Gender Mainstreaming in Industrial Relations

By Marianne Grünell and Marian Schaapman

Gender mainstreaming was defined by the Council of Europe in a 1998 report as 'the (re)organisation, improvement, development and evaluation of policy processes, so that a gender equality perspective is incorporated in all policies, at all levels and at all stages, by the actors normally involved in policy-making' .

This comparative study analyses the state of gender mainstreaming in industrial relations in 17 EU Member States and Norway. It examines collective bargaining and its results, as well as the gender mainstreaming policy and infrastructure of trade unions and employers' organisations. Government policy and legislation is dealt with as far as is necessary to provide insight into the national context in which the social partners operate. The study finds that gender mainstreaming is primarily a matter for government regulation and policies, and that not many connections are made between the governmental regulatory/institutional framework and collective bargaining.

However, gender mainstreaming is on the agenda of the central trade union organisations in all countries concerned. Employers' confederations tend to have a less developed mainstreaming approach, to stress different aspects, notably diversity policies, and to prefer tailor-made solutions over general rules. Nevertheless, gender is being mainstreamed into collective bargaining in many countries, most often at the national multi-sector level. These agreements are usually frameworks of aims, to be elaborated at sector or company level, or take the form of recommendations to lower bargaining levels.

European Industrial Relations Observatory