spain. In Sections 5 and 6 we focus upon examples of integrated systems of mainstreaming in the Nordic countries and in Canada.

The first three case studies are drawn from outwith Europe: they report on mainstreaming (or equivalent) developments in the City and County of San Francisco in the United States; Australia at Commonwealth level and in the State of New South Wales; and in New Zealand. Information is largely drawn from responses to our questionnaire survey and supporting documentation.

SAN FRANCISCO (USA)

Mainstreaming work in the City and County of San Francisco is based upon a human rights approach. In 1998 San Francisco passed an Ordinance implementing the principles underlying the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Ordinance provides an approach to eliminate discrimination and ensure equal opportunity. It requires the authorities to examine the different needs, roles, and responsibilities of all persons and then to ensure that the budgets, employment practices, and provision of services reflect those differences. The CEDAW Ordinance also works to promote gender equity and equal access in: economic development and employment; violence against women and girls; and health care. ¹¹⁰

The CEDAW Ordinance broadly defines discrimination against women and girls as any:

Distinction, exclusion, or restriction made on the basis of sex that has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment, or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political economic, social, cultural civil or any other field. ¹¹¹

The following account is based upon the questionnaire response of the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women and the executive summaries of recent and forthcoming progress reports on the implementation of CEDAW. ¹¹² The Commission on the Status of Women (COSW) is a department of the City and County of San Francisco whose purpose is to ensure women and girls equal economic, social, political and educational opportunities throughout the city

Structures and strategies

The Ordinance required the creation of a Task Force to assist with its implementation; a pilot programme of evaluating selected departments for discrimination in the areas of employment practices, budget allocation, and the provision of direct and indirect services; and the development of gender analyses that identify discrimination and provide remedies for such discrimination, if found.

The Ordinance also requires the provision of human rights education for city employees and the integration of CEDAW principles into City policies. Finally, the City seeks to work toward implementing the principles of CEDAW in the private sector through good example and leadership.

The San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women is responsible for local implementation with oversight from an 11-member CEDAW Task Force whose membership is drawn from elected officials, trade unions, government employees, and community advocates with expertise in economic justice, human rights, violence against women, and health.

Departments under the spot light

The first step in the implementation process has been to carry out a gender analysis of selected departments. Two departments were chosen as pilots, Juvenile Probation and Public Works. The Department of Public Works was selected for its large size, non traditional employment opportunities for women, and provision of indirect services (services not provided directly to an individual person), such as street construction and building design. The Juvenile Probation Department provided an opportunity to examine service provision to an increasing population of diverse young women.

The aim of the analysis was for departments to examine - in a proactive way- the different needs of the population they serve and employ and to integrate those needs into their daily work.

Both departments were requested to designate a management-level employee to serve as a liaison to the CEDAW Task Force and the Commission on the Status of Women. International consultants were commissioned to draft guidelines and conduct the analysis. The two departments underwent gender analysis in the summer of 1999. Interviews and briefings were undertaken, documentation gathered and analysed; and budgets and services scrutinised. The analysis was conducted with the help of department staff, unions, and community representatives. It also involved the departments carrying out a self analysis based upon guidelines prepared by the consultants. This strategy was informed by the view that critical self-examination is essential for any long-term change.

The departmental evaluations worked as eye openers as well as providing base line information. According to COSW:

The very process of conducting a gender analysis created an awareness of and sensitivity to gender-related issues in both departments. Most departmental personnel not only were receptive to the exercise and saw it as a proactive approach to eliminate discrimination, but some staff, on their own initiative, have begun to change the way they evaluate their policies and programmes to serve all persons more effectively. Top management at the Juvenile Probation Department expressed that the gender analysis had a decisive impact on their operations. Similarly, staff at the Department of Public Works acknowledged that service delivery may impact on women and men differently. Many staff members of both departments appreciated the vision of incorporating an awareness of human rights with a gender lens into their work, recognizing that they serve a diverse population with many needs. ¹¹³

Both departments were publicly praised for their co-operation. COSW noted that they exhibited great courage and honesty in participating in this process.

Department of Juvenile Probation

The Department of Juvenile Probation (JPD), with a budget of approximately 25.9 million dollars, had already begun to address the different needs of its rapidly growing female population prior to the exercise. Community organisations had been funded to provide gender-specific programmes and the department had a track record of good communication and community links.

However the enquiry found that these programmes were not well publicised amongst staff who regularly worked with young female offenders. Consequently, not all girls who could benefit from the programmes were referred. More training was recommended to ensure that staff were equipped to refer and place clients appropriately. Much of the innovative work with young women was not 'mainstreamed' into departmental budgets but relied upon temporary and insecure funding. The evaluation recommended that the funding and gender programming in each division of the Juvenile Probation Department be integrated into the regular budget process. In addition to sustaining current funding, the evaluation underscored the need for additional or redesigned services for young women, including: gender specific mental health services; support services for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence; parenting advice; pregnancy prevention education, delinquency prevention work with 'at risk' girls: and substance abuse prevention, education, and transition planning.

The report notes that, as a result of extensive outreach, the Juvenile Probation Department's workforce is diverse with respect to both race and gender, and generally reflects the population served by the Department. However it found that women are still under-represented in non traditional employment areas such as engineers and utility workers. The Department plans to conduct greater outreach to remedy this under-representation.

Department of Public Works

The Department of Public Works (DPW), which had less history of gender related work. The department is responsible for maintaining city streets, public areas, and buildings. It has a budget of approximately 115 million dollars and a staff of 1,549. The Department of Public Works has a training department that promotes quality and fairness in the workplace and has done work in relation to staff retention and professional development. However, the report notes that women are under represented in non traditional employment areas.

With few exceptions, the Department of Public Works had not integrated a gender perspective into its service provision. Part of the reason was seen to be that the Department of Public Works mostly provides indirect services (services such as street cleaning that are not provided directly to an individual person) where the gender impact is not immediately obvious and is difficult to address. In addition, many of the Department's projects are client-driven whereby different city departments, also lacking training in gender specific needs, request assistance with their buildings. Consequently, projects will not include a gender element unless the Department of Public Works begins to bring this emphasis and awareness to the client department's attention. COSW note :

It is critical for departments to begin examining the role of gender in the provision of indirect services, most obviously in the area of safety concerns for women. While not all indirect services have a gender component, it is critical to institutionalize the questions so that gender concerns are not overlooked. What are women's needs? What are men's needs? How, if at all, do the needs differ based on gender? How can the concerns of all persons be best incorporated in to the project? Some bureaus were uncomfortable even asking these questions, but without asking these questions, we will never know if there are gender concerns. ¹¹⁴

The report notes that when such questions are raised and taken into account, as for example the Bureau of Architecture has done, innovations are introduced such as additional lighting and visibility where customers enter and leave public facilities.

The Department of Public Works maintains a well-developed system for receiving community input through neighbourhood forums. The evaluation argued that these forums could be expanded to examine and address the impact of its indirect service on women and other traditionally under represented populations. It was also recommended that the Department conduct 'walk throughs' of buildings under construction by males and females who will use the completed facilities.

Historically, the Department of Public Works has been subject to much outside criticism from community groups, Supervisors, and female employees for its lack of a diverse workforce. At present, there is female under-representation in most job categories, particularly the skilled trades, maintenance workers, and technicians. It has begun to address these deficiencies through different schemes, most notably the Project Pull internship programme which challenges stereotypes and provides high school students from groups traditionally under represented in architecture, engineering, and other similar fields the opportunity to work in the Department. The evaluation recommended that further efforts be made and strategies be developed in partnership with other City departments, unions, tradeswomen's associations, and community organisations. The Department was also called upon to expand its family-friendly workplace policies.

Cross-cutting Themes

Several themes emerged from the evaluation which were not deficiencies specific to the departments, but applied city wide. Firstly, there was a widespread lack of knowledge and understanding although it was found that those departments that had implemented some gender specific programmes demonstrated a greater understanding than those departments that did not.

Many department personnel were unaware of the framework of human rights in which all rights and needs are interconnected. Further, the concept of gender discrimination, in contrast to sex discrimination, was quite new to them. When the education process was missing or unsuccessful, it was obvious that the department's analysis suffered greatly. In this respect, the Juvenile Probation Department, with its recent history of funding gender-specific programs, had a head start in understanding the gender analysis process. While the Department of Public Works staff members, in particular the top management, were receptive to participating in this process, the Department analysis suffered from an unfamiliarity with gender issues and human rights work. ¹¹⁵ The report calls for general education on human rights with a gender perspective; together with specific training for staff to learn how to incorporate gender concerns into budget planning, programme and service development, and employment practices.

Secondly, there was an absence of comprehensive data needed to monitor and evaluate the gender equity performance of departments in terms of budgets, services and employment practices. In some cases official department policy called for such information to be collected, but in practice it did not happen. In other cases, information was collected but not analysed or used to inform policy. Neither department in the study could provide detailed information on budget allocations for specific gender purposes.

Thirdly, the report details the need to create a more fair and equitable workforce with family friendly workplace policies and effective recruitment for a diverse workforce.

AUSTRALIA

Australia is notable for its tradition of strong women's policy machinery in government at Commonwealth (national) level and also at State level, particularly New South Wales. In this context, mainstreaming as a concept is viewed with suspicion by women's organisations where it has been seen to have provided the rationale for abolishing or downgrading women's units, services and policies at various governmental levels, by different administrations, at different times. For example, in New South Wales the Coalition Government of 1988-94 adopted a 'mainstreaming' strategy which involved the dismantling of virtually all the specialist units which had developed over the previous decade and a substantial reduction in specialist services for women. Women's issues were simply incorporated into the 'mainstream' with little or no training, awareness raising or institutional delivery mechanisms in place. ¹¹⁶

National Commonwealth Level

The Commonwealth Office of the Status of Women (OSW) was established in 1974 as a Women's Affairs Section in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Office co-ordinates the development of policies to raise the status of women, monitors the impact of Government policies and programmes on women, and is a catalyst for new policies and approaches. As part of the Prime Minister's Department, the Office has access to Federal Government Cabinet Submissions, and is able to advise on the gender impact of matters under Federal Government consideration.

Australian Government departments provide relevant programme data disaggregated by gender in their annual reports and other administrative data. Many departments maintain specific women's programmes or consultation processes. Specialist units in line departments such as the Rural Women's Unit in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Australia, and the Regional and Rural Women's Unit in the Department of Transport and Regional Services play an important role in enhancing linkages and co-operation.

According to the OSW in the period up to 1993 work on gender equality was largely concentrated in the Office which allowed other Federal departments to 'too easily shirk their responsibility to address gender issues in their policies and programmes'. Following a review of women's policy machinery, the government committed all areas of the Commonwealth bureaucracy to consolidating and increasing the gains made toward establishing full equality for women and to 'designing, assessing, monitoring and evaluating policies and programmes in terms of their relative impact upon men and women', that is, mainstreaming. The current Commonwealth Government has reaffirmed this policy of mainstreaming.

The Australian Government believes that gender should be an integral part of public policy development and public sector management. Committed to building a society which allows all Australians to look to the future with confidence, the Government believes that the work of all government departments is improved when they consider the implications of gender on their policies and programmes. ¹¹⁷

The Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women prepares a Ministerial Statement at Budget time which outlines the issues and programmes contained within the Budget which specifically impact on women. The National Women's Non-Government Organisation Funding Programme provides operational funding to national women's non-government organisations. The Government also funds a national women's communication network - National Exchange of Women's Services (NEWS).

Critics of the Commonwealth Government argue that this approach, in practice, has led to reduced resources for women.

NEW SOUTH WALES

The Department for Women (DFW) has not adopted a formal mainstreaming strategy although gender based analysis has been carried out in practice through cross-agency collaboration in certain areas; and work with individual agencies to 'engender' a particular policy or programme. The success of such work is seen to rely upon the promotion of a gender analysis of an issue and strategies to embed such understandings in the practices of government agencies.

There is a clear differentiation between Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) and women's policy work, with EEO responsibility held by the Office of the Director of Equal Opportunity in Public Employment while the Department for Women is responsible for co-ordinating policies and programmes in relation to women, across agencies, and preparing reports for government, giving specific parliamentary support for the Minister, and undertaking particular projects/policy developments, mainly in conjunction with other agencies.

According to the DFW questionnaire response, it is currently working with the Department of Sport and Recreation to develop policies and checklists on making sporting organisations and facilities more gender-inclusive, and doing similar work with Health. Industrial Relations and Education also pursue gender equity strategies that are integrated in various ways with mainstream work although responsibility for the mainstreaming strategies is generally held by the women's units and the DFW sometimes works with them (and sometimes with the mainstream departments).

The DFW is developing an ongoing network of interested agencies to progress work on gender analysis. In 2000 it will finalise development of its gender analysis methodology and training package and testing it with an agency that is not yet applying a "gender filter" to its work. DFW has also provided advice on the collection of appropriate gender disaggregated statistics in a range of policy areas including transport and employment. It has worked with other agencies to propose supplementary statistical survey on part-time and casual work which has provided policy relevant data.

Scorecards

DFW in New South Wales has carried out some preliminary work on a gender equity scorecard as a means of raising awareness and monitoring progress. ¹¹⁸ The scorecard consists of basic measures which show the current state of progress across areas such as income, gender violence, work, health, decision making, education and training, and housing. For example, a draft scorecard on women and work would give scores for factors such as unemployment and participation rates, a comparison of male and female earnings, proportion of job shares and so on. These New South Wales scores would be compared with Australian figures and with those of international leaders. The process of determining and agreeing key indicators with relevant agencies is seen as an important 'eye opening' exercise which also contributes to shared perspectives. Comparisons of NSW data with Australian and international data are seen to assist in drawing lessons from elsewhere. When fully developed, the scorecard could also measure trends over time in relation to a small number of key indicators. These relate to the department's overall policy framework which is informed by CEDAW articles and Beijing strategic objectives (see Section 1).

The DFW has carried out an audit of government agencies' activities and is in the process of analysing its findings to inform a new Action Plan. Specialist staff see New South Wales at an early stage of explicit mainstreaming with the need for further work in the areas of: capacity building; education and training; data and research; gender inclusive and gender specific needs assessment and impact assessments; gender inclusive planning, consultation and communication; and building gender analysis into current processes and practices including planning and budgeting.

Carrying out a gender analysis on a policy or program is a bit like having your blood pressure checked - the dangerous answer is "don't know." If the gender impact is not investigated, there is always a possibility that the policy or program will not work well for women. ¹¹⁹

In considering their new Action Plan, they have been able to draw upon the experience of many years of equalities work which 'retrofits' with mainstreaming.

NEW ZEALAND - GUIDELINES FOR GENDER ANALYSIS

In 1996, the Ministry of Women's Affairs published guidelines to provide a framework for carrying out a gender analysis of policies. ¹²⁰ Gender analysis examines the differences in women's and men's lives, identifies the underlying causes of these differences and aims to achieve positive change for women.

The aim of the guidelines was to help policy-makers to achieve the New Zealand government's stated policy goals in terms of gender equality and the integration of a gender perspective into all policy-making. In addition to the public sector, the guidelines also focused on private companies and organisations, and were meant to help improve management practices and targeting of products and services. In the guidelines, the policy process is divided into six stages: defining desired outcomes, identifying problems and issues, developing options, analysing options and making recommendations, implementing decisions, monitoring and evaluating policies. For each of these stages, the guidelines provide issues to consider a given policy from a gender perspective.

The guidelines were cited in the Council of Europe Report as a good example of a manual meant to help individual policy-makers to integrate a gender perspective in their daily work, however lack of political and bureaucratic support meant that they were not implemented for several years and then only on a voluntary basis. The government of the time was committed to market principles and the guidelines were voluntary. Therefore, Departments were asked to use the guidelines to assess policy but there was no obligation to do so. There has been no official monitoring but it is suspected that usage has been low. ¹²¹ Plans to work with the New Zealand State Services Commission and the Audit Department to develop ways of integrating the expectation of gender analysis into formal accountability documents such as chief executives' performance agreements, and departmental purchase agreements (a formal structure by which Ministers 'purchase' certain outputs such as policy advice, from their departments) did not come to fruition.

The incoming Labour government (November 1999) is reviewing equal opportunities legislation and looking to re-establish equal opportunities structures.

The political environment, the lack of specialist support, policy development and co-ordination is regarded to have contributed to the failure of mainstreaming in the 1990s in New Zealand to move beyond a paper exercise.

We turn now to examples from Europe. Material is drawn from a number of sources including Council of Europe, European Commission and EOC reports, European Commission-funded transnational research projects and responses to our questionnaire survey. ¹²²

EUROPE: MAINSTREAMING IN RURAL AREAS AND REGIONS

The following two examples of European transnational mainstreaming projects are concerned with developing mainstreaming structures and sharing experiences and lessons between smaller councils in mainly rural areas.

Trans-Faire

The Trans-Faire project ¹²³ which originated in the Rhones-Alpes region aims to encourage regional and local authorities in France to pursue policies which will promote gender equality in line with European trends, particularly in the areas of youth employment, professional training and reconciling work and family life. By bringing relevant actors from the public and private sector together (from example council officials and business people) in the place du marche, the project raises awareness of gender issues and allows those involved to share ideas and experiences. Bi-monthly meetings are supplemented by regular working groups, training for senior officials and the distribution of information. The ultimate aim of Trans-Faire is to transfer practices and strategies to other regions. It is part of the EC-funded transnational Ceres project which is co-ordinated by Spanish partners. It has three objectives:

1. To integrate equal opportunities into the development of youth employment,

2. To demonstrate the benefits of using female resources for the modernisation and competitiveness of employment/companies.

3. To aid the reconciliation of work and family life.

Trans-Faire works through a network of regional institutions, including government departments, regional councils, trade unions, politicians, voluntary organisations, professions and training bodies which are committed to integrating equal opportunities into their daily practices. The institutions have to draw up strategic plans outlining how this is to be done. Representatives from these institutions participate in working groups on the application and implementation of these policies. Several tools and techniques are used, including the collation of gender disaggregated statistics, awareness raising and training courses for various groups, including senior government officials, and consultative meetings. The results of the project to date are:

• A report by the Economic and Social Council setting out the conceptual framework for gender equality policies at regional level.
• Policy incorporated in the text concerning the governments strategy for the Rhones Alpes region.
• Several gender equality initiatives provided for in the policies of the project partners.
• Extension of the Trans-Faire network at regional, national and European level.

Problems encountered have included resistance to the approach and difficulty in translating good intentions into practice. On going education and training is seen as important to tackle these problems. In addition, medium-term and long-term projects are seen as crucial to embed gender equality practices.

CERES - Mainstreaming at the local and regional level.

CERES is a project funded by the EU which aims to promote methods and ideas around equal opportunities. Pilot projects run under the CERES umbrella examine ways of implementing mainstreaming as a strategy for incorporating equal opportunities into the policies and actions of organisations. There is an emphasis upon discussion and collaboration with transnational partners is used to develop ideas, share practices and disseminate findings. A manual produced as a result of the project identifies the following criteria for successful implementation of mainstreaming:

• Mainstreaming should be combined, at least until established, with positive action and specialist units;
• Key named individuals with specific responsibility for mainstreaming work;
• Gender disaggregated data and information on which to base policies and programmes;
• Respect for diversity;
• High level commitment;
• Participation and collaboration;
• Monitoring and evaluation.

Work plans should be developed which include:

• Clear determination of priorities;
• Data and information on the reality of women's and men's lives;
• Objectives and timetables;
• Specific actions to be taken;
• Identification of adequate resources.

The CERES project was based in the rural area in the Southwestern region of Madrid in two communities: MISSEN and Las Vegas. The area covers 14 municipalities. It involved both the political and administrative sides of the local councils and boards.The CERES project was promoted by the General Directorate for Women of Madrid region.

Phase one (October 96-July 97) was a mapping exercise of current and possible future policy in the areas of employment and economic development, social welfare and quality of life, and social and cultural activity by the Co-ordinating Committee and the Board of Local Representatives. Phase two (July 97-June 98) comprised of workshops on the application of mainstreaming, securing commitments and proposals from local and regional bodies and sharing experiences with transnational partners.

Specific activities of the project have included meetings for technical and political actors in youth policy to raise their awareness of gender issues, a gender awareness campaign for boys and girls and information and training. These initiatives have created a base from which mainstreaming can be implemented.

The lack of disaggregated data created problems for developing a resource map in phase one, and in phase two gender neutral assumptions about policy, particularly in education and transport, were identified. These were challenged by the introduction of a gender perspective.

Sharing transnational experiences.

An exchange seminar was held to analyse and the CERES and Trans-faire projects and to share findings. The following issues were raised at the seminar:

• The need for active political commitment to mainstreaming;
• The need for commitment to the strategy and to specific plans for achieving it;
• Learning from others within and outside the organisation - the need for cross departmental and cross-institutional working;
• Involving men and women in mainstreaming, demonstrating its importance to both;
• The need to combine mainstreaming with specific positive actions;
• The importance of transferring experiences and of transnational relationships.

Transnational Encounters have been organised to exchange experiences. For example, an exchange of experiences of mainstreaming at the local and regional level was held at Chinchon in May 1998 and was attended by partners of CERES including the EOC (Scotland) and Edinburgh University. Laurence D'Uville, Regional Delegation for Women's Rights, in the Rhone-Alpes region of France highlighted the difficulties involved in moving from specific action projects to an integrated approach to equal opportunities. They include: the misconception of mainstreaming as the end of specific attention or reference to equal opportunities; and second, the tendency for mainstream provision to remain unchanged due to lack of analysis of the purpose of, and need for, specific action programmes. ¹²⁴

Discussion of three projects, 'Trans-Faire', 'Mainstreaming Equal Opportunities in local Government' (EOC, Scotland) and 'The reorganisation of local government and equal opportunities' (Edinburgh University), led to the following conclusions:

• The importance of the local/regional level as an arena for promoting equal opportunities and for creating models for the national level;
• The fundamental importance of political commitment;
• The need for training and development of methods and practical resources for implementing mainstreaming;
• The need to change attitudes and to create new approaches to policy-making;
• The need for a legislative basis for mainstreaming -particularly emphasised by UK speakers;
• The need for equal opportunities commitments to appear in written documents;
• The need for financial resources to develop the strategy to ensure that it does not remain at the stage of good intentions on paper;
• The need to challenge idea that equal opportunities is exclusively of interest to women. To this end it is necessary to base arguments on economic issues and social improvement for the whole of the population.

The participants agreed that it is therefore necessary to:

• Influence political attitudes and practices;
• Acquire political commitments and translate them into real practice;
• Search for mechanisms in order to develop and implement mainstreaming, as well as for evaluating this strategy.

SPAIN

Formal government bodies and policies designed to incorporate gender issues into law and the policy making process have been relatively slow to develop in Spain. A system of agencies, legislation and equality plans is emerging and the Constitution contains several articles which establish gender equality as a value to be pursued and protected. Legislation with regard to equal employment opportunities, employment laws, workers rights with regard to pregnancy, adoption and family responsibilities, are complemented by the work of governmental women's policy machinery, the Instituto de la Mujer.

The Instituto de la Mujer (IM), created in 1983, is the only institution in Spain charged with securing equality between the sexes. Its role is to promote public policies to foster equality between men and women and it is responsible for preparing three year Equal Opportunities Plans. Since the IM became operational there has been an attempt to involve most Ministries in the task of promoting equality for women. The third Equal Opportunities Plan, 1997-2000, includes as one of its ten objectives:

To integrate the dimension of equal opportunities in the policies of the public administration and public institutions and to foster co-operation with both non-governmental organisations and international organisations by mobilising all policies to attain equality. ¹²⁵

However, a recent report on mainstreaming in Spain ¹²⁶ argues that this statement of intention to put into place a mainstreaming policy is not accompanied by any of the political measures needed to enforce it. The report reaches four main conclusions:

1. Spain is moving towards a more modern conception of equality, though there is a lack of clarity and even contradiction within Spanish law with respect to the appropriate approach.

2. The Spanish model presents serious difficulties in terms of achieving the necessary autonomy for improving the position of women within society.

• The role of the IM as the sole formulator of public policies for women is criticised due to its lack of connection with the feminist movement, and in contrast to its practically non-existent role as executor of the policies;
• The position of the IM within the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is criticised as giving the IM insufficient clout;
• The Equal Opportunities plans lack rigour in monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of their proposals.

3. The Spanish government's information policies on women seem to have had little impact, suggesting that the Government has not used its privileged position in relation to the media to women's advantage.

4. The public policies on women's issues have practically excluded the feminist movement.

Two examples of mainstreaming in practice follow, the first drawn from a recent Council of Europe conference on mainstreaming in Athens; the second is drawn from the Sheffield Hallam University transnational project, Criteria for the Success of a Mainstreaming Approach to Gender Equality.

Spain, Action Plan Against Domestic Violence 1998-2000

The intention of this project ¹²⁷ has been to mainstream the issue of domestic violence in order to effect cross agency solutions. A multi agency approach was used with actors from different sectors such as health, education, social work, law, academia and women's organisations. Methods have included awareness-raising and prevention measures, education and training, social resources, health policy, legislation and legal practice, and research.

The project was co-ordinated by the Institute for Women's Affairs at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. The Ministries of Education and Culture, Internal Affairs, Justice, and Health have also taken part, as well as the Autonomous Communities and women's NGOs with experience of violence-related projects. Responsibility for implementation lay with the Institute and the ad hoc Ministerial Departments of the Ministries involved, especially the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

The project involved all policy levels, and included analytical, educational, consultative and participatory tools as well as research tools, though no details of these are given. Implementation of the project has involved politicians, academic specialists, administrators, researchers, experts, NGOs, mass media, and the police force. Special training as part of the plan has been given to education personnel, police officers, health personnel, social service professionals, and the justice system personnel.

Evaluation was carried out after the first year of implementation. The evaluation process made use of the following techniques and indicators: documentary analysis, interviews with key actors, a country-wide questionnaire measuring the results of the plan (a second such questionnaire will be carried out at the end of the Action Plan). Responsibility for monitoring lies with the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry, via the Women's Institute. Each year the needs, implementation and results are evaluated. The methods for monitoring included: information and reports of personnel involved, personal interviews with the persons responsible for the programmes, discussion groups with the targeted groups, other information sources, records, questionnaires, and the like.

Spain: The Fundacio Maria Aurelia Capmeny.

The following example is based on research conducted by the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University in collaboration with its partners on mainstreaming. The research was commissioned by DGV of the European Commission and carried out in 1998-9. The case study of the Fundacio Maria Aurelia Capmany is best understood as an example of how an organisation committed to promoting gender equality can create networks and raise awareness of gender issues which will facilitate, or create an 'enabling environment' for, the implementation of a mainstreaming approach. ¹²⁸

The Fundacio Maria Aurelia Capmany is a non governmental organisation in Barcelona which was set up by the UGTC (Union General de Treballadors de Catalyunya - General Workers Trade Union) with the key aim of pursuing gender equality. It conducts research into women's paid employment and then promotes ways to reconcile work and family life through the development of pilot projects and through lobbying.

The Fundacio is an independent network, its members or 'patrons' represent both individuals and organisations, including all tiers of government in Barcelona, and a link to the autonomous government of Catalonia. The Fundacio is named after the late socialist feminist Maria Aurelia Capmany, who has become a 'symbolic figurehead' around which the 'patrons' have come together. The network is a research, information and discussion centre, which provides legal and employment advice, support to women's groups and trade union activities. It has developed ten projects over three years in the areas of employment and new technologies, working conditions, emancipation and participation, and training. The Fundacio has developed and fostered conditions which will facilitate the implementation of a mainstreaming strategy in Catalonia by raising awareness of equality issues, conducting research, disseminating information, and creating support. Through the network of 'patrons' it has created focal points within other organisations which can be used to support and bolster mainstreaming work within these organisations.

IRELAND: BRINGING EQUALITY OUT OF THE MARGINS

Mainstreaming is increasingly accepted as necessary to bring equality 'out of the margins' in policy making in the Republic of Ireland. This coincides with the expansion of equality legislation and the inclusion of wider social groups, including women's organisations in the policy making process. ¹²⁹

New employment legislation in Ireland has extended the scope of equality protection beyond gender to include amongst other factors, age, race and disability and provides for the statutory prohibition of sexual harassment. The Employment Equality Act, together with the Equal Status Bill 1999, will (if implemented) extend equality protection beyond the sphere of employment to education and provision of goods and services. However, actual changes to the situation of women and other disadvantaged groups have been limited. Horizontal and vertical segregation within the workforce continues to exclude women from the benefits of Ireland's economic success, and this exclusion is exacerbated by women's under representation in policy-making processes and by the gendered dimensions of poverty.

An increasing interest in proofing procedures as a method of integrating equalities is evident and a number of administrative procedures for 'proofing' policies for their impact on women have been introduced as part of a mainstreaming approach.

The National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) a non governmental organisation, which represents 150 women's organisations and around 300,000 women, has successfully lobbied the government for commitment to develop statistical methods to evaluate unpaid work and for the development of equality proofing. These commitments were included in Partnership 2000, the agreement drawn up between the national government and the National Economic and Social Forum (NESF), (a social partnership membership of which has expanded from traditional groups such as business, farming and trade unions to include voluntary organisations such as women's groups).

Equality Proofing

The NESF has defined the key features of an effective equality proofing procedure as: ¹³⁰

• identification of equality objectives and setting equality targets;
• development of data gathering processes adequate for monitoring the achievement of these targets;
• establishing the equality implications of any particular policy or practice prior to its implementation;
• development and implementation of strategies to achieve equality targets;
• creation of independent monitoring systems to analyse and review progress; and
• regular public reporting on progress.

Guidelines for gender proofing within the context of the EU Structural Funds have also been developed and a Working Group on Gender Proofing is currently preparing detailed guidelines for gender proofing. In addition, Poverty proofing guidelines were developed in 1998 for all legislative and 'significant' policy proposals. Consideration is currently being given to the introduction of a comprehensive system of equality proofing in policy making, to incorporate perspectives of race, disability and sexual orientation. ¹³¹

However, many essential features of an effective proofing procedure are seen as lacking. No additional financial resources nor provision for training have been committed and consultation with outside bodies is not a requirement or even a general practice. Cabinet confidentiality requirements prevent impact assessment statements coming under public scrutiny, making it difficult to assess their adequacy and objectivity. A recent report into mainstreaming initiatives in Ireland commented:

Progress to date (1999) has not moved beyond the development of 'women-friendly' policies on an ad hoc and piece-meal basis. Women continue to be under-represented as agents in the formation and implementation of public policy. Although some moves have been made toward a more participatory approach to policy-making, much remains to be done if these changes are to translate into concrete improvements for women. Gender proofing has not yet developed into a systematic and effective mechanism for promoting gender equality. Women continue to be treated as an homogenous groups and the particular interest of women from disadvantaged groups are often overlooked. The absence of gender disaggregated data in many areas and the failure to develop effective monitoring procedures makes it difficult to assess the impact of existing equality strategies. ¹³²

According to the report, advances in partnership working and consultation have been undermined by the under-representation of disadvantaged groups and a lack of transparency in Government. These factors have been exacerbated by the lack of political will to commit resources to support mainstreaming and policy proofing work.

There are few opportunities for any other than the Government of the day to propose policy and legislation. Furthermore, consultative and partnership processes are affected by the existence of a two-tier system within the partnership process: the community and voluntary sector are excluded from the more influential NESC (National Economic and Social Council) and are therefore not involved in all negotiation, given only an 'invitation to comment'. This 'two-tier' system has a gendered impact as women are under-represented amongst traditional social partners, such as farming, business and trade unions.

Commentators argue that the merging of the Department of Equality and Law Reform with the Department of Justice in 1997 marked the marginalisation of equality issues within the government; Equality and Law Reform is viewed as the junior partner within the Department. This marginalisation was confirmed by the loss of full Ministerial representation for equality issues at Cabinet level. The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality and Women's Rights is free to consider any issues of law or policy relating to gender equality, yet again the inclusion of the Justice portfolio is seen as reflecting a lack of understanding of the complexity and significance of equality issues. ¹³³

Commentators stress that many of the weaknesses of mainstreaming in Ireland are mirrored elsewhere. They call for strengthening of the strategy in order to move beyond a mere 'tick and dash' paper exercise. ¹³⁴

ITALY, "MAINSTREAMING RECIPES"

This example highlights the dissemination of good practices of mainstreaming. ¹³⁵It aims to promote mainstreaming in European local authorities through the creation of a 'cook book' of good practices which can be used by small municipalities who do not have the 'know-how' to implement mainstreaming. The project focuses on urban and social policy. The project was initiated by Sicilian municipal council of Arcidonna in the Province of Palermo. Arcidonna along with its local and transnational partners and the Project leader is responsible for implementation. The project is funded under the EU's Fourth Medium Term Action Programme and started in December 1998. It has two stages, the first ran until July 1999 and was concentrated at the local level. The second stage runs from October 1999 to July 2000 extending the work to the national and international level and will include an interactive web-site for local administrators in Europe. While the project ends in July 2000, it is intended that the process of mainstreaming in local authorities should continue after this point.

The project uses consultative and participatory tools, though these are not specified in the project report. Educational and training tools are being developed, which draw upon European and international training materials and modules, including the International Labour Organisation (ILO) module on gender policy planning. Training programmes are to be undertaken in the second stage of the project, including short seminars for local administrators. The Italian principle of partire da se (starting from oneself) informs all training work. The project has also involved participants in 'study visits' abroad.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), equal opportunities experts, politicians, and local administrators are taking part in the project. Responsibility for monitoring the project lies with a specialist group in Arcidonna, together with some of the European partners (including Stockholm and Berlin).

Some successes have already been reported, with many Sicilian municipalities copying the recipes. There is, however, no information given on the how well these recipes have worked when implemented in these different authorities. According to the project organisers, many other Italian municipalities are willing to join the project, and European partners are spreading the idea in their regions.

In terms of problems encountered, there was a delay to the start of the project caused by changing political circumstances. Elections in the Province of Catania created insurmountable financial problems and thus the Province could not be a co-financier as originally intended. The Province of Palermo was thus left as sole financier and 'a certain diplomacy' was needed to convince it to take this role. ¹³⁶

NETHERLANDS/ FLANDERS: GENDER IN BALANCE

Netherlands is commonly recognised as being advanced in terms of gender equality policy and the Dutch Gender Impact Assessment Tool was discussed in Section 2. It was noted earlier that Flanders (an autonomous region of Belgium) has looked to the Netherlands for ideas and tools for mainstreaming. This example describes the work of Dutch experts in devising a mainstreaming tool for the Flanders government in respect of Human Resource Management. ¹³⁷

The Ministry of the Flemish Community made a commitment to integrating its equal opportunities programme into overall personnel management in 1997 and undertook a project to reorganise its Human Resource Management. The project involved gaining the support of top management, increasing gender knowledge and expertise within the organisation, using analysis and consultation to design an approach for implementation, and evaluation of the project in order to define new action steps for 2000 and beyond. It is intended that the government department will take responsibility for anchoring a gender perspective in Human Resource Management as an ongoing process.

The Equality Unit at the Ministry of Emancipation Affairs took the initiative to start a collaborative project between the Ministry of the Flemish Community and gender experts at the University of Nijmegen. The project, involving academic researchers, top management, middle management and the Equality Unit, ran from January 1998 to March 1999 and was driven by an interdepartmental group on personnel policy. Middle managers were directly involved in implementation, using the instruments designed, changing procedures, implementing projects and organising seminars and training. The project has been supported by the Minister responsible for personnel policy at the Ministry.

The project has six steps constituting a mix of analytical, educational, and participatory research and intervention techniques detailed in the following figure.

Steps One and Two constitute a joint definition of the gender problem in the organisation. The mission statement is the result of consultation between top bureaucrats and researchers. Steps Three and Four involved the participation of middle management, the staff normally involved in designing and implementing personnel policy and a subsequent analysis by researchers. In Steps Five and Six, consultation is the basis for the researchers to tailor the analysis to a proposed set of instruments and tools to be used in the future.

Figure 4.1 The Dutch/Flemish Balans model

Source: Council of Europe (1999).

Three types of techniques and tools were used: analytical tools included SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analyses, self-assessments, checklists, criteria for gender expertise, research projects, and a report based on sex-disaggregated data. Educational tools included a seminar on part-time work in leading positions and training. So far, training has consisted of a short session for top management in 1996, but extra training will be organised as one of the action steps. The overall design of the project was participatory involving researchers and staff in a joint learning initiative. Focus groups and a gender advisory network were also used.

It is not clear from the example what understanding of gender analysis is used. It appears that gender neutrality is seen as the goal, in which case this example does not seem to fit with the idea of mainstreaming as a transformatory strategy. ¹³⁸ In the example, the emphasis lies on the reorganisation of Human Resource Management, to ensure gender neutrality in processes and procedures. The aim is to (re)distribute resources in a balanced - that means fair - way, and to counterbalance gender bias.

The Equality Unit at the Department of Emancipation Affairs, was able to provide expertise on gender relations. There was little to no expertise elsewhere within the Flanders government.

According to project organisers, problems encountered related to difficulty in persuading staff of the relevance of gender to their work. It was noted that some participants were apparently happy with mainstreaming as 'window-dressing'. A lack of recognition of the role of the organisation in the (re)production of gender inequalities stemmed from a reluctance to accept structural and cultural influences on what were considered personal choices. Participants who indicated that they had learned about the gender problematic from the self-assessments either had received previous training on the subject, or were very open-minded and interested in the subject. Other participants indicated that they still did not see the relevance of gender to their work. There was a recognition that more needed to be done in the areas of education and training to tackle this resistance. It is recognised that 'sensitising' the participants to the subject will require a longer and more intensive process than the completion of a questionnaire and the attendance of two meetings.

The administration in Flanders has been undergoing restructuring during this period. In circumstances of internal upheaval, implementation has been hard to maintain and there have been few stable structures in which to embed mainstreaming.

GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN SLOVENIAN GOVERNMENT POLICY DEVELOPMENT

Slovenia provides an interesting example of mainstreaming in government. ¹³⁹Few of the perceived prerequisites or enabling conditions for mainstreaming equalities exist in Slovenia and there is little experience or tradition of equalities work. The government has therefore had to develop knowledge and expertise in this area as the project has progressed and training has played an important role. Awareness raising is being facilitated by the collection of base line data on the current situation of women and men in Slovenia. Gender expertise is also being developed amongst national government and external experts.

The project, funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Women's Policy Fund, aims to establish gender mainstreaming as a standard tool for policy-making in the Government of Slovenia, thus ensuring that a gender perspective is integrated into the entire policy development process, policy implementation and monitoring. This is to be done through sensitisation, capacity-building, and institutional development. In the initial phases, three Ministries are taking part: Education and Sports, Family and Social Affairs, and Labour. Expected results include:

• Among policy-makers, an increased understanding of, and sensitisation to, the importance of gender mainstreaming and equality issues, and development of the skills and knowledge required to put these into practice.
• A government "statement" on the integration of a gender perspective in policy development.
• The formulation and adoption of a gender mainstreaming plan which will include pilot projects.
• The creation of an organisational structure which will ensure full implementation, monitoring and evaluation of pilot projects.

The project is divided into two phases, the aim of the first phase is to gain acceptance of the strategy of mainstreaming in Slovene government policy development. The next goal will be for each ministry involved to prepare and implement a pilot project for the next year.

There is a mainstreaming co-ordinator who is responsible for the daily management of the project, including recruitment and supervision of the national and international consultants, organisation of local workshops and seminars and training. The Women's Policy Office is responsible for monitoring and reporting to the Slovenian Government and the UNDP.

Political Will

Political will was demonstrated through the signing of a 'contract' of co-operation by the three ministries involved and the Women's Policy Office. The ministries also appointed senior public servants as members of the inter-ministerial working group. This group has five members, two from the Ministry of the Interior, and one each from the Ministries of Education and Sports, Family and Social Affairs, and Labour. These members do not have experience with equality work, but were chosen due to their personal interest in the issues. Political will is further conveyed through national gender equality policy. Women are poorly represented in politics and decision-making processes, therefore a national strategy for the participation of women in politics is being developed.

The project employs policy tools and techniques in the three main categories: analytical, including: statistics, surveys, research and guidelines, educational: awareness-raising and training courses, national and foreign experts, the Council of Europe final report, and consultative and participatory: a working group, a strategy to increase women's participation in political decision-making, seminars and hearings.

The initiative for the project was taken by the Women's Policy Office and a foreign expert appointed by UNDP. Responsibility for implementation lies with the Women's Policy Office and the inter-ministerial working group. The main actors involved are the three key Ministries and the director of the Women's Policy Office, and other politicians, academic specialists, domestic and foreign experts and administrators.

According to the project co-ordinators, the results so far appear to be positive, including an understanding of the issues by the working group, the 'sensitisation' of a number of state administrators to the importance of gender equality and mainstreaming, and the formulation of a national mainstreaming plan. The ministries are starting discussions on equality issues and are willing to send people for training.

General training on equality and the situation of women and men in Slovenia was given to members of the inter-ministerial working group and administrators from various ministries. In addition, members of the inter-ministerial group and the Women's Policy Office received training on how to integrate gender mainstreaming into their work through workshops. There are plans to give further training to the inter-ministerial group on gender impact assessment methods and training of gender experts on monitoring procedures, tools and analytical techniques.

Difficulties encountered included problems in securing the initial co-operation of Ministries which resulted in the replacement of the Ministry of Finance by that of Education and Sports in the project. Gaining co-operation needed intensive persuading and strong arguments form the Women's Policy Office. There were also time resource problems, with only the personal commitment from the working group helping overcome the constraints on their availability to work intensively on the implementation of the project.

AUSTRIA: THE 'FRAUENWERDSTADT' MODEL PROJECT.

The following example is based on research conducted by the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University in collaboration with its partners on mainstreaming. ¹⁴⁰The research was commissioned by DGV of the European Commission and was carried out in 1998-9.

This case study is an example of a positive action project, the consequences of which were to mainstream the needs of women and men into future policy making and planning processes. Therefore the project was an awareness-raising exercise which led to the mainstreaming of gender, although the mainstreaming strategy was not adopted in the project itself.

The 'Frauenwerkstadt' is a model housing project, which involved women in the planning, design and management of building a residential area in Vienna which placed women's everyday needs at the centre of its objectives. ¹⁴¹ The idea originated from a mainstream project of the Frauenburo, the Vienna Municipal Department for the Promotion and Co-ordination of Women's Affairs, to build women-friendly housing. The Frauenburo follows a policy of making consideration of women's issues routine and normal in every department of the city council, and combining this with women-adapted policy-making to address disadvantage and discrimination.

A seminar and political campaign on 'women and the city' which included an exhibition and a questionnaire to the public, had raised awareness of the issues around gender and planning, and resulted in the creation of the Frauenburo. These activities raised the political acceptance of women's issues on mainstream agendas. The project was able to exploit a favourable context of urban housing expansion. Apart from the condition of using only women managers and women architects, it followed mainstream procedures and budgets. The project was able to secure the support of the key actors, including politicians and the Executive City Counsellors for Housing, Planning and Finance, this was facilitated by the commitment and reputation of the head of the Frauenburo, who was herself a town planner. Operating within mainstream regulations created problems for the project and led to compromise on some elements.

The project has succeeded in raising awareness of gender issues in planning and bringing these onto the mainstream agenda, it has also changed the organisational culture, and increased the number of women regularly short listed for architectural competitions. Not all of the project's criteria were met, this is put down to a lack of time, overly bureaucratic regulations and non-compliance by the builders.

SUMMARY

The examples discussed above represent a cross-section of mainstreaming in action. They vary enormously in scale and content, some are small collaborative pilot projects whilst others have involved the implementation of integrated systems within government. Some are relatively new to equalities work, others have long track records. All the examples are primarily concerned with gender equality, although some also include a 'diversity' perspective.

In most of the case studies, work on mainstreaming is at a preliminary stage involving awareness-raising, establishing the need for mainstreaming, building support and alliances, and sharing ideas and good practice. In many cases there has also been the need to establish baseline data, such as gender disaggregated statistics; or carry out auditing of services, policies and departments. In some instances, positive action has been used in creating enabling conditions for successful mainstreaming. For example, to increase the number of women in decision-making positions or, as a tool for awareness-raising and evaluation. An example of the latter are the planning projects carried out in Madrid and Vienna which raised awareness of the specific needs of women in this area amongst the mainstream policy-makers.

The case studies demonstrate much imagination and innovation at all levels, with the development of collaborative working, the establishment of networks, the development of new tools and an emphasis upon lesson learning and lesson sharing. The following strengths can be drawn from the case studies:

• Political will is crucial to progress in most of the case studies. Slovenia provides an instructive case of a country with no track record in equalities work and lacking most of the commonly accepted prerequisites to mainstreaming. The Slovenian government has started from scratch but, with high level political will, a committed 'driver' as co-ordinator and the proactive support of the UN has already effected some change. Local authorities in Spain and France provided political leadership which drove collaborative working.
• Collaborative working: there are examples of collaborative working across public, private and voluntary sector in Spain, France and Italy bringing equality debates to the heart of sometimes small rural communities. These include networks of regional institutions, including government departments, regional councils, trade unions, politicians, voluntary organisations, professions and training bodies which are committed to integrating equal opportunities into their daily practices.
• Awareness raising and training: much innovative work has taken place to establish the need for mainstreaming. The Fundacio Maria Aurelia Capmany, in Barcelona demonstrates the effectiveness of a small NGO in working as a catalyst to mainstream discussion and debate on reconciliation of work and family life. International training modules have been adapted for use by Sicilian municipalities along with other 'recipes' for mainstreaming.
• Tools: examples include, the New Zealand guidelines for gender-based policy appraisal which are seen internationally as a model, although they have rarely been used by policy makers at home. The CERES -Transfaire project has produced a manual for local and regional government. The New South Wales equity scorecard works as an important 'eye opener'. Work is on-going in Ireland to develop gender and generic equality-proofing tools.
• Participatory approach: participation and consultation are, of course, regarded as important mainstreaming tools. A range of internal and external actors have been involved in case study initiatives. For example, women's groups have played a key role in promoting mainstreaming in Ireland; In San Francisco a CEDAW Task Force comprises of elected officials, trade unions, government employees, and community advocates with expertise in economic justice, human rights, violence against women, and health. Ownership of initiatives is promoted by involvement, for example, the Italian principle of partire da se (starting from oneself) informs all training work in Sicily; in San Francisco, departments carried out their own self-analysis as part of an audit process.
• UN and European contexts. We see the importance of UN and European contexts in a number of the case studies. For example, San Francisco has built its mainstreaming programme around the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); the UN has played a proactive role in supporting mainstreaming in Slovenia. All the European case studies are informed by work carried out by the Council of Europe (see Sections 1 and 2) and many of the projects have been funded or otherwise supported by the European Commission.

A number of common difficulties have been experienced in most or all of the case studies. These relate to: shortfalls in political will and bureaucratic support; lack of gender balance in decision making; lack of gender data, specialist knowledge and tools; lack of resources; ineffective structures; and vulnerability to change. These weaknesses make it difficult, in some cases, to move beyond mainstreaming as a mere 'tick and dash' paper exercise.

• Lack of, or faltering, political will. For example, mainstreaming tools may be developed but seldom or never used (e.g. New Zealand and Flanders). In Ireland progress is viewed as being undermined by lack of political will to commit resources to support mainstreaming and policy proofing work.
• Bureaucratic resistance was encountered to some degree in most of the case studies. For example, in Flanders, it was hard to persuading staff of the relevance of gender to their work and many officials were happy with a policy as 'window dressing'; In Slovenia resistance resulted in the replacement of the Ministry of Finance by that of Education and Sports in the project.
• Lack of gender balance in decision-making is seen to constrain the development and promotion of mainstreaming in many of the country examples. In Slovenia a national strategy to promote the participation of women in politics is being developed.
• Lack of expertise, information and tools. The need for improved gender disaggregated statistics and other data was identified in many cases. Tools for monitoring and evaluation were seen as a common weakness.
• Lack of resources.
• Lack of effective structures. The need to embed mainstreaming strategies in effective structures was identified. The preliminary stage - and temporary nature - of many of the projects made it difficult to establish such structures.
• Vulnerability to political and organisational change. In several cases, political changes or organisational restructuring have resulted in the dilution or stalling of mainstreaming.

There are few examples of holistic or strategic mainstreaming in the cases discussed; San Francisco would probably be the clearest case (see Section 2). Much of the experience is of piecemeal developments and one-off or pilot projects. The development of training and tools has sometimes taken place in the absence of more systematic structures and therefore should be seen as preliminary initiatives rather than as evidence of mainstreaming in action. The conceptual confusion about mainstreaming - is it a strategy? is it a method? is it just a buzz word we use to relabel what we are already doing? - is also evident in some the materials. The examples here also reinforce the findings of other research that, whilst, advances have been made in developing tools, there has been less progress in developing overall strategies and in deepening understanding of the conceptual issues underpinning mainstreaming.

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