Capacities of the Estonian civil servants in the field of Gender Mainstreaming: pre-training and post-training study prior and after training of civil servants Ph.D.

Abstract

"In this report the results of the first study in the frame of the EU Twinning project 'Development of Administrative Capacity of National Authorities in the field of Gender Mainstreaming' are presented. One thousand and twelve civil servants from national, regional and local administrative bodies in staff and managerial positions had been interviewed to assess the potential capacity of the Estonian civil service to implement Gender Mainstreaming and to detect possibilities of enhancing the capacity building in this field. The results show that the skills and tasks of the civil servants are largely defined by legalistic and administrative duties. The civil servants possess good informational skills and knowledge on legislation and have good capacities to acquire skills and information necessary for their work. Certain instruments of administrative work like impact analysis and programming in contrast are quite rare. The results regarding knowledge on gender equality issues showed that the relevance as well as the complexity of topics related to it are not quite well known. Knowledge gaps on legal provisions for gender equality had been found. The attitude of the interviewed civil servants was non-progressive in general while the attitude towards the state's role regarding gender equality was found to be progressive. Moreover the civil servants considered the issue of gender equality important. The knowledge and attitudes are more progressive within females, young persons and civil servants working in 'soft' working areas. Also the informational capacities play an important role for progressiveness. In general the working environment is perceived as supportive. For the capacity building in the field of Gender Mainstreaming it can therefore be concluded that the civil servants in general have basic capacities that are crucial for this gender equality strategy. Their attitude towards gender equality is to be considered promising as the non-progressive tendencies are contrasted with a curious attitude towards trainings in gender equality issues and progressive tendencies regarding the role of state institutions. Moreover the good information skills have a promising potential for further capacity building. The skills have to be complemented with certain instruments of modern administration like impact assessment and gender analysis. Moreover transmitting knowledge on gender relations in policy fields and legislation as well as reflected notions on gender could positively influence the attitudes." (author's abstract)