¿TRANSFORMANDO EL ESTADO? AVANCES Y OBSTÁCULOS EN LA IMPLEMENTACIÓN DEL MAINSTREAMING DE GÉNERO

Abstract

Gender equality policies constitute a sustained effort to address the problem of inequality between women and men, and to democratize public institutions from a feminist standpoint. Although these policies have been developing for decades, there still remain important questions regarding their capacity to modify public policies, especially as they show a considerable inclination towards technocratization, depoliticization and evaporation of initiatives favouring equality._x000D_ This doctoral thesis examines in detail the strategy of gender mainstreaming: how it has been promoted, analysed and evaluated, the results it has obtained, the limits and resistance it has faced, and the key facilitating and obstructive factors entailed._x000D_ The thesis consists of four papers. The first one presents the main debates and analytical tools for understanding gender change in the public administration. The second paper explores the gender dimension of the 2008 financial crisis and the policies introduced in response, analysing their impact on the implementation of gender mainstreaming in Spain and Europe. It is argued that this new scenario presents specific challenges and obstacles which make it necessary to revise the strategies and instruments of gender equality policies. The third section offers an exhaustive analysis of the case of the Basque Country where, in the case of Spain, gender mainstreaming has been most widely introduced and to best effect. A detailed description is offered of the Basque model of implementation with a systematic account of its advances. While there has been considerable success in permeating the institutions and processes of public policy with tools and criteria for gender equality, what has also consolidated is a basically integrationist model which has frequently failed to re-examine political. Moreover, incorporation of diversity, intersectionality and citizen participation are limited. Finally, the fourth paper deals with the role that policy evaluation might play in gender mainstreaming. On the basis of a range of practical experiences of evaluating gender equality policies in Catalonia and the Basque Country, it makes the case for what are deemed to be the most appropriate evaluative designs for contributing towards the transformation of policy processes and political agendas._x000D_ Taking as its starting point the feminist policy studies and institutional analysis, the thesis therefore provides a complex, systematic model for analysis of the implementation of gender mainstreaming which covers the institutional system as a whole, taking into account power relations and different kinds of resistance while also elaborating a long-term perspective incorporating into the analysis the changes in the scenario in recent years with the advent of budgetary restrictions and new political and social tensions._x000D_ It is contended that it is necessary to analyse the specific strategies for change carried out in each context. In order to do this, it is important to bear in mind the type, coordination and scope of gender mainstreaming tools used; the role of gender equality bodies; the management of gender knowledge and the analytical and deliberative practices being developed; the concepts of equality which are at stake; and the degree of citizen participation and of women’s and feminist movements. Two key tensions underlying depoliticization and technocratization processes are identified: first, that between extension and control, and, second, that between normalization and transformation. Particular attention is therefore given to the importance of participation and reflectiveness as elements that make it possible to keep the political dimension of public policy and the debate on social priorities and needs permanently in the foreground._x000D_ With regard to methodology, taking evaluation as both primary and secondary sources of analysis and, simultaneously, an object of analysis in itself has made it possible to reflect on the relationship between policymaking, evaluation and academic research.

Date of Award	7 Sept 2017
Original language	Spanish
Supervisor	Margarita Leon Ramon Borja (Director) & María Bustelo Ruesto (Director)