EQUAPOL: Gender-sensitive and women-friendly public policies: a comparative analysis and assessment of their progress and impact

2012/10/02
EQUAPOL: Gender-sensitive and women-friendly public policies: a comparative analysis and assessment of their progress and impact

The research concerns public policies and policy-making and in particular «women-friendly» policy approaches. The aim is to identify how the integration of a gender dimension in policy formulation and design is proceeding across the Community and how it serves to improve the impact of these policies. Empirical research is carried out, in nine European countries, on three main policy areas, which are priorities within the European Social Policy Agenda: 1) income distribution, in particular tax and welfare policies; 2) education, in particular on skills and qualifications in the knowledge society; and 3) social integration, particularly of immigrants and ethnic minority people. The «value-added» of integrating gender into policy is explored and substantiated, not just in terms of the relative well being of women and men and the reduction of gender inequalities, but also in regard to how it acts to alter policy making itself.