Initiative

"Program for Gender Mainstreaming Normstorm in the Umeå Region – public and private employers working together for equal growth "

Summary of the initiative

The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) represents the governmental, professional and employer-related interests of Sweden’s 290 municipalities and 20 county councils.

The Program for Gender Mainstreaming (PGM) was launched in 2008 after an agreement between SALAR and the Swedish government. With funding from the government, SALAR supports gender mainstreaming in municipalities, county councils, regional bodies and private companies working within the public sector. The purpose of the programme is that municipalities and county councils are able to ensure women and men, girls and boys service of equal worth and an equal distribution of resources. The strategy chosen to achieve this is gender mainstreaming, in accordance with the definition of the Council of Europe: “Gender mainstreaming is the (re-)organisation, improvement, development and evaluation of policy processes, so that a gender equality perspective is incorporated in all policies at all levels and at all stages, by the actors normally involved in policy-making.” The total funding for the period 2008-2013 amounts to 240 million SEK, making it by far the biggest programme ever to promote gender equality in Sweden.

A team of researchers have studied the programme from the outset, identifying a number of success criteria to achieve sustainable gender equality:

• Active ownership in political leadership and top management level.
• Managers in charge of development processes.
• Trained staff supporting managers in development process.
• Statistics disaggregated by sex.

Another project, called “Normstorm”, in the Umeå Region focuses on addressing gender roles and counteracting gender-stereotypical career choices in the workplace. The project started in May 2011 and ended in March 2013. The project is largely financed by the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Tillväxtverket). Region Västerbotten and the Umeå Region have also contributed towards the overall financing. Skogstekniska klustret (The Forestry Technology Cluster), Arbetsförmedlingen (the Swedish Employment Service) and Umeå University have also spent time working on the project.

The project aims, through collaboration and exchange of experience between public and private employers, to contribute to greater labour mobility between female and male-dominated sectors and occupations in the Umeå Region. The project has carried out more than 40 different activities to enable cooperation and dialogue between municipalities, between businesses and between the private and public sectors.