Step 2: Plan for a gender equal organisation

2.1 All public actors have a social responsibility

All public actors have a social responsibility where the organisation needs to be efficient, factual, impartial and prevent discrimination. Through gender mainstreaming, we take steps towards a more inclusive future, where no one is left out and where every citizen can participate fully in the construction of society.

Requirements for efficiency, impartiality and non-discrimination in Sweden

"According to § 3 of the authority ordinance (2007:515), the authority's management must ensure that the authority's operations are conducted efficiently. According to Section 5 of the Administration Act (2019:900), the activities of authorities must be objective and impartial. In order to fulfil the requirements of the authority regulation and the administrative law, the authority's activities must therefore be carried out equally and non-discriminatory. According to chapter 1, section 2, first paragraph, and section 8, the form of government, the general public, including state authorities under the government, must prevent discrimination based on, among other things, gender."

Gender equality is both about gender distribution, i.e., how many women and men are represented in different contexts, and about how norms and values ​​affect the life conditions of girls and boys, women and men in all areas of society. Promoting gender equality can therefore be about contributing to equal gender representation and/or making visible, challenging and changing norms and values ​​so that power and conditions become more equal.

Gender equality work needs to take place in the core functions, in order to have an impact and lead to results and effects. The planning of the operations of the organisation needs to take place in such a way that it provides equal conditions for different groups of women and men. Therefore, all steps in the planning, from environmental monitoring and current situation analyses to concrete operational planning, need to be done with a gender equality perspective. In addition, special gender equality measures or priorities within the business may be needed to create an equivalent outcome or contribute to solving a gender equality problem.

Gender mainstreaming should be seen as long-term development work and involves more or less complex changes. These are often difficult to plan from a to z. A flexible and reflective approach is needed in the implementation, where lessons are continuously taken in and working methods are developed and reconsidered. The overall goals becomes the handrail for the work.

The role of authorities and universities in gender equality work

• Public actors have a responsibility to run an operation and organisation that is equal for all citizens regardless of gender.

• Many public actors are social actors and have a responsibility to use their mandate and room for action to contribute to equality in society.

• Public actors are employers and need to ensure that employees and job seekers are treated equally. As employers, public actors must also promote gender equality and equal rights and opportunities.

2.2 An overall orientation helps you go in the right direction

Having a clear direction for gender equality work, which points out how your organisation can contribute to gender equality, is important in order to focus the work and direct it where it will have the greatest effect. Quite simply – it involves doing the right things. It is also important to create understanding and motivation throughout the organisation as to why you should work with gender equality.

An important point of departure for the work with gender mainstreaming is that it is aimed at solving equality problems. The orientation therefore needs to respond to the gender equality problems that exist, in the authority's or the institution's activities, as well as in society.

You design the overall orientation by:

• Taking as a starting point the authority's or educational institution's overall mission in the field of gender equality: Laws and regulations, instructions, government mandates, strategies and action plans that are relevant to gender equality.
• Investigating which overall gender equality problems exist, in the business or in society, within the authority's areas of responsibility.
• Prioritising which of the overall gender equality problems should be prioritised, based on your role and your overall assignments and tasks.
• Formulating overarching goals for the work that will contribute to solving the gender equality problems.
• Taking advantage of experiences from previous gender equality work and skills that exist in the organisation, making use of knowledge about gender equality problems that are already known.
• Anchoring the orientation in the authority's or the institution's various areas of activity. It can be good to involve people whom you work with in different areas to make use of the knowledge available in the organisation and ensure that the direction is well substantiated.

2.3 Identify gender equality issues

Why should you work with gender mainstreaming? What problems will you solve? In order to achieve results and effects, it is important to have a clear why, that is, a common understanding of which gender equality problems the work should contribute to solving. An important first step is to acquire knowledge of what gender equality problems exist, in society, in the sector and in the organisation.

Take as a point of departure the gender equality policy goals and analyses linked to these. Make use of environmental monitoring and current research. Both qualitative and quantitative surveys and data are needed to create a picture of the problems. In your cooperation with other authorities or other actors, you can identify common gender equality problems.

You can find information about gender equality problems at the societal level in:

• The gender equality policy letter Power, goal, authority - feminist politics for an equal future
• Gender-disaggregated statistics and knowledge bases from other authorities, for example SCB's statistics on gender equality
• The gender equality authority's follow-up of the equality policy goals
• Reducing the gap, Measures for equal lifetime incomes, SOU 2022:4
• National strategy for preventing and combating men's violence against women
• Knowledge of violence against persons with disabilities: Violence against persons with disabilities - MFD
• Research with an equality perspective within your sector

Most organisations run the risk of contributing to recreating and maintaining unequal conditions, conditions and opportunities through their own operations, if they do not actively work with gender equality. This is because unequal norms around gender are recreated and maintained in our operations, for example, in regulations, systems and working methods, but also in meetings between people. In order to gain knowledge about gender equality problems in your sector and organisation, you need to do fact-based research. By carrying out surveys and surveys, authorities and educational institutions have identified unreasonable differences in their operations.

Identify equality problems in your sector and business by:

• Taking part in research and reports that describe the sector's common and overall inequality problems
• Using previous follow-ups of gender equality work at your own authority or university and thereby gaining a picture of which gender equality problems remain
• Analysing gender-disaggregated statistics and other quantitative data
• Compiling quality and operational follow-ups
• Examining governing documents, support materials or other things that govern the authority's activities
• Collaborating with other authorities, universities and/or actors to jointly identify gender equality problems
• Gathering knowledge from employees in a systematic way

The aim at this stage is to identify gender equality problems on an overall level in order to develop a direction and overall goals for your gender equality work in the next step.

At a later stage, you may need to do more concrete investigations of gender equality problems at different levels in the business in order to identify concrete activities and development areas. If existing data does not give you a good picture, you need to initiate new mapping and analyses. If your follow-up systems and similar do not make gender visible, these need to be developed.

Identify gender equality issues by examining how resources are distributed

Examine how the authority's resources are distributed. Does the distribution of resources contribute to equality, or are resources distributed in such a way that equality is opposed? Read more about gender equality budgeting at ESV Forum.

More accurate picture of the problem with more perspectives – intersectional analyses

There are differences within the groups of women and men, for example based on age, functional ability and background, nor does everyone define themselves as female or male. In order to get an accurate picture of gender equality problems, it is important to examine how other systems of power, such as ethnicity, age, geography or socio-economic conditions interact. This is called doing intersectional analyses.

It is not necessary or possible to examine all orders of power at the same time. Rather, it is a matter of the identified problems, and the context in which they exist, governing which power perspectives are most relevant to investigate. It can be good to ask yourself which perspectives are included in the analysis and which are omitted, and why. Even if systems of power partly function in the same way, specific knowledge is also needed about how the various systems of power are expressed, for example, funkophobia (abusive treatment or discrimination against people with disabilities), racism and more specifically, for example, Afrophobia, etcetera.

Read more about intersectionality.

In order to contribute to more efficient governance and a more qualitative implementation of the work with gender mainstreaming, the organisation can advantageously clarify what the various tasks and requirements in the field of gender equality look like and what synergies exist between them. Below are examples of tasks that can and should be linked here when planning and then implementing the gender mainstreaming work.

Link gender mainstreaming and violence prevention work

Part of the gender equality policy is about preventing and combating men's violence against women. There is a national strategy and a targeted action programme for this in Sweden. The national strategy was drawn up by the government to strengthen the efficiency, quality and long-term nature of the work, and a number of strategic authorities and actors are designated to translate the strategy into action. The strategy highlights two factors in particular – the importance of preventive measures and men's participation and responsibility in the work against violence. In the strategy there are four overarching objectives:

1.  An expanded and effective preventive work against violence

2.  Improved detection of violence and stronger protection and support for abused women and children

3.  More effective law enforcement

4.  Improved knowledge and method development. The Swedish Gender Equality Agency is tasked with making the strategy known, increasing coordination and contributing with knowledge, methods and support in implementation. (Read the English summary of our violence prevention guide, Nothing to wait for).

The conditions for achieving the objectives in the national strategy increase if the activity does so as part of the work on gender mainstreaming. You can read more in the Swedish Agency for Public Management's report Men's violence against women. The preventive work to counteract men's violence against women is particularly likely to succeed when it is carried out as a part in the work with gender mainstreaming.

The violence pyramid is a model that shows how different forms of violence are connected in a society. It places more severe forms of violence at the top of the pyramid, because they are less common than milder forms of violence, which end up lower down the pyramid. This is the type of gender inequality problem that gender mainstreaming aims to solve by creating long-term and sustainable models for change.

In the preventive work, above all, the milder forms of violence seen in the lower part of the violence pyramid are countered. This happens by, among other things, working to change unequal structures, norms and attitudes.

There are good examples of authorities that have successfully combined the task of countering men's violence against women and the work of gender mainstreaming.

2.4 Prioritise gender equality problems based on your role and mission

When you have a picture of the gender equality problems, you need to prioritise which of these you should focus on.

It is important that you focus on problems that you yourself or together with others have the opportunity to influence. Prioritise the changes and initiatives that have the greatest potential to increase gender equality for your target group and that can have the greatest possible impact in terms of gender equality in society, that is, in relation to the gender equality policy goals.

Equality work is focused on results and effects for the people who are directly or indirectly affected by your business. Many authorities do not have individuals as their target group, but work through or against other actors. It can be a challenge to identify their role in gender equality work for businesses that do not work directly with citizens.

One way of thinking is how you come into contact with citizens indirectly via other actors who have the public or different groups in society as their target group. It can in fact have a greater impact to change the conditions for these actors. Authorities that, for example, provide support, inspect, produce knowledge and analysis or distribute grants have great opportunities to contribute to equality through others. Then, for example, the knowledge base that is produced needs to have a clear equality perspective.

Advice and support need to take into account possibly different conditions for different groups of women and men. Audits can focus on how the activities being audited create equal conditions for girls and boys, women and men.

2.5 Formulate problems

Formulating clear and concrete problems is important so that in the next step you can design accurate goals and measures. A clear problem is also more motivating for employees to work with as it becomes clear what it is that needs to change. In the formulation of the problem, it should be clear who is affected by the problem and what it is that contributes to its maintenance.

Try to be specific. For example, writing "The percentage of women accepted to nursing education programmes is 88 percent and the percentage of men accepted to the IT technician programme is 81 percent" gives a clearer picture of what the problem looks like compared to the wording "The result is an uneven gender distribution in the education programmes".

Reflect: What is the significance of the problem statement?

"Academic housework" is a collective name for all the tasks at a university institution that are non-meritorious, low-status, time-consuming, and invisible, but which still have to be performed by someone (Read more in Kalm Sara 2019 About academic housework and its distribution.) It can be about stepping in for a teaching colleague who is ill, or supporting a stressed PhD student. At many universities, the distribution of academic household work is described as a gender equality problem. But what exactly is the problem?

Consider which different measures are closest to hand if the problem is described in the three different ways below.

"Women take on too much responsibility for academic housework"
"Men take too little responsibility for academic housework"
"Norms around gender (and other power systems) affect how all employees maintain patterns around the distribution of academic housework"

2.6 Overall goals and expected effects

Based on the problems, you reason about effects. What effects do you want your work to contribute to, for the organisation's target groups and on a societal level? Based on the effects you want to contribute to, you formulate overall goals for the work. Often, your goals for the business can be reformulated so that they also clarify what is to be achieved from an equality perspective, but in some cases special goals for equality are needed.

A gender mainstreamed goal is an existing goal on which you apply an equality perspective, while a specific equality goal is a special priority when the organisation sees that special goals for gender equality work need to be designed. Read more about how different organisations formulated their goals in the examples below.

Experience shows the importance of formulating clear goals, which clarify what you want to achieve with the work. The goals can be concrete and measurable or more visionary. If the overall goals are more visionary, i.e., aspirational goals that have the function of pointing out a direction, it is important that they are broken down into more concrete measurable goals at a later stage, in different parts of the business. Concrete and measurable goals create the conditions for the work to lead to results for the target group, either directly or via other actors, as well as equality at the societal level. (Read more about goals on the ESV Forum).

Feel free to use organisation logic to reason about the possibilities that your actions lead to results in the business and in society. Plan right from the start for how results will be followed up.

Some authorities, for example, the County Boards, have a broad and diversified operation with many different subject areas. Setting one or a few overarching goals for the entire agency's operations risks becoming sweeping and unclear. Imprecise goals of the type "all units must work with gender mainstreaming" make it unclear what the work should lead to. Setting concrete goals per operational area, at a lower level in the organisation, is therefore preferable. The important thing is that overall goals provide answers to which problems are to be solved and which results are desired to be achieved.

2.7 Focus on changing unequal structures and norms

A starting point for equality policy is that gender and power are created and maintained structurally and culturally in all parts of society. Gender has a fundamental meaning for a person's opportunities and conditions, at the individual, organisational and societal level, in all stages of life. Therefore, gender equality work needs to aim at creating justice between women and men, girls and boys. The work needs to be focused on the conditions and conditions of women and men, girls and boys. Read more in the government inquiry Power, objectives and authority.

Another approach that can be used in the work with gender mainstreaming is the gender-changing approach. The approach involves changing and broadening norms linked to gender and sexuality and thereby enabling change. The gender-changing approach is often a starting point in violence prevention work.

2.8 Organisational planning

An equality perspective should be included as an integral part of operational planning to ensure that power and resources are distributed equally and that operations create equal conditions, conditions and opportunities for women, men, girls and boys.

The business plan must include both ongoing operations and the development that needs to be done. In business planning, overall goals from, for example, a focus on gender equality integration are translated into concrete goals and measures/activities at different levels in the business.

You can often integrate gender equality into your operational goals, but sometimes specific gender equality goals are needed. There is no right answer; rather, it depends on what is to be achieved and how it can best be done.

Also think about what should follow the results of your work. What information you need to collect on an ongoing basis, to be able to follow up later. Is the information collected today, for example, in the quality work or ongoing follow-up? Is all information gender-disaggregated? Is there information that can make more power arrangements visible?

Organisational logic

The organisational logic can be used both in planning and monitoring the work. It describes the relationships between resources, activities and results (achievements and impacts). By taking as a starting point in the planning of the work the achievements and intended effects that the work should contribute to, and thus in the long term contribute to the gender equality policy goals, the chances of measures and activities hitting the right level increases. The organisational logic thus helps you to focus on the right things at work, that is, what has the greatest effect in relation to the gender equality problems you have defined. Read more about organisational logic at ESV Forum.

Another model that you can use in planning and monitoring the work with gender mainstreaming is the Swedish Agency for Public Management results chain. It helps you evaluate far-reaching results and which activities and measures in the work you can be expected to reach.

2.9 Reflection questions - Plan for an equal opportunity business

Your assignment and ongoing work

• Do we have a picture of the authority's and the institution's combined tasks and assignments in the field of gender equality? How does it look?
• What expectations does the client have about what the gender equality work should lead to?
• What results and effects have been achieved in previous or ongoing work?
• What results, lessons learned and experiences from previous or ongoing work can we develop in our continued work?
• How are overall goals and direction for gender equality work made visible in the authority's or educational institution's governing document?
• How should we anchor and create participation in the gender mainstreaming work?

Identify, prioritise and formulate equality problems

• What overall gender equality problems are linked to the authority's or the institution's operations, either in the operations or in society?
• In particular, review whether there are gender equality problems linked to how resources are shared. How are resources distributed based on gender, how does resource distribution meet the needs and experiences of different groups of women, men, girls and boys?
• Is it possible to break overall equality problems based on more categories than gender? What categories are most important to examine, besides gender?
• How can the authority or the university contribute to solving the problems?
• Can the problem be linked to any/some of the equality policy sub-goals?

Overall goals and expected effects

• In relation to equality issues, what are the desired or expected results and effects of the work?
• What overall goals should be set to contribute to the desired or expected results and effects?
• Has top management made a decision on overall goals for the work?
• Does top management have a clear idea of ​​which results and effects the overall goals should contribute to?
• How does management communicate overall goals and expected results and effects to managers and employees at different levels in the organisation?

Plan for follow-up

• How and when should the results of the work be followed up?
• Are there quantitative and/or qualitative indicators/key figures that can be followed?
• Who or who is responsible for the follow-up?
• When are the results expected to be achieved?