Project: Gender Impact Assessment in the field of Radiation Protection and Environment

Project Head and Team in ISOE:
Doris Hayn and Irmgard
Schultz


Cooperations:
Öko-Institut Darmstadt: Simone Mohr, Christian Küppers, Regine Barth
CONTRACT KG, Bettina Demmer


Funding:
German Federal Environment Ministry

Duration:
06/01-10/02

 

Field of research

Research Area:
Everyday Life Ecology, Energy, Consumption

about the Institute

 

 

In July 2000, following a resolution of the European Union, the German federal cabinet declared gender equality as a generally leading principle for all political, norm-giving and administrative measures (Gender Mainstreaming); this decision is concerning all policy areas and thus all federal ministries. Within the Federal Environment Ministry (FEM) the project team "Putting Gender Mainstreaming into Action within the BMU" has been founded whose members are dedicated to implement this principle with the help of specific measures and projects. Representatives of almost every department of the BMU are to be found in the project team. "Gender Impact Assessment in the field of radiation protection and environment" was chosen as a pilot project, which is carried out by ISOE together with the project team and other co-operating partners.

The project "Gender Impact Assessment in the Area of Radiation Protection and Environment" aimed at developing a Gender Impact Assessment prototype. The project had two parts: firstly, on the basis of the 2001 revised radiation protection regulations the prototype was developed (pilot phase), and secondly, the prototype was tested in the area of product-oriented environmental protection (trial phase). Both tasks were successfully completed within the project.

Gender Impact Assessment (GIA) is an important instrument for implementing the policy strategy of gender mainstreaming. Its function consists in ascertaining whether policy measures – for example, laws, programs, concepts and every-day administrative procedures – have different effects on men and women. GIA includes a topic- and task-related component, the carrying out of a gender equity review by means of a GIA-checklist, and the organizational-institutional anchoring of the GIA.

A graded model, in analogy to an environment impact assessment, was selected for the GIA prototype-checklist rather than a non-differentiated checklist, such as the "blue evaluation questions". The checklist has three levels: a preliminary assessment (screening), a main examination (analysis) and an evaluation with recommendations. The carrying out of the assessment steps is guided by questions and explanations of these questions. Download of the GIA-Checklist: pdf-file 162 kb

The gender relevance of a political measure within the GIA concept is determined in terms of its gender specific impact on target groups. "Target groups" depicts the groups of persons who are directly covered by a measure, or those directly affected by it. The issues investigated are whether or to what extent men or women of these groups of persons are affected differently by the measure.

The approach to evaluation used in the GIA is a positive one: progress towards the achievement of gender equity goals is assessed. The assessment is carried out both with the aim of attaining an alliance between environmental and gender equity policy goals and of becoming aware of possible conflicts between these goals. In this regard there is a weighing of the environmental and gender equity goals as these are affected by the measures proposed.

The GIA-prototype worked out in the FEM project was included in the "Working Aid for article 2 GGO: Gender Mainstreaming When Preparing Legal Regulations", which was prepared by the Inter-Ministry Working Group (IMWG) Gender Mainstreaming.

ISOE will contribute to the project its knowledge and experience acquired while working out a Gender Impact Assessment for the subprogram "Environment and Sustainable Development" as part of the 5. Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development, and Demonstration of the European Union.

Concluding Report :

Hayn, Doris/Irmgard Schultz (2003): Gender Impact Assessment in the Field of Radiation Protection and the Environment  – Concluding Report – on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), 635 kb pdf-file

Summary of the concluding report: pdf-file 157 kb

  

Upfollowing project: Scientific Consultants for the Introduction of Gender Mainstreaming in the daily practice of the Federal Environment Ministry (FEM)
 

 

 

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