Gender Mainstreaming Calls for Gender Breakdowns

Gender mainstreaming is a new approach to designing and assessing government and municipal activities. This approach increases transparency and ensures that public activities are designed to address the differential needs of women and men. The system was developed by gender expert Gertrude Aström from Sweden, who visited Israel in June 2011 and was a guest of the Ministry of Finance and the Knesset.

The system of gender mainstreaming was adopted by the Swedish government in 1994, and later by the European Union, which endorsed it as the preferred way to promote gender equality. It was also adopted by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), which obligated member states to incorporate it by 2015. Israel has been a member of the OECD since May 2010.

Gender mainstreaming entails a new way of thinking about the differences between women and men (and between girls and boys) – their behaviors, roles, and needs – every time a program or a budget is designed or assessed.