What is Gender Mainstreaming?
The term “Gender Mainstreaming” comes from English and refers to the “integration of the sexes” or “equality policy”. The aim is to successfully implement gender equality at all levels of society. The term “Gender Mainstreaming” was first used at the third UN World Women Conference in Nairobi in 1985.
Ten years later, at the fourth World Women Conference in Beijing, the term was propagated. Gender mainstreaming became widely known in 1997/1999 when the Amsterdam publishing house appointed the concept of the officially recognized focus of the European Union’s gender equality policy.
Gender mainstreaming is often confused with classical women’s policy and interpreted as one and the same, but this is not correct. Gender mainstreaming differs from explicit women’s policy in that within the framework of gender mainstreaming, both sexes, i.e. male and female, are to be integrated equally into the holistic concept design.