How does gender mainstreaming relate to specific gender equality policy?
Gender mainstreaming cannot replace and render redundant specific equality policy and machineries. When mainstreaming is mentioned as a new strategy to achieve gender equality, it is always stressed that this strategy does not replace “traditional” gender equality policy, but complements it. They are two different strategies to reach the same goal, i.e. gender equality, and must go hand in hand, at least until there is a real culture and consensus regarding gender equality in the whole of society. The question is how gender mainstreaming relates to specific equality policy and why it is still necessary to have “traditional” forms of equality policy. The main difference between mainstreaming and specific gender equality policies is the actors involved and the policies that are chosen to be addressed. The starting point for “traditional” forms of equality policy is a specific problem resulting from gender inequality. A specific policy for that problem is then developed by an equality mac
