Incountry experiences in promoting gender mainstreaming in municipalities: ESTONIA

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In-country experiences in promoting gender
mainstreaming in municipalitiesESTONIA
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Municipalities in Estonia

• Public administration on two levels
• state and local
• Municipalities are autonomous
• Altogether 227 local governments
• 33 towns and 194 rural municipalities
• Umbrella organisations
• Association of Estonia Cities (www.ell.ee)
• Association of Municipalities of Estonia
  (www.emovl.ee)

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Municipalities in Estonia

• BIGGEST
• Tallinn
• 401 374 inhabitants
• Märjamaa
• 871.62 sq.km
• Tartu
• 2 628 inhabitants per sq.km

• SMALLEST
• Piirissaare
• 94 inhabitants
• Tootsi
• 1.76 sq.km
• Illuka
• 1.8 inhabitants per sq.km

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Gender mainstreaming obligations

• Gender Equality Act 9
• State and local government agencies as persons
  promoting gender equality
• (1) State and local government agencies are
  required to promote gender equality
  systematically and purposefully. Their duty is to
  change the conditions and circumstances which
  hinder achievement of gender equality.
• (2) Upon planning, implementation and assessment
  of national, regional and institutional
  strategies, policies and action plans, the
  agencies specified in subsection (1) of this
  section shall take into account the different
  needs and social status of men and women and
  consider how the measures applied and to be
  applied will affect the situation of men and
  women in society.
• (3) 
• (4) The membership of committees, councils and
  other collegial bodies formed by state and local
  government agencies shall, if possible, include
  both sexes.

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Gender mainstreaming obligations

• Gender Equality Act 11
• Employers as persons promoting gender equality
• (1) Upon promotion of equal treatment for men and
  women, an employer shall
• 1)  act such that persons of both sexes are
  employed to fill vacant positions
• 2) ensure that the number of men and women hired
  to different positions is as equal as possible
  and ensure equal treatment for them upon
  promotion
• 3) create working conditions which are suitable
  for both women and men and support the
  combination of work and family life, taking into
  account the needs of employees
• 4) ensure that employees are protected from
  sexual harassment in the working environment
• 5) inform employees of the rights ensured by
  this Act
• 6) regularly provide relevant information to
  employees and/or their representatives concerning
  equal treatment for men and women in the
  organisation and measures taken in order to
  promote equality.

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Political representation
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Political representation
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Political representation
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Political representation
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Time use singles
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Time use couples without children
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Time use couples with children aged 0-6 years
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Time use couples with children aged 7-17 years
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Narva

• Narva is an industrial border town with mainly
  Russian-speaking population (95) from Northeast.
  

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Narva
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Kuressaare

• Kuressaare is a tourist town on the western
  island of Saaremaa.
• 15 000 inhabitants

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Kuressaare
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Training seminars

• Total 41 participants
• 24 from Kuressaare municipality, 16 from Narva
  municipality
• 25 women and 16 men
• Most of the municipal staff participated at least
  in three seminars out of four

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Training seminars

• The mayor and two vice mayors of Kuressaare
• Member of the city government citizen commission
  of Kuressaare
• Fields of specialisation of other participants
  from Kuressaare municipality education, social
  affairs, child protection, city planning,
  construction, environment, communication,
  personnel, legal issues, etc
• The city secretary of Narva
• Fields of specialisation of other participants
  from Narva municipality financial matters,
  development and architecture, etc

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Kuressaare day center for the elderlyELDERLY
POPULATION
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Day center for the elderlyACTIVITIES

• Hobby activities gymnastics, walking, art
  circle, florist circle, braid work, massage
  classes, etc
• Day center services catering, newspapers
• Intellectual activities lectures on health and
  history, quizzes, language and computer classes
• Entertainment Midsummer night and Christmas
  parties, leisure and singing evenings

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Day center for the elderlyCLIENTS

• In total numbers there are more women than men
  participating at the day center activities
• 677 W, 342 M
• Proportionally to the age group the participation
  of men and women is quite balanced
• 36 W, 32 M

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Day center for the elderlyTIME

• Day center services 20x a month
• Hobby activities 6x a month
• Intellectual activities 0,8x a month
• Entertainment 0,2x a month
• Mainly activities that dont require organising
• Activities that are of interest to the men are
  offered significantly less

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Day center for the elderlyMONEY (thousand crowns)
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Day center for the elderlyRESOURCE ALLOCATION

• 55 more resources for activities that are of
  more interest to the women
• Activities of more interest to the women (eg day
  center services and hobby activities) financed
  from the regular budget of the day center
• Activities of more interest to the men (eg
  intellectual activities) funded mainly on project
  basis
• Project applicants 3 M, 8 W
• Resources granted M 10 741 EEK
• W 63 580 EEK
• In comparison to the resources applied for
• M 43, W
  73

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Day center for the elderlyDECISION MAKERS AND
ORGANISERS

• At the day center one female decision maker and
  one female organiser
• In the association of pensioners three female and
  one male decision maker plus one female
  organiser

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Day center for the elderlyDISCUSSION AND
PROPOSALS

• Chess, draughts and bridge game nights at the day
  center
• Handicraft activities that more interest to the
  men, involve also youngsters
• Cafe to the day center as an evening
  entertainment guests lectures (on history,
  culture, etc), dancing, small drink
• Lack of organisers and promoters for these
  activities
• So far these proposals have received negative
  feedback

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Hobby activities for the youth in Kuressaare
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Hobby activities for the youth in Kuressaare
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Hobby activities for the youth in Kuressaare
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Hobby activities for the youth in Kuressaare
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Hobby activities for the youth in Kuressaare
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Hobby activities for the youth in Kuressaare

• Less activities that are of interest for the boys
  (eg technics, car racing and reparation)
• Lack of leaders
• Activities that are more interest to the boys
  require more resources
• The study is good basis for policy decisions and
  resource allocation

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Satisfaction of municipal staff in Kuressaare
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Satisfaction of municipal staff in Kuressaare
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Satisfaction of municipal staff in Kuressaare
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Satisfaction of municipal staff in Kuressaare
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Satisfaction of municipal staff in Kuressaare
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Satisfaction of municipal staff in Kuressaare
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Financial support and training to start their own
enterprises in Narva

• The group looked at how many men and women
  applied for financial support and how many of
  them received it. Additionally they looked at the
  gender composition of the deciding commission.
  The group was encouraged to study further also
  the potential applicants. Additionally they were
  advised how gender balance can be taken into
  better account in the nomination process for the
  deciding commission.

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Retraining options for the unemployed in Narva

• As Narva is facing major layoffs (appr 400
  people) at a manufacturing company in town, the
  retraining issue is highly relevant. Most of the
  people facing layoffs are women, thus the
  analysis was important to see whether the
  retraining support takes into account the needs,
  interests and capabilities of women in
  particular. As this study focuses on a large
  retraining project that is still under
  preparations, the group concentrated on analyzing
  on how many men and women should be offered
  retraining on the basis of the data of the
  unemployed persons in Narva. They were advised
  also to calculate whether the costs of retraining
  in different fields are different and whether the
  different fields are more women or men dominated.

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