Ei-iE

EI Deputy General Secretary Haldis Holst underlines the need to combine mainstreaming of gender equality policies and expertise in gender issues within education trade unions and the teaching profession, to help achieve quality education for all. These topics and many more will be addressed during the Second EI World Women’s Conference (WWC2) to be held in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, 7-9 April 2014.

Mainstreaming and expertise

In a recent interview, Haldis Holst expressed her belief that there are many opportunities for mainstreaming gender equity issues, but, she said “You can’t just say that you are mainstreaming without knowing what you are doing, you have to have a clear purpose and a goal to go with the strategy”.

Holst pointed out that sometimes, organisations can decide to have a gender mainstreaming policy, and as soon as it has been implemented, they take no further action because of a general sense that by having a mainstreaming policy, gender equality has been achieved. That approach does not work, she believes, because if you give responsibility to someone to follow up on a specific area, you have to make sure that they have the knowledge and tools to be able to follow up. Mainstreaming gender means making sure that everyone in the organisation addresses gender issues within their area of work, but there must still be some expertise on how to work on gender issues, and dedicated staff to support others in the organisation, and to monitor and evaluate the mainstreaming process.

For Holst, “It is not a choice between having women’s committees or mainstreaming; it is about making sure that the whole organisation takes full responsibility and that an expert committee exists within the organisation. That is extremely important because, otherwise, ‘gender issues’ get lost in everything else.”

Trade union structures built by men

“If we look at the way that trade unions work, it is obvious that the structures were established by men,” she goes on to say. Working times, particularly during bargaining and negotiations, tend to be a 24-hour business; this is a way of working that is more compatible with the life styles of people without family responsibilities and a great deal of time and flexibility at their disposal.

Holst acknowledges that while the trade union movement has been structured in a way which works best for men, this is perhaps due to men’s role and position in society at the time when trade unionism emerged. One could argue, therefore, that trade union structures are historical constructs that should be understood in relation to the particular social and political characteristics of a long period of gender inequality.

“So the challenge for trade union women today, is to define what kind of framework we need in order for us to be able to work in this movement, and that is difficult,” says Holst. “It is sometimes more difficult to change something that already exists than to create something new, because then you are not just dealing with your own ideas, you are also dealing with the older ideas that are the basis for what has already been established.”

EI Gender Equality Action Plan

It is hoped that the EI Gender Equality Action Plan(GEAP) can a reference tool, both for EI affiliates and for all structures within EI, when working on gender issues.

“The GEAP is based on a strategy of mainstreaming, but that does not mean that the only way EI can work on equality issues is by everyone doing it,” Holst stresses. “The Plan takes into account the fact that EI still needs people who are experts on equality issues, women’s committees, a women’s caucus, and women’s networks, but everyone needs to be on board.”

She also added that because EI represents a female-dominated profession, the outside world would actually expect EI to provide leadership and vision on promoting and working towards the achievement of gender equality in education and in education trade unions.

To learn more about the upcoming EI WWCII, please click here