The Recommendation of the Council on Gender Equality in Public Life adopted in 2015 (hereafter “GEPL Recommendation”) provides a clear path for making governments, public administrations, legislatures, and judiciaries more aware of and responsive to the perspectives, interests and needs of both women and men. Making state institutions more sensitive to gender considerations entails more than increasing the number of women in leadership positions: it requires a better understanding of how formal and informal policies, practices and procedures across state institutions can reinforce gender inequalities and gender-based stereotypes, and what can be done to bring about gender equality.

Each chapter of the Toolkit contains a self-assessment tool allowing policy makers to analyse their specific country and work contexts to identify gaps, weaknesses, and strengths. The self-assessment tool includes:

Based on key provisions of the OECD Recommendation on Gender Equality in Public Life, the Toolkit focuses on institutionalising gender equality and gender mainstreaming; developing and sustaining gender mainstreaming capacity; integrating gender considerations into various dimensions of public governance; establishing inclusive accountability structures; and supporting gender balance in all state institutions (executive, legislative, and judiciary) and structures and at all levels. In doing so, it highlights the role of stronger governance and accountability for gender equality in improving the gender-responsiveness of public policy, as well as policy actions to increase gender equality in public institutions. It also features the strategic use of governance tools to promote gender-equal and inclusive outcomes. In addition, this Toolkit introduces reflections on the intersectional approach to gender equality and trends in the future of work, as relevant to the evolution of gender equality policies in OECD countries.

To effectively implement a whole-of-government gender equality and mainstreaming strategy, a country needs a strong institutional framework and solid mechanisms whereby institutions are available and equipped for promoting gender equality in an effective and co-ordinated manner. When these institutions, policies and programmes fully integrate gender considerations into their work, they produce better and more equitable policies for men and women, therefore contributing to good governance. This section of the Toolkit provides a strategic framework and instruments to help craft, implement, monitor, and evaluate public policies from a gender equality perspective. It analyses various elements needed to promote gender equality and mainstreaming. It focuses on whole-of-government strategic plans for gender equality; institutional mechanisms for gender equality and mainstreaming; assessment of gender impacts of various public governance dimensions; and accountability for gender equality and mainstreaming.

Governments have many policy instruments or tools at their disposal, such as structural policies, budgets, regulations and procurement processes. These are not always neutral in their application and impact as implicit gender bias and norms may seep into their baseline, and risk exacerbating inequality and discrimination. In fact, as a key instrument to influence behaviours, governments can make a strategic use of those tools to deliver better policy outcomes towards more gender-equal and inclusive societies. This section of the Toolkit provides an overview of how governments can use selected tools in a strategic way to redress structural inequalities and advance gender equality and inclusiveness goals. It focuses on an assessment of the gender impacts of various public governance dimensions, the integration of the gender perspective in all phases of the budget cycle and promoting gender equality through public procurement.

Infrastructure is central to every country’s pursuit of economic growth, well-being and sustainable development. However, infrastructure may have distinct impacts on women and men as they use and benefit from infrastructure differently. This could be mainly due to the distinct challenges that they face in terms of poverty, unemployment and economic empowerment, safety and well-being, and political empowerment. Incorporating gender considerations into infrastructure governance frameworks and involving more women in decision-making processes, will enable governments to identify the gender impact of infrastructure decisions. Infrastructure investments can substantially improve women’s economic empowerment by addressing barriers to female economic opportunities and access to labour markets that would otherwise be inaccessible to women. This section of the Toolkit focuses on inclusion of women through infrastructure.

Parliaments and legislative bodies are core actors in the realisation of the gender equality agenda in their capacity as law makers, oversight bodies, and employers. As representatives of the people, parliaments are expected to both reflect the wishes and needs of the women and men they represent, but also ensure that all policies, including legislation, promote their interests. Ensuring equal opportunities for women and men, girls and boys to fully realise their potential requires that parliaments and legislatures themselves shape and advance gender-sensitivity in all processes, practices and procedures. This section of the Toolkit aims to provide parliaments, legislatures and other deliberative bodies with a strategic framework and instruments to become gender-sensitive, help design, implement, monitor and evaluate public policies from a gender equality perspective, and enable women’s access to top positions. It also aims to create and strengthen linkages between gender equality efforts within legislative bodies with the practices of other political and public institutions, such as electoral management bodies (EMB), national statistical offices and political parties.

Fostering diversity and equal representation of men and women in the public sector is an essential factor for gender-responsive policies, driving trust in public administration and quality service delivery. To enhance gender equality in public employment, a number of measures and policies need to be undertaken across the areas of access to employment and career development, as well as overall employment and work conditions enabling both men and women to fully contribute to the goals of the civil service. This section of the Toolkit aims to provide executive leadership, senior officials and human resource (HR) managers across public administrations with a strategic framework for enabling and creating gender-sensitive public employment systems, improving leadership and executive accountability; and addressing gender wage gaps and occupational segregation.

Gender balance and a gender equitable work environment in the judiciary is beneficial and important for improving fairness, legitimacy and quality of the judiciary, reducing barriers in women’s access to justice, and bringing women’s voice and perspective to the bench. Noting gender gaps at the higher echelons of judgeship positions that still persist partly due to unfavourable and non-transparent nomination and promotion systems, heavy workloads with a lack of family-friendly schemes, lack of political will, and persistent stereotypes and taboos, this chapter focuses on various measures to enhance gender-sensitivity of judiciaries. This includes developing a comprehensive framework for gender equality in judicial decision making; adopting measures to recruit, retain and promote women and men from diverse backgrounds in judicial careers; and monitoring the impact of gender equality initiatives in the judiciary.