Sustainable Gender Equality - a film about gender mainstreaming in practice

Summary

The video script highlights the importance of gender equality as a human right and a factor in efficient public service delivery. It showcases how gender mainstreaming in Sweden improved municipal snow removal, leading to more equitable resource allocation and reduced accidents. The script also discusses the impact of gender-disaggregated statistics on enhancing services in areas such as public transport, healthcare, and education, emphasizing the need for integrating a gender perspective into daily activities for better management and quality control.

Takeaways

• 🌟 Gender equality is not only a human right but also a matter of efficiency in public services.
• 🚧 The film illustrates how gender mainstreaming can benefit both individuals and organizations that provide public services.
• ❄️ Post-snowfall municipal snow removal practices in Sweden have gender implications due to different travel patterns between men and women.
• 🚗 Women are more likely to walk, cycle, or use public transport, and thus, are more affected by inadequate snow removal.
• 🔢 Gender inequality in snow removal is quantifiable, with more pedestrians (mostly women) injured on icy roads.
• 🏥 The cost of hospital care and lost productivity due to accidents is significantly higher than the cost of winter road maintenance.
• 🔄 Goga municipality officials recognized that snow removal prioritized male-dominated areas and adjusted their approach.
• 👣 The new approach prioritized clearing pedestrian walkways and bike paths, making the city more accessible and gender-equal without extra costs.
• 👶 Clearing paths to schools and female-dominated workplaces improved accessibility for everyone, especially for children.
• 🚌 Introducing 'light stops' on buses in Kalmar made nighttime travel safer and more attractive for both genders.
• 🏥 Sahlgrenska University Hospital improved ambulance services by addressing gender disparities in patient care and response times.
• 🏫 Freya school's systematic campaign to change norms and attitudes improved boys' school performance and reduced girls' stress and insecurity.
• 🏠 Gender equality work has often been sidelined, but gender mainstreaming aims to integrate it into everyday activities and decision-making.
• 📊 Gender mainstreaming involves using gender-disaggregated statistics to detect and address differences in how decisions affect men and women.
• 🛠️ Applying a gender perspective to daily activities can improve management, governance, and service quality, ensuring justice and efficiency.

Q & A

What is the main argument presented in the video script about gender equality and public services?

The script argues that gender equality is not only a human right but also a factor that enhances the efficiency and quality of public services. It uses the example of snow removal to illustrate how gender mainstreaming can benefit both individuals and service providers like municipalities and County Councils.

Why does the script mention the different modes of transportation used by men and women?

The script mentions that women are more likely to walk, cycle, or use public transport, while men travel more by car. This difference is significant because it affects how municipal snow removal impacts each gender, leading to a form of gender inequality in the consequences of icy road conditions.

What was the cost implication of accidents caused by icy roads in the script's context?

The script states that hospital care and lost productivity due to accidents in slippery conditions cost four times as much as winter road maintenance, highlighting the economic rationale for prioritizing safety measures like snow removal.

How did the Goga municipality address the gender inequality in snow removal?

The Goga municipality rethought its approach to snow removal by prioritizing pedestrian walkways and bike paths before streets, especially those leading to schools and female-dominated workplaces, to ensure a more gender-equal allocation of resources without incurring extra costs.

What is the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) perspective on creating an equal society?

The CEMR believes that an equal society can best be created at the level of municipalities and County Councils due to their proximity to people's everyday lives, emphasizing the importance of local governance in shaping gender equality.

How does gender mainstreaming help in improving the quality of services?

Gender mainstreaming raises the quality of services by ensuring that decisions, actions, and treatment affect women and men equally. It involves using gender-disaggregated statistics to detect differences and implement changes that benefit both genders.

What was the issue with nighttime bus travel for women in Kalma, as mentioned in the script?

Women in Kalma felt unsafe walking home from the bus stop in the evening. To address this, the solution introduced was 'light stops,' allowing passengers to be let off at specific places between normal stops for increased safety.

What changes did the ambulance services at Sahlgrenska University Hospital make to improve patient care?

The ambulance services introduced new care routines, including giving women the same priority as men, providing equal pain relief, and performing tasks previously only done at the emergency department to expedite patient treatment.

What was the issue with boys' performance in school and how was it addressed in the script?

Boys were underperforming in school due to social norms that discouraged academic effort and prioritized physical prowess. The school addressed this by implementing a campaign to change norms and attitudes, including teacher training, zero tolerance for fighting, and integrating relationship education into the curriculum.

What is the significance of gender mainstreaming in the context of the script's discussion on gender equality?

Gender mainstreaming is significant as it involves integrating a gender equality perspective into all day-to-day activities and decision-making processes. It ensures that services are provided equivalently to women and men, enhancing legal protection, quality control, and overall efficiency.

How can gender mainstreaming improve management of governance structures according to the script?

Gender mainstreaming can improve governance by ensuring that waiting times, resource allocation, and treatment are based on individual needs without being influenced by prejudice, ignorance, or routines, leading to justice and efficiency in service delivery.

Outlines

00:00

🛤️ Gender Equality in Public Services

This paragraph discusses the importance of gender equality in the context of public services, using the example of snow removal in Sweden. It highlights how traditional snow plowing prioritized male-dominated areas, leading to gender inequality in accessibility and safety. The municipality's approach was reevaluated, resulting in prioritizing pedestrian walkways and bike paths to ensure equal access for all, particularly benefiting women and children. The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) emphasizes the role of municipalities in creating an equal society through gender mainstreaming, which involves analyzing the impact of decisions on both genders and adjusting policies accordingly.

05:01

🚑 Addressing Gender Disparities in Emergency Services and Education

The second paragraph delves into gender-specific issues in emergency services and education. It describes how gender-disaggregated statistics at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg revealed disparities in ambulance response times and pain relief for elderly women with hip fractures. New care routines were implemented to address these issues, improving patient outcomes. Additionally, the paragraph discusses a school's efforts to improve boys' academic performance and reduce girls' stress and insecurity through campaigns aimed at changing social norms and attitudes, resulting in significant improvements in boys' grades and a more inclusive school environment.

10:03

🏛️ Gender Mainstreaming for Quality and Efficiency in Governance

The final paragraph emphasizes the concept of gender mainstreaming, which involves integrating a gender perspective into all aspects of governance and daily activities. It explains how monitoring tools that include gender can lead to a deeper analysis and detection of previously unknown quality issues. The paragraph also discusses the importance of applying gender mainstreaming to improve management, resource allocation, and service delivery, ensuring that they are based on individual needs without gender bias. It concludes by highlighting the benefits of gender mainstreaming for both legal protection and quality control, and invites interested parties to learn more about supporting gender equality work.

Keywords

💡Gender Equality

Gender equality refers to the state of equal rights, opportunities, and treatment for individuals regardless of their gender. In the video, it is presented as both a human right and a factor that enhances the efficiency and quality of public services. The script uses the example of snow removal to illustrate how gender equality can be integrated into municipal services, showing that prioritizing snow clearance on pedestrian walkways and bike paths can benefit women who use these modes of transport more than men.

💡Gender Mainstreaming

Gender mainstreaming is the process of integrating a gender perspective into the planning, implementation, and evaluation of policies and programs. The video emphasizes its importance in ensuring that public services benefit both men and women equally. It is exemplified by the municipality's reevaluation of its snow removal priorities to be more inclusive of women's needs.

💡Public Services

Public services are services provided by the government to ensure the welfare of its citizens. The video discusses how gender mainstreaming can improve the quality of public services, such as snow removal, ambulance services, and education, making them more efficient and equitable.

💡Municipalities

Municipalities are the local government bodies responsible for providing public services within their jurisdictions. The script highlights the role of municipalities in addressing gender inequality through the example of snow removal, where prioritizing certain areas based on gender use patterns led to a more equitable distribution of resources.

💡Efficiency

Efficiency in this context refers to the optimal use of resources to achieve the best possible outcome. The video script argues that gender equality can increase the efficiency of public services by ensuring that resources are allocated in a way that benefits all citizens, as seen in the snow removal example where prioritizing certain areas reduced accidents and costs.

💡Pedestrian Walkways

Pedestrian walkways are paths designated for walking, often used by those who do not drive, such as women, children, and the elderly. The script points out that prioritizing the clearance of snow from pedestrian walkways and bike paths in municipalities can lead to a more gender-equal distribution of services and reduce accidents caused by icy conditions.

💡Icy Roads

Icy roads refer to road surfaces that have become slippery due to the presence of ice, which can lead to accidents. The video uses the statistic that three times more pedestrians than motorists are injured in single-vehicle accidents caused by icy roads, mostly women, to argue for the need for gender-equal snow removal practices.

💡Ambulance Services

Ambulance services are emergency medical services that transport patients to medical facilities. The script mentions that gender-disaggregated statistics revealed disparities in the treatment of elderly women with hip fractures, leading to changes in care routines that improved the service's efficiency and quality for both genders.

💡Gender-Disaggregated Statistics

Gender-disaggregated statistics involve analyzing data separately for men and women to identify differences in outcomes or treatment. The video emphasizes the importance of these statistics in detecting gender disparities, such as the unequal treatment of elderly women with hip fractures by ambulance services, and in guiding policy changes to address these disparities.

💡Educational Attitudes

Educational attitudes refer to the beliefs and behaviors that influence how students approach learning. The script discusses how changing these attitudes, particularly among boys who were underperforming and contributing to a negative school environment, led to improved academic performance and a more inclusive educational experience for both genders.

💡Non-Critical Pedagogy

Non-critical pedagogy is an approach to teaching that aims to challenge and change traditional norms and attitudes, particularly those that inhibit the learning and development of students. The video script describes its implementation in a school to address gender norms that were affecting the performance and well-being of both male and female students.

Highlights

Gender equality is recognized as a human right and a factor in the efficiency of public services.

The film demonstrates the benefits of gender mainstreaming for individuals and public service providers.

In Sweden, snow removal practices have gendered impacts due to different travel habits between men and women.

Women are more likely to be injured in accidents caused by icy roads, highlighting a form of gender inequality.

The cost of hospital care and lost productivity due to accidents is significantly higher than winter road maintenance.

Goga municipality officials analyzed snow removal from a gender perspective and found male areas were prioritized.

The municipality had to rethink its approach to snow removal to achieve gender equality without extra costs.

Clearing pedestrian walkways and bike paths before streets made the city more accessible for everyone.

Gender equality in snow removal can prevent suffering and costs due to accidents in slippery conditions.

Gender mainstreaming can improve the quality of all services by using gender-segregated statistics.

In Kalma, light stops were introduced to make nighttime bus travel safer for women.

Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg used gender-disaggregated statistics to improve ambulance services for women.

Boys' lower grades in school were addressed by changing norms and attitudes in the educational system.

Freya school's systematic campaign improved boys' school performance and reduced girls' feelings of stress and insecurity.

Gender equality work has often been sidelined in organizations, but gender mainstreaming aims to integrate it into core activities.

Gender mainstreaming involves applying a gender perspective to daily activities to combat inequality.

Monitoring tools that include gender provide a deeper analysis and can detect previously unknown quality issues.

Gender mainstreaming leads to increased legal protection, quality control, and efficiency in public services.

For more information on gender equality support, visit www.kcc.hawaii.edu.

Transcripts

gender equality is a human right but it

is also a question of the efficiency in

quality of public services this film

shows how gender mainstreaming can

benefit not only individuals but also

municipalities County Council's

and others who deliver publicly funded

services

it snows in Sweden and after the snow

falls the municipality plows the streets

in square so that we can get through

what does this have to do with gender

equality well women walk cycle and use

public transport to a greater extent

than men who travel more by car

this means that municipal snow removal

has different consequences for men and

for women this is a form of gender

inequality that we can put into figures

three times more pedestrians than

motorists are injured in single vehicle

accidents caused by icy roads most of

them are women hospital care and lost

productivity due to accidents in

slippery conditions costs four times as

much as winter road maintenance in cars

Goga municipality city officials

analyzed local snow removal from a

gender perspective and found that

typically male areas were prioritized

first the ring roads were cleared

usually late at night when only a few

trucks were passing through then the

major roads and streets were cleared

especially those leading to larger

male-dominated workplaces last to be

cleared were bus stops pedestrian

walkways and bike paths in other words

the municipality was prioritizing snow

removal for men above snow removal for

women this was not intentional of course

that were just doing things the way

they've always been done to solve the

problem

the municipality had to rethink its

approach three inches of snow are harder

to get through on foot that in a car so

was decided the pedestrian walkways and

bike paths should be cleared before the

streets infant schools were now given

first clarity because that's what

parents go first on the way to work

larger workplaces were given second

priority

but this time female-dominated white

places such as hospitals and municipal

facilities were also included pedestrian

walkways and bike paths leading to

schools were given priority 3 only when

this essential network have been made

accessible but the remaining streets and

roads cleared of snow working in this

order resulted in no extra costs for the

municipality but it did make the

allocation of resources more

gender-equal it also made the city more

accessible for everyone especially

children for whom driving is not an

option

gender equality means that women and men

enjoy the same rights obligations and

opportunities how municipalities and

County Council's shape their activities

is of course very important for equality

between women and men the Council of

European municipalities and regions CEM

R believes it is at the level of

municipalities and County Council's that

an equal society can best be created

because of their proximity to people's

everyday lives

gender equality is a right of citizens

but it can also be of utility for

municipalities and County Council's just

as gender equality in snow removal can

prevent suffering and costs due to

accidents in slippery conditions gender

mainstreaming can raise quality in all

services a key tool in this work is

gender to segregated statistics it is

only when we reveal how decisions

actions and treatment affect women and

men that we can detect differences and

do something about them here are some

concrete examples many women in kalma

avoided taking the bus home in the

evening the reason was that they felt

unsafe walking home from the bus stop

this was shown in a survey the solution

was to introduce so-called light stops

which means that passengers can ask the

bus driver to be let off at a specific

place even between normal stops the

driver will only open the front door and

makes sure that no one else gets off at

the same time lift has made nighttime

bus travels safer and more attractive

for both women and men

the ambulance services Sahlgrenska

University Hospital in Gothenburg some

years ago began compiling gender

disaggregated statistics they discovered

that three out of four patients with hip

fractures were women over the age of 85

the women had to wait longer for an

ambulance and received less pain relief

than the man for this reason they often

were in worse condition than the men

when they arrived at the hospital new

care routines were introduced emergency

dispatch personnel began giving women

the same priority as men and all

patients received equal pain relief in

the ambulance paramedics began carrying

out tasks previously only performed at

the emergency department so that

arriving patients could be taken

directly to radiology

now patients get to the operating room

more quickly this has resulted in fewer

patients suffering delirium which

shortens their stay at hospital and

reduces suffering especially for the

women

boys get lower grades than girls in

almost all school subjects for your

school engineer stat was no exception

when looking into what boys should be

like it was found they expected each

other not to study hard and to treat

school as unimportant instead they

sought status by shoving each other in

the corridors and being good at sports

they were noisy and took up a lot of

space even the teachers didn't expect

the boys to put as much effort into

their schoolwork as the girls a health

survey showed that the girls felt more

stress at school enjoyed their leisure

time less and felt less safe outdoors at

night to improve the boys school

performance and reduce the girls

feelings of stress and security the

school started a systematic campaign to

change norms and attitudes by increasing

teachers knowledge about norms that

inhibit girls and boys in their school

work introducing zero tolerance of boys

fighting even when only for fun

implementing non critical pedagogy among

students integrating sexy relationships

education into subjects such as Swedish

and civics the work with norms has

produced good results previously the

boys at Freya school performed below the

national average but in 2012 almost 80

percent of the boys finishing ninth

grade had achieved the targets for all

subjects the same proportion as the

girls however the work must continue new

teachers must also be educated about

norms and efforts to change boys

attitudes towards school reduce girls

feelings of stress and insecurity are

continuing

a lot of good work has been done over

the years to promote gender equality in

municipalities and counter councils

however if one compares an organization

with a house you could say that gender

equality work has often been consigned

to the garden shed it has been carried

out in separate projects without any

real impact on day to day activities

gender mainstreaming is about moving

gender equality into the house it is

only when we achieve a gender equality

perspective in day-to-day activities

that we can offer women and men

equivalent high quality services gender

equality is created and maintained where

we make decisions allocate resources and

create standards therefore it is in the

regular decision-making and in day to

day activities that we have to combat

gender inequality that's what's meant by

gender mainstreaming it means making men

and women visible in policy documents at

all target levels from the most

wide-ranging plans to concrete

operations to work plans we're talking

about gendering management writing men

and women makes it possible to set

gender equal objectives paving the way

for monitoring and illustrating gender

differences there is a difference

between writings students and writing

girls and boys in school or between

writing the elderly and elderly women

and men when you include gender among

your monitoring tools you get a deeper

analysis and can detect quality issues

that were previously unknown simply

because the tools for analysis were too

blunt in this way gender mainstreaming

leads to bonuses like increased legal

protection and quality control when

control and monitoring are functioning

as they should

you can track a decision through the

entire organization there is a common

thread running from decisions of the

assembly through the municipal boards

and the administration to the everyday

work in the field that is to say

if the assembly sets the goal of

providing equivalent and high-quality

services for women and men it can be

achieved but the reverse is also true if

the Assembly does not consider it a goal

will almost certainly not happen gender

mainstreaming means applying a gender

perspective to all our day-to-day

activities - snow removal ambulance

transport classroom teaching and all the

other services that we deliver on behalf

of the citizens through gender

mainstreaming we can improve our

management of governance structures we

ensure that waiting times allocation of

resources and how people are treated are

all based on individual needs without

being distorted by prejudice ignorance

or routines it's about justice for women

and men girls and boys but it's also

about efficiency and quality to learn

more about solid support for gender

equality work please visit

www.kcc.hawaii.edu click

you