The gender dimension of structural and cohesion funds: Gender & regional policy

The study analyses how the gender dimension and the principle of gender equality are taken into account in the EU Cohesion Policy 2014-2020. The aim is to provide inputs for the discussion on how to improve the promotion of gender equality and nondiscrimination in the post-2020 programming period. In detail, the study considers how gender equality has been mainstreamed in ESF and ERDF in the programming, implementation, and monitoring phases with focus on eight selected country case studies. It also provides an assessment of the present and future challenges together with policy indications from relevant stakeholders at both European and national level.

The European Union’s regional policy, one of the world’s largest public policies, promotes project activities funded by the Structural Funds, including the European Social Fund (ESF). Besides the goals of increased employment, competitiveness and growth, the ESF aims to increase gender equality (GE). GE is implemented in the ESF through administrative processes in national and regional institutions. Despite public administration’s central role in defining and organizing the GE policy, administrative variations have received little attention. Drawing on interviews and policy documents, this study analyses differences in Sweden and Spain to explore the ideological consequences of governance structures for GE policies.

Regional development projects normally have gender-equality objectives, as these are recognized as one of the cornerstones of regional development. The success of gender-equality objectives is often analyzed by counting the number of men and women taking part in the projects. However, the extent to which this will enhance regional development is unclear and regional agents at a range of organizational levels express uncertainty about the most effective objectives and implementation measures. This paper proposes a way to assess the gender situation at the local level and, thus, to help enhance gender equality.

EU regional policy is an investment policy that targets all regions and cities in the EU. In recognition of its importance, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union devotes five articles to ‘economic, social and territorial cohesion’. The policy aims to reduce the economic, social and territorial disparities between EU regions by supporting job creation, competitiveness, economic growth, improved quality of life and sustainable development. Regional policy is embedded within the regional cohesion policy and gender equality is considered under this framework.

Gender equality represents a central topic of our society, and its study is gaining increasing attention in the international panorama. During the last 20 years, various indicators aiming at measuring gender equality have been proposed, but there are no systematic experiences of indicators tailored for a subnational analysis. We propose a regionalization of the most complete and detailed gender equality indicator, the gender equality index (GEI) of the European Institute on Gender Equality, choosing Italy as a case study. The results show how a regionalized approach to gender equality is necessary to set priorities and target regional policy actions.