Evaluation study on the implementation of the gender … Evaluation... · This report from a evaluation study on the implementation of the gender mainstreaming principle the HRD SOP

Evaluation study on the implementation of the gender mainstreaming principle

within the Human Resources Development Sectoral Operational Programme

for the years 2004 – 2006

Final report

Prepared for: Department of the European Social Fund Management at the Ministry of Regional Development Authors: Pentor Research International S.A. Beata Ciężka Marzena Sochańska - Kawiecka

Warszawa, November 2007 r.

This report from a evaluation study on the implementation of the gender

mainstreaming principle the HRD SOP 2004-2006 has been prepared by

a team of evaluators from Pentor Research International S.A. contracted by

the Ministry of Regional Development.

Published by: Ministry of Regional Development ul. Wspólna 2/4 00-926 Warsaw tel. (+48 22) 461 30 00 ISBN: 978-83-7610-000-5 Department for the European Social Fund Management ul. Wspólna 2/4, 00-926 Warsaw tel. (+48 22) 501 50 01, fax (+48 22) 501 50 31 E-mail: [email protected] oraz [email protected] Internet: www.efs.gov.pl Info line EFS 0 801 EFS 801 0 801 337 801 charged as a local call

Publication co-financed by the European Union from the European Social Fund

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................5

2 MAIN CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..........................................................................6

3 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................11

3.1 Gender equality in EU documents and in the new programming period ................................... 11

3.2 SOP HRD – in the context of equal treatment of men and women ........................................... 12

3.3 Evaluation goals and levels of analysis ..................................................................................... 14

4 RESULTS OF THE STUDIES CARRIED OUT IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE EVALUATION......16

4.1 INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL............................................................................................................ 16 4.1.1 Institutional level – gender mainstreaming problems – the ideal situation vs. reality

(summary of results). ..........................................................................................................16 4.1.2 Level of knowledge of the equal opportunity principle among employees

involved in the implementation of SOP HRD......................................................................17 4.1.3 Problems related to the equal rights between men and women in relation to the

institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD....................................................25 4.1.4 Gender mainstreaming issues under Sectoral Operational Programme

Human Resources Development........................................................................................31 4.1.5 Evaluation of the system for the management and implementation of SOP HRD

in view of the application of the gender equality principle at the different stages of the implementation of the programme............................................................................45

4.2 PROJECT LEVEL...................................................................................................................... 55 4.2.1 The project level – gender mainstreaming – ideal situation vs. practice (summary of

results). ...............................................................................................................................55 4.2.2 SOP HRD – evaluation of assumed goals, gender structure in particular Priorities,

measures and fields of support ..........................................................................................56 4.2.3 Understanding of the gender mainstreaming principle among project providers ..............61 4.2.4 Attitude to gender mainstreaming in the framework of projects.........................................65

The case studies of selected projects carried out in the framework of the evaluation have shown that project providers are only to a limited extent interested in whether the principle is actually applied in their projects. Many a time, it was the evaluation that forced project providers to reflect on the subject. ...................................................... 65

4.2.5 Delivery of concrete actions related to the principle of equal opportunities between men and women in the framework of projects....................................................................71

4.3 SOCIAL LEVEL.......................................................................................................................... 85 4.3.1 Results of SOP HRD – social perspective .........................................................................85 4.3.2 Equal opportunities between men and women – opinion leaders’ voice ...........................86 4.3.3 Equal opportunities between men and women – voice of society .....................................88

5 SET OF INDICATORS ......................................................................................................................109

6 DESCRIPTION OF THE METHODOLOGY USED IN THE STUDY.................................................116

6.1 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT STUDY MODULES..................................118 6.1.1 Desk Research – bringing the institutional and project levels together ...........................118 6.1.2 Institutional level...............................................................................................................120 6.1.3 Project level......................................................................................................................126 6.1.4 Social perspective ............................................................................................................129

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1 SUMMARY

The evaluation revealed that the gender mainstreaming, understood as the assurance that all actions and initiatives would in a complete and active manner, at all stages of execution, take account of their impact respectively on the situation of men and women1, was not fully applied in the HRD SOP. This was the case at both the institutional and the project level.

Although actions conducted did not violate in any way the principle of equal opportunities for men and

women (no such cases noted at any level of the study), and neither were any systemic obstacles noted that would hinder access to support for either gender, the problem was that actions carried out were rarely accompanied by in-depth reflection over their impact on the situation of men or women.

One can clearly see from the research that such a situation derives not from any ill will displayed by

active bodies or disregard of the subject, but is rather a consequence of the low awareness of the “gender mainstreaming” principle and lack of knowledge regarding possibilities for undertaking specific actions resulting from it. Most respondents associated the principle only with ensuring gender equality in regard to access to projects. Only a few respondents were capable here of going beyond the parity of gender equality and specify what else implementation of this principle should involve.

The issue of “gender mainstreaming” is very often treated as a formal demand set by the European

Union, but this is where its identification ends. Everybody involved in the HRD SOP knows that this principle has to be implemented (in accordance with EU requirements), but barely anybody knows how this is to be done.

Because of this, conscious application of the principle, at both an institutional and project level, is rare

– and as a rule people share the opinion that in the majority of projects its application is simply not necessary.

Naturally it is not the case that activities related to this principle are not undertaken at all, but even

where they occur they are undertaken without awareness of this link, which results in them not being made full use of.

Diagnosis of the situation explicitly points above all to a need for training at all programme levels.

Taking the right steps is only possible when one knows exactly what one should do and for what goal.

1 “Practical guide to equal treatment of men and women in structural funds”

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2 MAIN CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

• The evaluation revealed that the gender mainstreaming, understood as the assurance that all actions and initiatives would in a complete and active manner, at all stages of execution, take account of their impact respectively on the situation of men and women2, was not fully applied in the HRD SOP.

• According to data from the commencement of HRD SOP implementation to the end of June 2007,

60.32% of those provided with support were women, and 39.68% men. Analysis of the participation ratios for men and women in projects carried out within specific priority areas leads one to conclude that mainly women use the support provided by the HRD SOP. Such participation structure is the same as the composition of employment in institutions covered by the support. It also reflects the gender composition among the unemployed.

• The actions conducted did not violate in any way the principle of equal opportunities for men and

women (no such cases noted at any level of the study), and neither were any systemic obstacles noted that would hinder access to support for either gender. Thus one may presume that all projects (and thereby the entire HRD SOP) are conducted with the principle of equal opportunities for men and women taken into account. The problem is that the actions carried out were rarely accompanied by in-depth reflection over their impact on the situation of men or women.

• It is evident from this study that such a situation derives not from any ill will displayed by active

bodies or disregard of the subject, but is rather a consequence of the low awareness of the “gender mainstreaming” idea and lack of knowledge regarding possibilities for undertaking specific actions resulting from it. This applies to all levels linked to the HRD SOP implementation – both the institutional and project level. Only a few proved the exception here, above all persons linked to Measure 1.6 “Vocational integration and re-integration of women”. However, here as well one could say that treatment of the issue of equal opportunities for men and women was dominated by a very in-depth analysis of women’s situation, with the situation of men clearly pushed aside.

• It seems that one of the main activities for avoiding a similar situation in the next programming

period would be that of placing a very strong emphasis on training, which should cover all parties involved in getting the programme going and carrying it out.

• The scope of this training should match the type of programme involvement, and regardless of

level should convey a package of basic information regarding the “Gender mainstreaming” issues in the programme context and possible means of carrying it out at specific levels.

• Institutions involved in the implementation of the HRD SOP, in particular Managing Authority and

Implementing bodies, should also have the role of disseminating information among project providers. Currently they are not very active at all in this respect, and often lack such knowledge themselves.

• These institutions should also be equipped with instruments enabling the monitoring of the true

degree of execution of the “gender mainstreaming” principle by project providers. This monitoring should be based on clearly and precisely worded indices enabling a proper assessment of equal opportunities. Currently there are no such instruments.

• In addition, when assessing the projects this principle should constitute a genuine point of

assessment; currently it is in most cases just a formal issue. Right from the application stage the project provider should be obliged to present the project and propose actions in the context of

2 “Practical guide to equal treatment of men and women in structural funds”

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equal opportunities for men and women; presently this means – in most cases – that a project is in line with equal opportunities policy, treating this as a formality not based on any analysis or even reflection, while at the same time no responsibility is taken for this declaration.

• In order for a project provider to be able to describe a project responsibly in the context of equal

opportunities policy, it must be aware of what this policy signifies – including in regard to its own project. Currently project providers do not have the slightest idea of this.

• Because of this, as already mentioned earlier enormous effort should be put into training at all

levels related to the programme. Only in such a case would there be justification for moving away from positive actions (activities meant only for women, such as Measure 1.6) to horizontal actions, and implementing the gender mainstreaming in all activities. If such awareness does not increase, then giving up such measures could simultaneously constitute resignation from the only area consciously implementing this principle.

Below we present a synthetic diagnosis of the situation emerging from the studies conducted which provided the grounds for the above conclusions and recommendations. Out of necessity this diagnosis contains generalisations. It must be stressed that during the research we encountered cases contradicting this overall assessment, yet these were cases so isolated that their impact on the overall picture was insignificant. The institutional level

Only a few respondents perceived the necessity of steps to be taken within the gender mainstreaming in the context of projects implemented within the HRD SOP. Awareness of these issues in relation to the HRD SOP is very low; most respondents only associated this principle with ensuring gender equality in access to projects. They were much less often able to specify what this equality should actually involve, and how it should be put into effect.

The issue of “gender mainstreaming” is very often treated as a formal demand set by the

European Union, with identification of the matter going no further. In addition, when assessing projects this issue is as a rule treated as a formal demand which is generally seen as being widely fulfilled and not requiring any special action. Verification of whether projects actually do meet the principle of equality does not exist; the respondents could see no such need, and neither are there the tools for doing so.

Respondents widely agreed with the opinion that the principle of equal rights for men and women

should be implemented by project providers. However, only a few were able to point out how the contractors could actually achieve this. A widespread opinion was that as long as the project provider does not break this rule “in an ostentatious manner”, then the contractor is fulfilling it.

Data from monitoring is collected and broken by gender and then aggregated for reporting

purposes. However, the respondents attached little importance to data divided by gender. On the whole, such data is made little use of in project management, while information about gender proportions among ultimate beneficiaries was rated by the respondents as unimportant.

The majority of respondents were not interested in the issue of supporting equal opportunities

among men and women, and neither did they see the need for change in the next programme period. Moreover, their reactions to the proposition of strengthening equality issues in successive projects were unenthusiastic; they were afraid of burgeoning bureaucracy and the introduction of a demand for more detailed diagnosis of adherence to the principle of gender equality.

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The project level

Awareness of the issue of equal opportunities for men and women is not high among project providers, as confirmed by both the quantitative and qualitative research. Case studies covering selected projects conducted as part of the evaluation study revealed that project providers show little interest in whether this principle really is put into effect in their projects. On several occasions the evaluation forced the project providers to contemplate over this subject.

Most project providers approach the principle of equal opportunities in a “mechanical” way,

treating it as but another formal demand imposed on the contractor. Few of them in their spontaneous comments were able to indicate any specific actions that should be taken in regard to the principle of equal opportunities among men and women.

Few project providers had participated in any training at all covering equal opportunities. If they

had taken part in training, it dealt with projects in general, about writing them and the formal requirements related to their execution. Where the issue of equality for men and women was brought up at all during such training, it was done in a very general manner.

The project providers do not understand the “idea” of equal opportunities, and are unable to relate

it to their own projects. Most often they talked about access to what the project had to offer, but without analysing whether any barriers may occur in this accessibility.

Our research clearly showed that activities as part of the HRD SOP (e.g. training) are not a

stimulus overcoming the current segregation of occupations into those traditionally for men and those for women; their shape is a reflection of market demand. However, it must be stressed that they respond very precisely to any changes on the market in this area, easily catering for all market needs breaking stereotypical perception of men’s and women’s occupations. However, reflection on the part of project providers plus thorough market analysis taking account of gender issues – followed by a promotional campaign tailored to this – would seem to have a chance of feedback significantly enhancing the beginnings of change in the stereotypes in this field that are emerging on the market. The research has shown than the influence here is single-direction only, the stimuli coming from the market. Where such stimuli are absent or have not been noticed (missed at the diagnosis stage), what the project providers offer tends rather to recreate the existing stereotypes of occupations for men and women.

A social perspective Looking at the social perspective and changes in this area, one can discern positive trends. Although difficult to explicitly identify the impact of the HRD SOP itself, one can claim that these actions undoubtedly constitute one of the more important stimuli creating the conditions for the changes. Nevertheless, one must bear in mind that here we are dealing with an entire palette of mutually reinforcing interactions. The following should also undoubtedly be mentioned here:

o Economic growth, and the dynamic changes on the labour market o The drain of men from the Polish labour market (income-seeking emigration) resulting in

women being considered by employers even in occupations traditionally reserved for men o Broad-scale social campaigns in the media addressing the issue of equal opportunities o Programmes jointly financed from structural funds addressing stimulation of the job

market

These are not, of course, all of the interactions that occur, but would seem in the context of this evaluation to be of key importance.

Work itself is steadily losing importance for both men and women, with ever greater significance ascribed to aspects related to one’s private life: family, friends and free time. Such a shift in the

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importance of priorities is most probably linked to the falling level of unemployment and therefore the fact that the spectre of employment has ceased to veil other areas of life.

Despite a rise in numbers believing that women’s work is done at the cost of their children and family

(this increase undoubtedly caused by the shift in priorities), one can clearly see that attitude towards the occupational role of women – in separation from family life – has clearly improved; here one can observe evident growth in the acceptance for the occupational role of women together with an increase in the understanding of the benefits this role gives a woman.

The years 2005-2007 noted a high level of growth in the numbers believing work to be the best way

for a woman to achieve independence.

A traditionally “women’s” area is that of home life and care of one’s children. Importantly over the last two years changes have been observed in awareness, above all among women but also among men, regarding the justifiability of the current division of home chores. This is undoubtedly the influence of broad-scale media campaigns regarding the situation and position of women. Change in awareness is the first step and a fundamental one towards change in behaviour.

Change in awareness can also be seen in both genders in regard to views of men’s involvement in

carrying out home chores. Although women still believe more often than men that men should participate in carrying out the household chores regardless of the situation, one can clearly see an increase in the percentage of both men and women sharing this opinion.

In the last two years there has been a rise in the percentage of those with small children using public

and private nursery schools, with fewer choosing to secure the help of private childminders. However, there is still a high percentage of those with children of pre-school age not using any form of childcare. Thus, as one can see, the situation here is improving, but a lot still remains to be done.

There has been a distinct sharpening of views over the last two years in regard to popular gender

stereotypes. In 2007 there was a rise both in the percentage agreeing and the percentage disagreeing with gender stereotypes (with a decrease in the number of those undecided). This is undoubtedly an effect of the issue being publicised by the mass media – with one hearing more and more often about such matters, thus making it difficult to remain indifferent.

Traditionally men agree more often than women with stereotypical statements about the competence

of the two genders. The strength of these stereotypes is growing among men, and falling among women.

Since 2005 there has been a threefold rise in the feeling shared by respondents that they belong to a

discriminated group (from 5% to 15%). Women feel discriminated against more often than men (respectively 17% and 13%). This testifies to a rise in awareness undoubtedly resulting from media campaigns.

However, it is worth pointing out that those who feel discriminated against due to their gender feel this

discrimination to a lesser degree than those who felt discriminated against due to gender two years ago.

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The table below contains the study’s main conclusions and related recommendations.

Conclusion Recommendation Programme level

Low awareness of the “gender mainstreaming” principle and no knowledge regarding possibilities for taking specific actions resulting from it.

Popularisation of knowledge on equal opportunities among men and women, and showing the importance of this principle in the perspective of implementing structural funds, is essential (via training, conferences, social campaigns).

Poor availability of information regarding the policy of equal opportunities for men and women. Currently institutions involved in implementing SOP HRD are not very active in this respect at all, often themselves lacking such knowledge.

Institutions involved in carrying out SOP HRD, particularly Managing and Implementing bodies, should also fulfil a role of disseminating knowledge among project providers.

During project assessment identification of whether a project violates the principle is treated as only a formal matter.

The principle should constitute a genuine point of evaluation during project assessment.

No instruments for the monitoring and systematic evaluation of implementation of equal opportunities for men and women at the programme level and in specific Priorities, Measures and projects.

These institutions should be equipped with instruments enabling the monitoring of the true level of implementation of the “gender mainstreaming” principle by project providers in their projects. This monitoring should be based on clearly and accurately worded indices enabling proper assessment of equal opportunities.

Analysis of participation ratios for men and women in the projects conducted within specific priority areas showed that mainly women make use of support with the SOP HRD

Conducting a study aimed at identifying obstacles experienced by men in access to support, and analysis of discrimination of men on the labour market.

Project level Low awareness of the “gender mainstreaming” principle and lack of knowledge about possibilities for taking specific actions resulting from it

Popularisation of knowledge on equal opportunities among men and women, and showing the importance of this principle in the perspective of project execution, is essential (via training and publications), with specific reference to what this policy means, including in regard to one’s project.

During project assessment identification of whether a project violates the principle is treated as only a formal matter.

At the application stage the project providers should be obliged to present the project and its proposed actions in the context of gender mainstreaming principle

The project provider takes no responsibility for declarations that a project does not violate the principle of equality.

The project provider should be obliged to demonstrate specific actions taken in a project aimed at implementing this principle.

Social level Gender stereotypes linked to allocation of home chores are still very much alive.

Further interaction via broad-scale media campaigns.

Gender stereotypes regarding women’s occupational role persist. Further interaction via broad-scale media campaigns. Women continue to be in a worse situation on the labour market. Further interaction via broad-scale media campaigns.

Changes in legislation. Promotion and introduction on a large scale of flexible forms of employment.

Existing segregation of occupations into women’s and men’s jobs.

Campaigns addressed to employers showing the qualities of the gender under-represented in an occupation.

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3 INTRODUCTION

3.1 Gender equality in EU documents3 and in the new programming period Equality between women and men is one of the EU’s fundamental values and according to Article 2 of the Treaty it is one of the tasks to be actively promoted by the Community. Article 3 lays down the principle of gender mainstreaming by stating that in all its activities the Community shall aim to eliminate inequalities and to promote the equality of men and women. Furthermore, Article 13 stipulates pro-active actions to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. Articles 137 and 141 refer to gender equality in relation to the labour market. They also stipulate equal opportunities and equal treatment at work and that each Member State shall ensure that the principle of equal pay for male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value is in place. The Community has adopted a two-pronged approach to promoting gender equality. It combines positive actions in support of the under-represented sex with gender mainstreaming in all policy fields. The gender mainstreaming perspective of the European Employment Strategy is an instrument to better explore and understand the causes of gender inequalities in our societies and design appropriate strategies to tackle them. It means integration of the gender perspective into every step of the policy processes: design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation - with a view of promoting equality between men and women. If applied systematically, the tool may allow to highlight the differences between men and women in relation to a given policy in terms of rights, access to resources or representation in decision-making bodies. The European Employment Strategy (EES) reflects this two-pronged approach by combining women-specific objectives (e.g. employment rate of 60%, reduction of gender gaps in employment, unemployment and pay) with the need to integrate the gender perspective in all actions taken. In the frame of the reformed EES and its integration into the new Community Lisbon Programme, the Integrated Guidelines for growth and jobs (2005-2008)4, as well as the Communication from the Commission on Community Strategic Guidelines 2007-20135 stress that equal opportunities, combating discrimination and promoting gender mainstreaming are essential for making progress towards achieving full employment, and reducing unemployment and inactivity. As can be read in the Report by the ad hoc working group of Member States for gender mainstreaming of June 2006: „Despite this comprehensive framework inequalities persist and are blocking an equal participation of women and men in all aspects of society, which symbolises a society’s level of political maturity. This ambitious goal, however, is far from being a reality. The labour market still favours men over women and reflects reinforces men’s and women’s perceived roles at home, polarising existing divisions although there is clear evidence that the lifestyle of the majority of women and also of many men no longer fits into these tight compartments6. Clearly, gender gaps in education, training and on the labour market and the lack of support services that enable a better reconciliation of work and family life are preventing or at least slowing down progress in relation to the EES and Lisbon targets”. The implementation of the Structural Funds in Poland, with the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development as one of its elements, fits into the above context of the key EU documents stressing the importance of gender equality problems. Equality between men and women is a fundamental value of the Community and a task actively promoted by the Community. Key EU documents, such as the Lisbon Strategy and the European Employment Strategy, Community Strategic Guidelines 2007-2013 highlight the need to ensure equal opportunities for 3 Source: The Gender Mainstreaming principle in new ESF documents (2007-2013), Programming Framework, Report by an ad-hoc working group of the Member States on gender equality and gender mainstreaming, June 2006. 4 COM(2005) 141. 5 COM(2005) 299. 6 Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on equality between women and men - 2006 r, COM(2006) 71 final.

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both sexes and promote the policy of gender equality. The perspective is also reflected in Poland, in the new programming period of 2007-2013, by the Human Capital Operational Programme (HC OP). Although the programme does not have a special measure dedicated to women, as under SOP HRD 2004-2006 (Measure 1.6 Professional integration and reintegration of women), it is assumed that the equal opportunity principle will be respected across the HC OP priorities. The underlying assumption is also that HC OP will promote systemic solutions, by supporting the popularisation of the principle and respecting it at all stages of the programme delivery, i.e. implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation. The assumption at the implementation stage is that the projects to be prepared will be based on a diagnosis which will take into account the situation of men and women in a given field and on a gender impact assessment. Each project delivered under HC OP will contain a description of the gender impact assessment. This will allow the different impacts of the project on men and women to be checked and assessed, so as to avoid inequality or discrimination. The analysis will also allow to verify whether the project does actually take into account the needs of men and women, e.g. through offering different, individualised forms of support responding to the different needs of its male/female participants. The project’s value in terms of its contents will be also assessed on the basis of the analysis and will take into account gender impact. In addition, during the implementation stage, the project selection criteria will take into account the needs of the different social groups in the areas concerned, also through giving preference to underprivileged groups. Thanks to such an approach, it will be possible to generate projects through so-called ‘positive activities’, which will allow an adverse situation of either gender in a given area to be reversed, and thus social and professional changes equalised. The projects will be classified as follows:

• Positive projects – specific actions oriented to combating existing inequalities between men and women.

• Equality projects – activities which contribute to gender equality in a general sense. At the level of monitoring and reporting, the system of indicators included in the operational programme is to make possible the collection of gendered statistical data. The reporting process will take into account the above classification of projects and their potential impact on equal opportunities under HC OP. The assumption at the evaluation stage is to investigate the impact of HC OP on the implementation of the equal opportunity principle. In addition, data obtained from the computer system collecting project participants’ details may permit systematic and comprehensive evaluation studies in view of the support granted by gender, tracking further progress in the situation and the effectiveness of assistance granted by gender7. Taking into account the above assumptions and assuming that they will be implemented in a consistent manner under HC OP, it can be expected that a similar evaluation as this one - but carried out towards the end of the 2007-2013 programming period - will lead to more positive conclusions on the implementation of gender mainstreaming. Yet, for this to be achieved, the results of this evaluation and the recommendations formulated in the report – in particular those suggesting the need to carry out very intensive publicity and training activities - should be implemented. Without such activities none of the groups involved in the implementation of the programme (project providers, implementing authorities) will be able to achieve the goals outlined in HC OP as regards respecting the equal opportunity principle.

3.2 SOP HRD – in the context of equal treatment of men and women The main goal of Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development is “to build an open, knowledge-based society by means of ensuring conditions for developing human resources through education, training and work”. SOP HRD covers the following fields of support:

7 Human Capital Operational Programme.

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• Active labour market policies; • Counteracting social exclusion; • Ensuring equal opportunities for women on the labour market; • Continuing education; • Adaptability and enterprise development; • Strengthening administrative capacities.

As a horizontal objective, ensuring equal opportunities of men and women on the labour market should be present in all the above fields of support, during all project delivery stages, and the corresponding activities should be suitably documented. The evaluation of the applications submitted by project providers, both in formal terms and in terms of their content, should involve verification whether a given project promotes equal opportunities between men and women and focuses on equalising the opportunities of both genders on the labour market. The principle of equal opportunities should be also applied in appointing the members of the Monitoring Committee for SOP HRD and Steering Committees, ensuring balanced membership of men and women in both Committees. The Monitoring Committee for SOP HRD is also responsible for ensuring that the equal opportunity principle is observed during the implementation of the Programme. The following equal opportunity objectives were set for SOP HRD:

• improvement of the situation of women on the labour market, • limiting the feminisation of poverty, • improvement of women’s access to employment, information and career advice services,

including those related to self-employment, in order to make it easier for women and men to reconcile work and family life.

The following general effects of the implementation of SOP HRD in terms of supporting equal opportunities were expected:

• growth in the share of women in the overall employment figure; • improved awareness of gender issues.

In particular, the following are expected as a result of the implementation of gender mainstreaming as a horizontal issue:

• increased public acceptance of women performing occupational and social roles; • implementation of a new institutional approach, assuming inter alia flexible recruitment rules and

access to caretaking & educational services; • raising women’s awareness of the need of continuing education and using for this purpose the

available training and career advice services; • increased share of women among the self-employed; • creation of a stable lobby of organisations and institutions supporting women-oriented activities.

The following initiatives were to ensure that the above results will be achieved:

• supporting gender equality in the access to the labour market; • improved awareness of all partners of the need to take such activities; • dissemination of knowledge about the legal bases of gender equality;

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• involving the institutions and organisations supporting equality between men and women on the labour market in project delivery and monitoring;

• propagating the idea of continued investing into self-growth and flexible approach to the profession among women;

• implementation of programmes enhancing women’s opportunities on the labour market, in particular the opportunities of rural women.

3.3 Evaluation goals and levels of analysis According to the Practical guide to equal treatment of men and women in the Structural Funds gender mainstreaming consists in ensuring that all actions and initiatives, at all implementation stages, take into account, in a full and active way, their impact on the situation of men and women8. The main goal of this evaluation study is to assess whether the principle was sufficiently observed during the implementation of Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development. In principle, the evaluation covers all programme delivery stages and all levels – both the institutional level and the project level. According to the programme of this study, the activities covered by the evaluation included those which were related to the initiation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the actions taken to promote equal opportunities. The entire study covers the following levels of analysis:

1) Institutional level 2) Project level 3) Social level

The following aspects were assessed on the institutional level:

• knowledge of the gender mainstreaming principle among employees (examination of the level of knowledge, awareness);

• declared level to which the gender equality principle is applied by the employees; • actual use made of the knowledge and application of the gender mainstreaming principle by

employees; • impact of the application of the gender mainstreaming principle on the internal environment: to

what extent is the equality principle observed within institutions, • impact of the application of the gender mainstreaming principle on the external environment of the

institution concerned: in what way is the gender mainstreaming principle applied in the management and implementation of SOP HRD.

At the project level the evaluation investigated the application of the gender equality principle in projects delivered within all the fields of support under SOP HRD at the stage of:

• project preparation and delivery (in terms of the content of the project and the project delivery management)

• recruitment of participants, • monitoring the progress made in project delivery.

On the social level the evaluation concerned the level of awareness of gender issues and attempted to identify the trends in this respect. 8 Praktyczny poradnik w zakresie równego traktowania kobiet i mężczyzn w funduszach strukturalnych (Practical guide to equal treatment of men and women in the Structural Funds).

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The entire study consists of the following modules: Institutional level:

• 25 in-depth interviews (IDI) with selected representatives of the institutions • Internet survey (CAWI) covering all the employees of the institutions involved in SOP HRD

Project level:

• Case Studies of 20 selected projects in the framework of all measures (target sample) • 500 computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI) – a stratified sample of all projects • Internet survey (CAWI) addressed to all project providers (completed projects and projects under

way) Social perspective:

• A representative survey of the Polish population aged 15+ - survey on a 1000-person representative group of Poles (a block of questions in Pentor Omnibus)

• Survey among opinion leaders – in-depth interviews with representatives of science, politics and the media (7 IDIs).

In addition, throughout the implementation of the project, Desk Research is carried out as a linkage for all levels of analysis. A detailed description of the study model applied and of the study modules is presented in Section 6 of this Report. For clarity reasons, the layout of the report reflects the study model. It consists of three levels of analysis: the institutional level, project level and social perspective. However, where it seemed useful, the data presented concern all the levels. However, care was taken to avoid repetitions and destroying the structure.

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4 RESULTS OF THE STUDIES CARRIED OUT IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE EVALUATION 4.1 INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL 4.1.1 Institutional level – gender mainstreaming problems – the ideal situation vs. reality

(summary of results). For the needs of this evaluation a theoretical structure was built showing the ideal situation, i.e. the conditions which should be met for one to able to state that the gender equality perspective is maintained at the level of the institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD. The ideal picture would consist of the following elements:

High awareness of the gender mainstreaming principle across the social context.

Implementation of the principle in the persons’ surveyed own institutions.

High awareness of the principle in the context of SOP HRD – theory and the corresponding practice.

Implementation of the principle at the level of project evaluation.

Monitoring of the implementation of the principle among project providers.

Performing the disseminating and awareness-raising role with respect to project providers.

As shown by the studies performed in the framework of the evaluation, it is only in the case of the first two aspects that the evaluation of the institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD is positive. In a wider social perspective (going beyond SOP HRD) the awareness and knowledge of gender equality among the employees of the institutions surveyed is high. The respondents expressed a wide range of views about gender equality in Poland. They nearly unanimously pointed to the need of pursuing gender equality activities and they proposed various solutions possible in this respect. Also the respondents’ own institutions were appraised very highly in this respect – most of the respondents maintained that they work in institutions where equality between men and women is respected. However, we face quite a different reality when we come down to the level of SOP HRD: • Only a few respondents pointed to the need of taking actions related to equality of men and women in

the context of the projects implemented under SOP HRD. • The awareness of gender issues with respect to SOP HRD is very low – most of the respondents

associated the principle merely with ensuring equal access to projects. • Very often, gender mainstreaming is treated as a formal requirement and nothing more. • Also during the assessment of projects gender mainstreaming is treated as a formal requirement,

which is commonly deemed to be met and does not require special activities. A verification whether projects do actually respect gender equality does not exist – the respondents do see a need for it or do not have suitable verification tools.

17

• A common view is that the principle of equal rights between men and women should be implemented by project providers. However, only some respondents were able to point in what way the principle can be implemented by project providers. There is a common view among the employees of the institutions dealing with SOP HRD that a project provider fulfils the principle if they do not breach it in an “ostentatious way”.

• Monitoring data are gathered by gender and then aggregated for reporting purposes. However, the

data is used to a limited extent and information about gender proportions among the project beneficiaries is considered by irrelevant by them. The respondents are not aware at all of the ways the data can be used.

• For most part the respondents are not interested in problems related to supporting equal opportunities

between men and women and they do not see any need for changes in the next programming period. Recommendations for the next programming period

• There is a need to popularise knowledge (through training, conferences, social campaigns) about the equal opportunity principle and point to the importance of the principle from the perspective of the implementation of the Structural Funds.

• The institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD, in particular Managing and

Implementing Authorities, should disseminate relevant knowledge among project providers.

• The institutions should be provided with instruments for monitoring the actual delivery of gender mainstreaming by project providers in their projects. The monitoring should be based on clearly and precisely formulated indicators allowing equality issues to be tackled in a correct way.

• During project evaluation the principle should be treated as an actual element of evaluation.

4.1.2 Level of knowledge of the equal opportunity principle among employees involved in the implementation of SOP HRD

4.1.2.1 General attitude of respondents to issues related to the equalisation of opportunities between

men and women Both the qualitative and quantitative studies have shown that in a wider social perspective (going beyond SOP HRD) the awareness and knowledge of equal opportunity issues among the employees of the institutions is high. Respondents expressed a wide range of views about gender equality in Poland. They nearly unanimously pointed to the need of pursuing gender equality activities and they put proposed various solutions possible in this respect. The quantitative study has shown that most representatives of the institutions dealing with SOP HRD have a high awareness of inequality of opportunities and substantial knowledge about the problem. In their spontaneous responses concerning the possible connotations of the term only 5% of the respondents (N=918) did not speak their mind, 3% of whom said that the problem does not exist and 2% answered "I don't know". Most often, issues related to the equality of opportunities between men and women is associated with gender equality at work (73% of the indications, N=918). Within this category the most frequently (more than 10%) indicated answers included the equality of pay (49%), equal opportunities on the labour market (27%), equal promotion opportunities (25%), equal treatment by the employer and equal access to posts (13% each).

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Nearly every third respondent (30%) pointed to social equality here. The most frequent indications (more that 2%) in this category included: equal treatment – the same rights and duties (15%), equal division of duties in private life (6%), equal participation in social life (4%) and equal opportunities in politics (3%). The following areas were pointed to much less frequently: equality of qualifications (14%) - perceived mainly as equality of access to education and all occupations, combating stereotypes (6%) and equality in childcare (5%). What is understood by „equal opportunities between men and women”? – employees of institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD

49%

25%

13%

13%

8%

30%

15%

6%

4%

3%

2%

14%

10%

6%

6%

4%

5%

3%

3%

2%

73%

27%

EQUALITY AT WORK

pay at the same lev el

equal opportunities on the labour market

equal promotion opportunities/ access to high-rank positions

equal treatment by the employer

equal access to posts - based exclusiv ely on gender

non-discrimnation of women at work due to children / willingness tohav e children

SOCIAL EQUALITY

equal treatment regardless of gender/ same rights and duties - ingeneral

equal div ision of responsibilities in priv ate/ home life

equal civ il rights/ equal access to public and social life

equal opportunities in politics

feminism

EQUALITY OF QUALIFICATIONS

equal educational / qualification raising opportunities

women's access to occupations prev iously considered typically maleand v ice v ersa

COMBATING STEREOTYPES

change of stereotypes - suppressing the negativ e impact of traditionimposing specific roles on both genders

CHILDCARE ASSISTANCE

adjustment of the organisation of work to the needs of women raisingchildren

I do not see such discrimination/ it is becoming less and lessintensiv e/ artificially blown-up issue

I don't know

N = 918

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It must be stressed that the fact of a direct involvement of an employee in SOP HRD does not lead to a different answer here – the percentage of indications among the group of employees engaged in SOP HRD and among the employees who are not involved in SOP HRD is nearly identical. Women pointed to equality at work more often than men, while men stressed social equality. What seems to be troubling is the fact the assessment of the correspondence between the promotion of equal opportunities and its actual scale was not unambiguous. Although most of the respondents (57%) considered that it is not true that the problem is excessively and artificially publicised, as many as 30% agreed with this opinion. Men agreed much more than women. Also in this case the fact of occupational involvement in SOP HRD did not lead to differences between respondents. How strongly do you agree with the opinion that equal opportunity issues are excessively and artificially publicised?

Those who agreed with the opinion that the problem is excessively and artificially publicised (N=272) argued that there is too much fuss about it, while in fact they do not notice any discrimination on the grounds of gender (25%), the problem is artificially blown-up for other purposes – e.g. for electoral campaigns (15%). The respondents also questioned the very legitimacy of equal rights in view of the natural differences between men and women and the denomination of extreme views in the media. Such arguments were much more often raised by men. A relatively high percentage of the respondents (23%, much higher among women) argued here that the excessive publicity and exaggeration lie in the fact that the activities in this respect are reduced to media campaigns which are not followed by concrete actions, while the huge importance of the problem requires activity rather than publicity.

8%

10%

6%

14%

4%

23%

31%

18%

33%

30%

34%

31%

33%

24%

24%

24%

10%

31%

14%

15%

13%

14%

14%

22%

20%

Overall (N=918)

LINK WITH SOP HRD

Yes (N=324)

No (N=594)

GENDER

Man (N=297)

Woman (N=621)

[4] Strongly agree [3] Rather agree [2] Rather disagree [1] Strongly disagree Hard to say

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Reasons underlying the opinions that equal opportunity issues are excessively and artificially publicised – those who agree

The evidence of discrimination of women in Poland is supplied by the qualitative surveys carried out among the representatives of the institutions involved in SOP HRD. The respondents unanimously stated that the situation of women in Poland is worse than that of men, in particular as regards the position on the labour market. They stressed that although women are better educated than men, still they are less active on the labour market. Moreover they have lower salaries and occupy lower positions. Lower pay, periods over which women do not have their social contributions paid due to childcare-related work interruptions, and lower retirement age cause women to receive lower pensions than men. In addition, society still cherishes the stereotype according to which women should be housewives rather than engage in a career. Taking a closer look at the situation of women on the labour market, women do have a more difficult access to jobs. They are burdened with family duties, which hinder access to employment. The evaluation studies have shown that women are actually capable of finding employment, but because they have to take care of their children or dependants they give up employment. There were also situations (reported by employees of Poviat Labour Offices) in which an unemployed woman was on a project, and then her

Indications 4% and more

25%

5%

26%

15%

7%

4%

23%

8%

14%

7%

5%

7%

37%

5%

THE TERM IS OVERUSED

I have never encountered any signs of genderdiscrimination

The media spread extreme view s about feminists

in Poland the problem is not huge, yet it does exist

ARTIFICIAL PROBLEM

issue artif icially blow n-up in the media, fashionableduring electoral campaigns

the demands for absolute equality do not take intoaccount the dif ferent predispositions of men and w omen

discrimination is of ten pointed to, although it is w omenw ho are advantaged in many professions

REAL PROBLEM

it is w idely publicised but nothin/ little is done

DISCRIMINATION OF WOMEN AT WORK

w omen obtain low er pay

w omen have less opportunities for a promotion

I don't know / It seems so/ no commentsN = 272

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husband would come and say: “She is my wife and I don’t want her to work. She is supposed to stay at home” Managing Authority for SOP HRD As far as gender equality is concerned, there is a need to translate this principle into practice, because nearly everybody supports it and nobody questions it. Yet, there is a practical problem, i.e. underprivileged situation of women on the labour market. They have lower earnings, receive lower retirement benefits, because they are simply out of work for some time and do not have their social contributions paid. They also work shorter, as their retirement age is..., I mean they may retire at the age of 60 and not 5 year later as men, and consequently they are, despite having the same duties, and all things considered - even more duties, in a more difficult situation both on the labour market and in terms of earnings... Steering Committee Another problem on the labour market is the hindered access to certain occupations perceived as typically female or typically male. On the other hand, the respondents pointed that changes in this respect will be forced by the market itself, because there is a need to occupy the vacancies, regardless of the sex of the employee. The market trends in this respect can be fostered by social campaigns promoting the gender under-represented in certain professions (e.g. female bus drivers). Needless to mention the culturally conditioned perception of certain occupations as exclusively female or male. Let’s take a closer look at what we have: On the one hand, we have unemployment, and on the other, there are plenty of vacancies which are to be taken and there are no persons to do it. A male kindergarten teacher seems somewhat strange, e.g. we need caretakers for the elderly and this work can be done by males equally well. There is a need for them on the labour market and they could enter it, but there is a general feeling that a male caretaker or nurse does not fit in the picture... Managing Authority SOP HRD 4.1.2.2 Equal opportunities of men and women – actions proposed across a wider social perspective The opinion that the equality of opportunities between men and women is a problem which should be widely discussed and publicised and which requires wide-ranging social activities was commonly expressed by the participants of both the qualitative and quantitative surveys. The problem is strongly associated with gender inequalities on the labour market. This mainly concerns equal rights between men and women on the labour market in the context of the underprivileged position of women. These activities are to improve the lives of the people who benefit from the assistance. As a consequence they are to help their families. If we consider a family whose mother does not work because she looks after a small child and this is only because she has nobody to leave her child with, she loses a few years of her life. She drops out of the labour market. The level of frustration grows, while the level of the family’s income goes down. This has wider social implications... Managing Authority SOP HRD According to most of the respondents, changes must take place mainly in people’s mentality, in particular that of women, who should be encouraged to take part in training, also in that stereotypically reserved for men, e.g. ITC training, which those surveyed consider as typically male. Moreover women should be encouraged to change their qualifications, so that they can remain active on the labour market and work in professions normally reserved for men. ... to be honest there should be a change in the way of thinking and attempts should be made to understand the needs of various social groups, here men and women, because women benefit from training in a different way... Managing Authority SOP HRD Also the way of thinking among entrepreneurs should change. They should be encouraged to employ women, especially on higher positions and to equalise their salaries with those of men.

22

Change people’s mentality. This is of top and fundamental importance. It refers both to the women who take part in training and to employers. I think the issue of mentality is linked to the sphere of private life. Owners of private businesses are afraid to employ a women and if they have a choice, they prefer to hire a men... Implementing Authority What is also worth considering, according to the respondents, is a shift in the general attitude of society to gender equality issues, still treated “with a grain of salt” and commonly associated with feminist movements. However, what seems to be most important in terms of gender equality and I hope we have played a positive role here, at least to some degree, is the educational role. For gender equality to brought in people’s minds and be perceived in a way devoid of ideological hints. As a rule, the issues are associated with some crazy feminists. On the other hand, if we look at hard indicators, the problem does exist just as do the underlying causes, so further actions in this respect makes sense... Managing Authority SOP HRD Most of the respondents claimed that for the mentality of society to be changed publicity and information actions are needed – press, radio and TV advertisements. Both publicity and recruitment announcements should be prepared in such a way as not to inform that a training course is for men or women. Also consulting services for women and comprehensive support for men and women should be put in place.

What actions? Publicity and information should be wide enough to be accessible to all. This means radio and television and all sorts of other announcements. Care must be taken not to mention in an ad that something is exclusively for women or men. Ads should mention that the training is both for women and men. When publishing announcements care must be taken not to use grammatical gender. Their contents should be formulated in an impersonal way. Because otherwise it will be totally against the gender equality principle... Implementing Authority Publicity activities should also target entrepreneurs, so as to make them aware that women can be as good and valuable employees as men. Such intensive publicity campaigns, not just putting up posters in streets, but a wide-range media campaign, which would be most helpful... it must be regular in the first place and involve activities targeted at potential employers, mainly entrepreneurs... Implementing Authority Apart from these publicity actions aiming to change the mentality of Polish society in terms of equal treatment of men and women, also systemic solutions should be put in place – amendments to the labour code, protection of the women entering the labour market after a childbirth.

We need a more systemic approach, because at present women have limited access to work. For example mothers returning after maternity leaves... those employed in state administration (just like us) have no problems, but with private employers... the system does not guarantee that women will be re-employed. So the need here is not for EU solutions, but rather for domestic, national ones. There is a need for a statutory amendment to the Labour Code... Implementing Authority

There were also proposals to support entrepreneurs and encourage them to employ women. This can be done e.g. by means of reimbursements and tax reliefs, e.g. when a workplace is maintained for a woman after her maternity leave or other childcare related leave, and financial support, aid schemes, similar to those for the disabled. I think that top-down systemic solutions should be put in place. These could involve tax reliefs or concessions for employing women or (...) flexible forms of employment, i.e. sharing responsibilities, e.g. the husband comes to work in the morning, while his wife looks after the child, then they swap... or other solutions of this type, so that employers are simply aware that responsibility sharing is an option. This plus perhaps not imposing burdens on employers in the form of costs related to maternity leaves, because they

23

pose the biggest problem. Then we have those extended non-paid post-maternity leaves, when employers are simply deprived of an employer. (...) So we need projects or programmes to help private entrepreneurs in dealing with such situations, or at least to provide financial support. ...Implementing Authority A representative of the Monitoring Committee pointed that EU funds could also support entrepreneurs in taking a range of actions to increase the employment of women at their companies and care about gender equality. For some time now we have been making every effort not only to make EU funds promote equality but also to use them to finance concrete, positive actions which would make women’s and men’s life easier in companies and help them reconcile work and family life. So that real practical possibilities are created. Instead of spending money on another publicity campaign named: ”Gender equality is important”, money could be spent on setting up kindergartens and crèches. I am sure that a great number of companies would benefit. And this would be such a practical step. I do think that the possibility of implementing such ideas would be welcomed with a great enthusiasm and interest by companies, in particular those which contact us and request it. This is not a fancy idea that we had, not our initiative, but bottom-up initiative of companies... Monitoring Committee According to our studies, care should be taken to make it easier for women to return to work after a break related with childbirth and child raising. Another proposed solution is to ensure childcare (kindergartens, crèches, etc.) and care over dependants, so as to disburden men and women of their family duties, and put in place systemic solutions – introduction of flexible employment, sharing maternity/„paternity” leaves between spouses. We all know that in Poland it is women who do the childcare and this is a problem. Maternity and post-maternity leaves, following which women’s qualifications become outdated. So naturally they have more problems getting a new job or returning to the labour market. These activation efforts must spread over the entire country and target in particular the women who return to the labour market or have dropped out of the labour market for other reasons. Of course this also refers to men, as they can also go on maternity leaves, although this is less common. This problem concerns women rather than men and should be addressed and solved in view of this... Implementing Authority What we also need is a policy of supporting the labour market in those areas which are in need of employment in general, change of qualifications and support for alternative labour market solutions – telework, flexible working hours. As I mentioned before, it seems that there is no super-equality in Poland and the situation of women on the labour market is worse than that of men. And this requires systemic solutions and introducing alternative forms of work for women, but not by means of one-off childbirth support, but by helping women return to work, systems of training and giving men the possibility of taking parental leaves. Somehow equalise the opportunities of men and women on the labour market... Implementing Authority In the quantitative study nationwide activities are indicated which should be taken in the framework of the equal rights policy. As can be seen in the figure below these actions should include in particular: social and media actions (41%), legislation and family policy (24%), institutional solutions (21%), occupational solutions (20%), ensuring childcare (6%) and improving qualifications (5%). 11% of the respondents were unable to provide examples of activities which should be taken in the context of the equal opportunity policy while another 4% stated plainly that such activities are not needed. Also in this case the fact of a respondent being involved in SOP HRD does not influence the answer.

24

What activities may be taken in the framework of the equal opportunity principle? – nationwide

Indications over 3%

N=918

17%

6%

4%

4%

24%

15%

21%

7%

4%

20%

7%

5%

5%

4%

6%

5%

4%

11%

41%

7%

SOCIAL AND MEDIA ACTIONS,EDUCATION

carrying out awareness-raisinginformation actions

adv ertisements, socialcampaigns

publicity in the media

combating stereotypes harmfulfor women

depends on the concreteemployer/ change of employers'

mentality

LEGISLATION/ FAMILY POLICY

statutory acts, law, prov isions

INSTITUTIONAL SOLUTIONS

closing the gender pay gap

obligation to recruit employeesbased on qualifications and not

gender

SOLUTIONS AT WORK

support for employers by puttingin place flexible forms of

employment

creating conditions for womento be able to reconcile work and

family life

immunity period for a womanreturning to work after childbirth

maternity leav es, extended non-paid post-maternity leav es,

leav es for fathers

CARE OF CHILDREN ANDDEPENDANTS

QUALIFICATION RAISING

lack of activ ities, the situationdoes not require such activ ities,existing activ ities are sufficient

I don't know, I don't hav e anyidea, I don't hav e an opinion

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4.1.3 Problems related to the equal rights between men and women in relation to the institutions

involved in the implementation of SOP HRD 4.1.3.1 Opinion of employees about the level of knowledge on the equality of opportunities between

men and women in their institutions The qualitative research indicates that the respondents have a feeling that persons involved in SOP HRD have a more extensive knowledge about problems related to equal opportunities. They attribute this to their involvement in SOP HRD. As shown by this evaluation this view is unfounded – the fact that somebody is engaged in SOP HRD does not determine their knowledge in this respect. Moreover a relatively wide knowledge of a wider social perspective does not translate into knowledge related to SOP HRD. The respondents of the qualitative research admitted that the level of knowledge of the principle of equal treatment of men and women in their institutions among the employees dealing with EU programmes is relatively high. This results from the fact that equal treatment of men and women is one of the formal requirements for projects and the employees must verify whether it is guaranteed at the application level. Moreover the principle is an element of their work so the employees should be acquainted with it. On the other hand, it may be expected that the knowledge about gender mainstreaming among other employees, not involved in EU funds, is much lower. As shown by the studies, this way of reasoning is illegitimate. Persons associated with SOP HRD do not differ in terms of the general knowledge related to a wide social perspective from the rest of the employees of the institutions concerned. Moreover, the knowledge is applied to activities related to SOP HRD only to a small degree. In the context of the programme most often it functions as a purely theoretical structure, which nobody knows what to do with. It seems to me that the level of knowledge is high because everybody has come across the issues when implementing their projects. Beneficiaries are required to take into account gender quality in their applications... Implementing Authority I think that everybody in our ministry is acquainted with gender equality issues in the framework of SOP HRD. This is because they participate in the implementation of projects and have this essential knowledge. Our employees are simply required to be acquainted with the issues... Implementing Authority However, some respondents pointed that what is problematic is the high turnover of the employees who deal with EU funds. Therefore it is necessary to provide continuing training to these persons so as to maintain and enhance the level of relevant knowledge in the institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD. As shown by the evaluation, training programmes are needed not just to address the high turnover of employees, but also to increase the level of knowledge among the employees involved in SOP HRD. This is what I judge by my own experience... that we need a training programme, which can even be developed at the central level, an all-comprising plan, so that each institution may handle it within their own competences. The team of trainers would include those employees who have dealt with the subject plus an expert... Managing Authority for SOP HRD Attention was also drawn to the fact that the members of Steering Committees are selected in a random way, i.e. according to a predetermined parity and not based on the qualifications. I will add here that the very fact that I became a member of the committee... for sure the requirement is to have knowledge about the application requirements, so as to be able to assess whether a project is good and drafted correctly, yet here the main stress was on gender equality, because the Ministry required one representative to be male, the other female, so I was the one to be appointed... Steering Committee In the qualitative study, in order to investigate the level of knowledge about how the equal opportunity policy may be implemented within the institutions, we asked the persons surveyed to suggest actions

26

which may be delivered in this respect. 32% of the persons surveyed said that they do need see a need for such actions within their institutions, because there is no discrimination there, while further 19% admitted that they cannot think of any such actions. This may indeed be a result of the very good situation in terms of equal opportunities in the institutions surveyed, although on the other hand such results may also indicate indifference and lack of knowledge. The rest of the respondents proposed a wide range of such actions, with the individual indications being very fragmented – none exceeded 6% of the indications. The following were among the most frequent responses: opening a kindergarten or crèche within the institution (6%), information and publicity measures (4%), training for persons occupying managerial positions (3%), equal pay (5%), equal promotion opportunities (5%), equal access to posts (3%), flexible working hours (3%), actions targeted at men providing incentives take occupations with the institution (3%).

4.1.3.2 Implementation of the equal opportunity principle in institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD

According to the general classification of the Gender Index, the best institution in terms of equal opportunities was the Voivodship Labour Office in Poznań, followed by the Ministry of Regional Development and the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. The Ministry of National Education ranked fourth and the Voivodship Labour Office in Łódz fifth. The Voivodship Labour Office in Szczecin takes the sixth rank, while the VLO in Rzeszów seventh. The ranking is closed by State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons. In the qualitative studies representatives of the institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD claimed that there is no discrimination in their institutions and that the principle of equal opportunities between men and women is implemented. This was confirmed also by the quantitative studies. As presented in the previous chapter, in answering the question about the possible actions in this respect within their institutions, 32% of the respondents said that such actions are not needed, because the problem does not exist. These opinions are mainly due to the fact that the institutions involved in SOP HRD are feminine environments, so the actual problem here may rather be the lack of men. Moreover, public administration is perceived by society as a woman-friendly workplace – stable, secure and permitting childcare-related interruptions. ... as a rule public administration is dominated by women, although things are beginning to change in the departments dealing with funds, e.g. the number of men is growing, yet the administration is perceived as an ideal place for women, because it offers stable and secure employment, they can go on a maternity leave and will not be fired. I think that in general the Ministry is a friendly place for women. ...Managing Authority SOP HRD In the qualitative surveys the respondents declared that as a rule the principle of equal rights between men and women is observed in their institutions. Women can go on maternity leaves without any problems and return to the same workplace. Also during recruitment gender does not matter at all - what is taken into account is qualifications and experience. According to the respondents also remuneration and promotion opportunities depend on professional achievements and skills. Yes, I think so... there are no constraints as regards training, training studies or post-graduate studies. Everybody can take part in a training course of their choice proposed by the Ministry. Also, human resources development is the same, regardless of the sex. There are no barriers in obtaining a post, i.e. positions are not attributed to gender. There are no such restrictions... Implementing Authority

27

When I go through our job offers, they are formulated in such a way as not to say that a job is for a man, so one may say that at this level we do observe the gender equality principle, because we do not state that we need a specific gender... Implementing Authority In our surveys we came across individual contrary opinions. One of them concerned posts – in a feminine institution the highest positions are occupied by men. One must stress, however, that it was a separate voice, the other respondents did not notice the problem. The positions of directors are occupied exclusively by man, while the rest of the managerial personnel, dealing with the implementation of the different measures, are women... Implementing Authority In individual cases one could hear voices that “sometimes such stereotypical perception does happen" and men and women are treated differently. We may say to ourselves that we are educated, civilised people respecting the principle of equal opportunities, but then we ask the question “why is my husband still at work...” Managing Authority SOP HRD The persons surveyed pointed that their institutions should ensure equal opportunities, so as to improve their image and perception by project providers. Above, we presented subjective opinions of respondents. In order to examine the objective level to which the rights of men and women are observed by the individual institutions involved in SOP HRD, the Gender Index for these institutions was calculated. The calculations were made for the following eight institutions: State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons, Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, Voivodship Labour Office in Szczecin, Voivodship Labour Office in Poznań, Voivodship Labour Office in Rzeszów, Voivodship Labour Office in Łódź, Ministry of Regional Development, Ministry of National Education. Unfortunately, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, despite repeated requests, refused to fill in the survey designed for the human resources division, which was a necessary condition for the index to be calculated. In order to build a measure for equal treatment of men and women we used the information included in the surveys completed by human resources departments and in the surveys filled in directly by the employees of the institutions concerned. The indicator building model comes from the report Kuropka, Pisz from 2007 on the methodology used in the first edition of the competition entitled Firma równych szans (Company of Equal Opportunities). A detailed description of the methodology is presented in Section 6 of this report. Within the seven study fields, the institutions concerned were ranked according to the highest intensity of a positive quality, i.e. such that indicate the lowest gender gap. Then the ranks of particular fields were summed up. On their basis each institution was given a rank within the field concerned – the resultant order corresponds to the rank achieved in the classification by the individual institutions. The cumulative result, i.e. the final ranking, was established as the weighted average of the ranks obtained in the individual fields. Similarly as in the previous evaluation, the weights were constructed on the basis of the answers to the question about the importance of the individual fields. The calculated weights are presented in the table below:

28

Table 2: Weights used to calculate the Gender Index No. Field Weights 1 Recruitment of employees 0.158 2 Access to promotion 0.151 3 Protection against dismissal 0.128 4 Access to training 0.082 5 Pay 0.147 6 Reconciliation of work and family life 0.182 7 Protection against harassment, mobbing 0.152

As can be seen, the persons surveyed gave the highest rank to the field related to reconciling work and family life, while the lowest to access to training.

Table 2 presents the sums of the ranks calculated for particular fields for each institution. The values reveal differences between the situation of men and women within a given field. It must be observed, however, that the lower the value, the higher the differences between the situation of men and women, i.e. the better the situation in terms of equal opportunities. At the level of rank sums, it would be possible to refer the results obtained to the corresponding results of the private companies which took part in the last year’s competition. Thus it would be possible to take the analysis beyond the situation of the institutions concerned – into a wider market context. However, the authors of the methodology informed us that the data is unavailable. Consequently, such a reference is possible only in theory. On the basis of the value of the rank sum, each institution was given a rank within each field – the final order corresponds to the rank achieved in the classification by the individual institutions. The cumulative result, i.e. the final ranking (Gender Index), was determined as the weighted average of the ranks granted for the individual fields (Table 3). The partial scores and the Gender Index itself is a relational indicator, which indicates the position in a hierarchy within a population – here the 8 institutions concerned. The Index cannot be automatically referred to the companies which took part in the competition. According to the general classification of the Gender Index, the best institution in terms of gender equality was the Voivodship Labour Office in Poznań, followed by MRD and Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. The Ministry of National Education ranked fourth and the Voivodship Labour Office in Łódź fifth. The VLO in Szczecin takes sixth rank, while the VLO in Rzeszów seventh. When analysing the ranks of the institutions surveyed in the different fields making up the total rank one may observe that: The Voivodship Labour Office in Poznań (the leader in the cumulative ranking) occupies the leading position in three fields: access to training, reconciliation of career and family life and protection against harassment and mobbing. As regards recruitment of employees it ranked the second, while in protection against dismissal third. It ranked much lower in terms of pay (4th) and promotion opportunities (5th). The Ministry of Regional Development (2nd rank) is the leader in recruitment of employees, access to promotion and pay. It ranked the third in terms of training. It takes the fourth position for the following fields: protection against dismissal and reconciliation of career and family life. It scored the lowest rank in protection against harassment and mobbing.

29

The Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (third rank in the cumulative ranking) scored the second rank in two fields: reconciliation of career and family life and protection against harassment and mobbing. It ranked third as regards pay and access to training, only sixth in recruitment of employees, fifth in protection against dismissal and fourth in access to promotion. The rankings for all institutions are presented in Table 4. In the case of the Ministry of Regional Development it can be easily seen that its score was affected by the last rank in protection against harassment and mobbing. Therefore we recommend that more attentions should be paid to the field and a procedure for mobbing and sexual harassment set up and put in place. In addition, we recommend that training should be carried out in equal rights of men and women – both for existing and newly recruited employees. A good solution would be also to introduce special information packages/training to communicate that the institution fulfils the principle of equal opportunities between men and women. What should be also considered is putting in place solutions helping employees to better reconcile work and family life. According to the booklet Company of Equal Opportunities 2006: “The equal treatment policy in the companies analysed is based on the implementation of the following principles:

• In recruiting employees stress is placed on individually identified personal qualities, skills and experience of the candidates according to the following rule: “show us what you can and what you want to achieve" without inquiring into private life and anticipating the possibilities of dealing with non-professional problems. Job offers are formulated in such a way as to ensure that both men and women may consider themselves suitable candidates in view of their individual qualities.

• Monitoring the method of remunerating men and women in line with the rule “equal pay for equal work”. Employers are aware that lack of monitoring makes us surrender to stereotypes, even against our will: “she has enough money while he needs to be taken care of”, which leads to pay gaps.

• Associating bonuses to the type of work and position, and not sex. Offering the same level of professional training and promotion to the male and female workers who are seen as potential candidates for internal promotion within the company.

• Creating mechanisms and procedures revealing cases of sexual harassment and discrimination on the grounds of gender by means of training which must be completed by employees and by appointing an organisational unit or person to deal with such cases “ex officio”.

• Solutions facilitating reconciliation of work and family life are put in place in line with the following principle “a woman, a qualified employee with experience and knowledge of the company, is a valuable asset and should be treated by the employer as such". Actions are taken to preserve the link between a woman on a maternity or post-maternity leave and her company. These include encouraging into training and creating training possibilities, providing a mobile phone or laptop, and sometimes also a car, participation in integrative meetings, involving the women in on-going projects. Actions are taken to created a bond between female and male employees and the company by helping them reconcile work and family life according to the following principle: “good employees are valuable employees for us – valuable employees also have private lives” As a result:

o not only employees but also their family members are offered health insurance, their (or their children's holidays) are part-financed by the company, kindergarten fees may be co-financed too

30

o this permits task-oriented type of work, allows flexible working hours at home, holidays are adjusted to employees’ preferences, as long as this is permitted by the type of company and type of work on the position concerned.”

More information about the implementation of the equal opportunity principle at companies/institutions may be found in the good practice manual Firma Równych Szans (http://www.genderindex.pl/downloads/gender_index_www_72) Table 3: RANK SUMS – values which can be compared with corresponding values achieved by companies - participants of last year's competition

1.

RECRUITMENT OF

EMPLOYEES

2. ACCESS TO PROMOTION

3. PROTECTI

ON AGAINST

DISMISSAL

4. ACCESS

TO TRAINING

5. PAY

6. RECONCILIATION OF

WORK AND FAMILY DUTIES

7. PROTECTI

ON AGAINST

HARASSMENT AND

MOBBING

State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons

32 17,5 20,5 3,5 22 40 32

Polish Agency for Enterprise Development

32 22 19 7 16 24,5 25,5

Voivodship Labour Office in Szczecin

29 31 13,5 15 24,5 27,5 35,5

Voivodship Labour Office in Poznań

22 24,5 16,5 2,5 16,5 23,5 17,5

Voivodship Labour Office in Rzeszów

25 28 21 13 22,5 32,5 31,5

Voivodship Labour Office in Łódź

36 14 15,5 10 21,5 39,5 35

Ministry of Regional Development

17 10 18,5 7 10,5 31 41,5

Ministry of National Education

23 33 19,5 14 10,5 33,5 33,5

Table 4.: Partial ranks in the hierarchy and the cumulative Gender Index.

1. Recruitm

ent of employee

s

2. Access

to promotio

n

3. Protection against dismissal

4. Access to

training

5. Pay

6. Reconciliation of

professional and family duties

7. Protection against harassme

nt and mobbing

Gender Index Rank

State Fund for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled

6.5 3 7 2 6 8 4 5.4860 8

Polish Agency for Enterprise Development

6.5 4 5 3.5 3 2 2 3.6670 3


5 7 1 8 8 3 7 5.4170 6


2 5 3 1 4 1 1 2.4590 1

31


4 6 8 6 7 5 3 5.4490 7

Voivodship Labour Office in Łódź

8 2 2 5 5 7 6 5.1530 5

Ministry of Regional Development (MRD)

1 1 4 3.5 1.5 4 8 3.2725 2

Ministry of National Education (MNE)

3 8 6 7 1.5 6 5 5.0965 4

4.1.4 Gender mainstreaming issues under Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development

4.1.4.1 Gender mainstreaming issues in SOP HRD – theory and actions Most of the participants in the qualitative surveys were aware of the presence of gender mainstreaming in SOP HRD. Yet their associations were quite general and limited to statements that gender mainstreaming consists in ensuring equal access to projects (50% of women and 50% of men). However, for most part the persons surveyed found it hard to specify what the equality should consist in and how it should be delivered. The presence of gender mainstreaming in SOP HRD was most often located on the part of projects and project providers. There were only a few opinions indicating that actions related to the issues should be pursued also by the institutions involved in SOP HRD. It was only declared that at each project delivery stage the principle should be respected, i.e. men and women should have the same possibility of participating in the training offered. The representatives of the Managing Authority for SOP HRD had the best knowledge in this respect. This is, however, on related to the scope of their responsibilities. The level of knowledge about gender mainstreaming among the rest of the employees of the entities involved in the delivery of the programme is varied and depends on the involvement of a person in the problem, i.e. persons who are engaged in projects oriented to the issues in question are better acquainted, while the knowledge of the others is much worse. Creating gender equality consists in ensuring, by means of actions and initiatives implemented at each stage of delivery, that the gender equality principle is taken into consideration, i.e. awareness of the fact that women and men have different resources. It also consists in adjusting these principles to the various activities we deliver by means of SOP HRD... Implementing Authority Based on what I learned and on my own experience I may say that equal opportunities between men and women consist in achieving a situation in which projects are delivered in accordance with these principles. This means that equal opportunities amount to ensuring that both men and women have equal opportunities in having access to a given type of support... Implementing Authority Quite often, the representatives of the institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD we surveyed claimed that gender mainstreaming is not treated quite seriously either by the general public and the institutions themselves. Very often it is treated as a requirement imposed by the EU, another formality which must be complied with and which is not quite put in place. In addition, there is no clear support on the part of decision makers.

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The principle of equal opportunities between men and women is strongly supported by policy makers but in practice it is treated with contempt and arrogance... What is most painful for me is that you hear words of contempt from policy makers... Managing Authority SOP HRD The situation may be caused to a large extent by the ignorance of the ways in which gender equality should be implemented in SOP HRD. For many this boils down to stating that equal representation of both sexes (50%-50%) should be guaranteed in the framework of measures and projects under SOP HRD. Yet it is worth noting that this is slowly changing and “more and more people at least know what it is all about". This is also confirmed by the statements by some respondents who claimed that the principle of equal treatment of men and women should not be reduced to ensuring 50%-50% participation of men and women in a project. On the other hand, only individual respondents were able to indicate what the principle should consist in. And this was just the kind of thinking... that somebody once said referring to the example of Monitoring Committees, that the equal treatment principle consists in equal shares. But unfortunately this is not so... that all projects will have a 50%-50% representation, and many people used to think about it that way... So it was such an attempt at blind implementation of the principle and a misconception about what it is. Cause you cannot force a woman to become a fork-lift operator. And that was the kind of thinking... than no woman wanted to come and on the other hand nothing was done to encourage women. ...Managing Authority SOP HRD ... programming period 2004-2006 was a great challenge in many ways and these issues were the lowest in the hierarchy of priorities. It was not perceived as a problem. Secondly, neither the evaluators nor those evaluated really knew how to approach the topic. I think that if we go to a lower level than the level of declarations that the gender equality principle will be observed, the level of knowledge was and still is relatively low. Both project providers and persons employed at our institution, and in the evaluating, implementing and monitoring institutions as well as the beneficiaries do not really realise what it is all about... Implementing Authority SOP HRD Moreover respondents from the Managing Authority pointed to the fact that persons involved in the implementation of SOP HRD, but also other operational programmes, are underinformed as regards gender mainstreaming under SOP HRD. ... actually very often people associate problems related to equal treatment of men and women exclusively with the European Social Fund. As if the problem did not exist at all in infrastructure projects. And they think that an investment made by a company, e.g. construction of a railway connection, that the subject is irrelevant here... Managing Authority SOP HRD The participants of the in-depth interviews asserted that they are not occupationally involved in issues related to equal rights between men and women. The subject is only present as a marginal aspect of their everyday responsibilities and is limited to checking whether the applications and reports mention that they comply with the principle of equal opportunities between men and women. This is dealt with in the first place by the Project Evaluation Commission, Steering Committees and the Monitoring Committee. However, even in those cases the issue is most often treated as a formal requirement. It is approached purely theoretically and its application is verified merely by checking whether it is mentioned in the application. The representatives of the Managing Authority for SOP HRD who are responsible for preparing programme implementation procedures come across the problem more often. As far as the Steering Committee level activities are concerned my role was to deal with Measures 2.3 and 2.4 and the role was limited, because steering committees do not have the same authorisations as monitoring committees... Steering Committee Always when the subject of equal opportunities and generally the idea of equal treatment of men and women comes up, then it is always my department. Because we are also responsible for the compliance of programming documents and projects with the horizontal policies of the European Union. Hence the

33

presence of equal opportunities between men and women. I won’t lie that we treat it as the key aspect of our activities but we do actually deal with it... Managing Authority SOP HRD The number of the respondents who took part in the quantitative survey was 324. All of them are professionally linked to SOP HRD. Among these only 27% declared that in their work related to SOP HRD they perform actions linked to the principle of equal opportunities between men and women. Although binding comparisons are difficult to be made (very high differences in the number of employees of particular institutions) we can see that the lowest percentage of persons declaring that they perform activities related to gender equality in their occupational work was recorded for the State Agency for Enterprise Development (13%), while the highest for the Voivodship Labour Office in Poznań (50%).

34

The activities mentioned mainly included monitoring, evaluation, overseeing compliance of projects with the principle of equal opportunities between men and women, information and publicity, analysis of monitoring data in terms of gender, work on gender-related projects. The distribution of the answers is presented in Table 5. However, in analysing the content of the table one should remember that on account of the very low number of employees for many institutions only single indications were obtained.

What actions related to equal opportunities between men and women do you perform in your work linked with SOP HRD?

27%

33%

33%

26%

28%

36%

13%

50%

30%

39%

27%

67%

72%

64%

87%

50%

70%

61%

73%

67%

73%

74%

Overall (N=324)

INSTITUTION

Chancellery of the PrimeMinister (N=9)

Ministry of National Education(N=12)

Ministry of Labour and SocialPolicy (N=54)

Ministry of RegionalDevelopment (N=96)

State Fund for Rehabilitationof Disabled Persons (N=14)

Polish Agency for EnterpriseDevelopment (N=52)

Voivodship Labour Office inPoznań (N=12)

Voivodship Labour Office inRzeszów (N=27)

Voivodship Labour Office inSzczecin (N=18)

Voivodship Labour Office inŁódź (N=30)

Yes No

Table 5: What actions related to equal opportunities between men and women do you perform in your work linked with SOP HRD?

Most (56%) of the respondents who declared that in their work linked to SOP HRD they do not perform any actions related to equal opportunity issues (N=235) are of the opinion that there is space for such actions in their work related to SOP HRD.

Cha

ncel

lery

of t

he P

rime

Min

iste

r (N

=3)

Min

istry

of N

atio

nal E

duca

tion

(N=4

)M

inis

try o

f Lab

our a

nd S

ocia

l P

olic

y (N

=14)

Min

istry

of R

egio

nal

Dev

elop

men

t (N

=27)

Sta

te F

und

for R

ehab

ilita

tion

of

Dis

able

d pe

rson

s (N

=5)

Pol

ish

Age

ncy

for E

nter

pris

e D

evel

opm

ent (

N=7

)

Voi

vods

hip

Labo

ur O

ffice

in

Poz

nań

(N=6

)

Voi

vods

hip

Labo

ur O

ffice

in

Rze

szów

(N=8

)

Voi

vods

hip

Labo

ur O

ffice

in

Szc

zeci

n (N

=7)

Voi

vods

hip

Labo

ur O

ffice

in

Łódź

(N=8

)

caring that the equal opportunity principle is respected in projects delivered under SOP HRD and IROP 18% 0% 0% 21% 19% 20% 14% 0% 13% 29% 38%monitoring compliance of projects, measures and priorities w ith equal opportunity policy principles 15% 0% 50% 0% 22% 20% 14% 17% 0% 14% 13%evaluation/ studies of projects implemented w ith the support of SOP HRDL 8% 33% 0% 21% 0% 0% 14% 17% 0% 14% 0%infromation and publicity 6% 0% 0% 0% 7% 0% 0% 17% 13% 14% 0%caring that equal access to training is ensured 6% 67% 0% 0% 7% 0% 14% 0% 0% 0% 0%control and evaluation of the w ay equal opportunity policy principles are applied 4% 0% 0% 7% 11% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%checking w hether project beneficiaries are men and w omen 4% 0% 25% 0% 0% 20% 14% 0% 0% 14% 0%

informing beneficiaries about the equal opportunity policy 3% 0% 0% 0% 4% 0% 0% 17% 13% 0% 0%evaluation of applications/ recruitment of applications 3% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 14% 0% 13% 14% 0%evaluation of funding applications during meetings of the Project Evaluation Commission 2% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 17% 0% 0% 13%

Ove

rall

(N=8

9)

INSTYTUCJA

36

Is there any room in your work related to SOP HRD for the application of the gender equality principle?

However, nearly half of the persons surveyed dealing with SOP HRD in their work (44%, N=324) were unable to name any of such actions. The most frequently mentioned activities included information, publicity and educational actions (21% of the indications, N=324). The remaining indications concerned general social solutions rather than concrete actions that could be assigned to the respondent. So as can be seen, although the respondents are for most part aware of the fact that in their work related to SOP HRD there is room for actions related to equal opportunities, the knowledge about what they could or should do is relatively small.

27%

33%

25%

33%

33%

11%

20%

33%

26%

18%

18%

38%

28%

78%

38%

17%

21%

15%

13%

13%

14%

13%

33%

21%

27%

18%

3%

17%

5%

1%

2%

5%

27%

33%

25%

28%

23%

11%

27%

17%

26%

55%

32%

23%

32%

17%

29%Overall (N=235)

INSTITUTIONS


Ministry of NationalEducation (N=8)

Mnistry of Labour andSocial Policy (N=40)


State Fund forRehabilitation of Disabled

Persons (N=9)

Polish Agency forEnterprise Development

(N=45)

Voivodship Labour Officein Poznań (N=6)

Voivodship Labour Officein Rzeszów (N=19)

Voivodship Labour Officein Szczecin (N=11)

Voivodship Labour Officein Łódź (N=22)

[4] Definitely yes [3] Rather yes [2] Rather no [1] Definitely no Hard to say

37

Although in the quantitative study the respondents often pointed that they are responsible for monitoring whether the principle of equal opportunities is observed by project providers, the results of the qualitative surveys show that the possibilities of that monitoring are limited. Employees of the institutions involved in SOP HRD do not have exact knowledge about the practical implementation of the principle of equal treatment of men and women by beneficiaries and they presume that this is actually the case (based on declarations of project providers). Moreover, many of our interlocutors did not know what concrete actions related to the principle may be performed by project providers and what should actually be monitored. That is right, I just forward data to the Managing Authority, i.e. in this case the Ministry, so I personally do not have any influence over the content of the projects, what kind of projects are accepted for delivery, because this falls within the responsibility of KOP, but it seems to me that the principle is actually applied, because it is a requirement assessed during the evaluation of the application form, but still gender information is not available at the preliminary stage of evaluation, it is merely stated that the support will cover 100 person, and beneficiaries do not specify the gender, who will be on the project, is it going to be fifty-fifty... Implementing Authority Representatives of Implementing Authorities did not as a rule think it necessary to integrate gender issues into their responsibilities to a greater extent. Unless rules are imposed top-down to control the implementation of the principle in a stricter manner. Yet in this company the problem remains unnoticed, it does not concern us in the implementation of the projects, because we are an implementing authority, the managing authority does not require any concrete actions during the verification. We do not even have an opportunity to verify how the training actually proceeds in terms of promoting gender equality... Implementing Authority I do reporting so I may only say about the number of men and women who took part in a given project or activity. For reporting purposes I am unable to refer to the assumed data because applications for financing only mention the general number of beneficiaries, with no breakdown into men and women. My only experience is such that the data for reporting is gathered by gender and in a general way. And this is the only point where I deal with the problems... Implementing Authority. In a report we have a section containing a question asking whether the project is consistent with the equal opportunity principle and the project provider is asked to tick whether it is or not. If it is not, then they must write what the problems where, how they dealt with them, what it was like and what barriers were faced. The report has a whole point concerning barriers. It often so happens that persons drop out – what were the underlying reasons. Or a description of the indicators, which they must attach, broken down by women and men, individual beneficiaries must include information about specific projects... Implementing Authority Most of the participants of the qualitative surveys did not participate in training or other initiatives concerned with the subject matter and organised by e.g. a ministry. If such activities did occur, they were organised by non-governmental organisations. Occasionally the subject matter was included as an element of general training in EU funds and programmes. Yet, for most part there was no training dedicated specifically to gender mainstreaming. In my experience I have not come across the issues before. I even visited my colleagues from the department and asked whether the Ministry had ever organised gender-related training, but nobody remembers anything like that. Naturally enough nobody remembered participating in the training. If anyone had actually participated they would have remembered. Nobody from our division remembered anything like that, no training or other initiative... Implementing Authority

38

... and our institution did not take any actions towards it. There were no such specific actions. General things were told about equality, behaviour, because it is one of the Community policies. And in general during meetings, training for beneficiaries, the issue was raised but no equality-specific actions were taken... Implementing Authority Our interlocutors did not notice any need to participate in training. In their opinion training related to equal rights between men and women should be provided to higher-rank personnel, decision makers, so that it translates into actions within the institutions involved in the implementation of the principle. ... that without involvement of high-rank personnel not much can be done. It will be difficult, people must realise that evaluation is also for us, that the recommendations are not only disseminated among those who apply the principle on a day to day basis and know it well, but also among policy makers, because if there is no political will, then nothing will be done about it. I am speaking here about political will, not in the ideological sense, i.e. fighting for equal rights, but in very practical terms, that the whole thing is something good and useful. Because I think that apart from the people who deal with this subject, our Minister does know what it is about, but I think there is a lack of understanding at higher levels... Managing Authority SOP HRD What I also think is positive, although here again weaknesses can be found too, that there are a lot of persons also among the administration, that on the one hand, the general knowledge is low, and on the other, there is a relatively big group of persons who notice the problems. Yet unfortunately the weakness is in the fact that the latter are mostly women. I think that the human factor plays a very important role here. If there is a person who is convinced about a certain idea, knows how to approach it, feels somehow responsible, then the principle is implemented in a better way in such institutions. It is worth paying attention to expert’s perspective. That the institutions themselves lack experts in the field. Now an idea came into mind that we should appoint a kind of liaisons responsible for gender problems in the different institutions, whose task would to deal with the issues in the individual institutions... Managing Authority SOP HRD 4.1.4.2 Opinion of the employees of the institutions related to SOP HRD on the implementation of the

gender equality principle among project providers The respondents commonly agreed with the opinion that the principle of equal opportunities between men and women should be implemented by project providers. However, only some respondents were able to point in what way the principle is to be implemented by project providers. The most frequent idea was that both men and women must be allowed to participate in the project, i.e. ensuring equal numbers of both sexes. Very often the respondents stressed that there is no need for gender equality to be specially highlighted and opted for supporting equality in general. A much better knowledge in this respect was that of representatives of Voivodship Labour Offices and of the Managing Authority for SOP HRD. They mainly pointed to the necessity of ensuring equal opportunities for men and women in the context of the labour market, taking into account participation in projects financed by SOP HRD. This was to be achieved by ensuring that men and women have equal access to employment and training or change of qualifications. The implementation of the gender mainstreaming principle under SOP HRD was understood by them as lack of limitations in the access to projects based on gender. This should not consist, however, in ensuring that half of the ultimate beneficiaries will be women. However, only individual respondents were able to go beyond general comments and talk about concrete actions. They pointed here to the need on the part of project providers to take into account the different needs and resources of men and women. On the one hand, respondents held that it is necessary to provide assistance to women in childcare or care of dependants, so that they can participate in training. On the other, they said that one should not restrict the access of men and women to professions currently dominated by one gender.

39

Also individual respondents indicated that project providers should take a range of actions to encourage both women and men to take advantage of the support: ensuring childcare and care of dependants, but also reimbursement of travel costs, providing transport, rescheduling training dates. One of the respondents proposed that on-line training should be provided so that women do not waste time for travel and can reconcile their participation in the training with their responsibilities (care of children or dependants). As regards our activities and the activities of our project providers, the training should take into account women’s and men’s needs and resources, which are quite different, e.g. in our society it is women who spent a lot of time at home as housewives... such training should be used by unemployed persons... a woman would like to benefit, so she should be provided help in childcare or care of dependants, etc. The training here should be addressed not only to one gender but should also provide a possibility for men and women to "swap" occupations which are now dominated by one gender. We should provide both genders with an opportunity to benefit from the training, improve their qualifications, perhaps the persons will be successful here... Implementing Authority However, it must be pointed that even in those cases most of the activities mentioned by the respondents were oriented to providing assistance to women. The importance of addressing the situation of men was hardly mentioned. The persons surveyed stressed that women are in a much worse situation on the labour market than men. This is because they have to perform their family responsibilities, which may lead to temporary inactivity, affecting their qualifications. Therefore actions and initiatives should be taken to address the underprivileged situation of women. Steps should be taken to activate women returning to the labour market and encourage those who dropped out of the labour market to return to it.

Our training projects should make it possible for women to re-qualify, even when they are out of work and look after their children or dependants. The project provider should organise training in such a way as to ensure travel and care over their children or dependants for the persons, whether women or men, because men can also do housework, although this is less common. There should be such training, that for example a woman declares her willingness to participate and informs the project provider that she wants to participate but she has problems leaving her child or dependant, then the project provider should organise the training programme in such a way, and to write the application in such a way as to ensure that money is provided for a caretaker for the times when the woman takes part in the training... Implementing Authority Concrete actions to be taken by project providers were suggested by very few respondents. It was stressed that projects should take into account the various resources and possibilities of both genders, and that the offer should address both genders in equal proportions. Not only those who have spare time want to improve or change their qualifications, but also those who look after children or dependants. They also want to change their qualifications and return to work. It is advisable that project providers should bear this in mind, to apply this principle and make it possible for men or women to return to the labour market and adjust the course and scope of training to the requirements of men and women... Implementing Authority It was also pointed that prior to the initiation of a project, project providers should survey beneficiaries and ask them about their needs and barriers, so as to suitably adjust the project and ensure equal access to it both to women and men. Project providers should also examine the whole context of their project – what environments are represented by the participants in the project. First of all, it should be supported by prior research, because a project provider defines the scope of the beneficiaries to be assisted by the project and should probe these beneficiaries somehow, check what they need and what barriers they face, what constrains them in joining the project. And then they should think how to minimise or remove these barriers and facilitate 100% participation in the project of these persons and thus make it possible for them to change their qualifications and return to the labour market... Implementing Authority

40

First of all, during recruitment equal access to support should be ensured for women and men. Moreover there is a need for a range of forms corresponding to the needs of beneficiaries. Project providers should pay attention to these flexible forms of employment, or things like that... Implementing Authority The quantitative surveys confirmed the results of the qualitative surveys. At the level of declarations, most respondents are of the opinion that in their projects project providers should apply the principle of equal opportunities between men and women, but when it comes to details, it proves that for nearly 50% of them the principle is only a formal requirement. In addition, even those who think that it is only a formality have problems specifying what actions project providers should pursue. Most often, they mention recruitment of suitable proportions of men and women (32% of the indications, N=166). The other most frequently indicated answers were of a general nature and prove that respondents find it hard to indicate concrete actions. Also the following responses appeared here: lack of discrimination based on sex (13%), clear provisions which should be reflected in the recruitment criteria (8%), compliance with the principle at each delivery stage (6%), equal treatment of genders in selecting the form of support (5%) or equal access to training (5%). The only type of actions which should be performed by project providers in respect of the equal opportunity principle was ensuring care for dependants, which was indicated by 4% of respondents. 8% of the respondents were unable to indicate any actions which should be delivered by project providers in line with the equal opportunity principle.

41

Nearly all our interlocutors had weak knowledge as to what actions are currently performed by project providers in support of the principle of equal treatment of men and women. In fact, they do not have any instruments to verify this. Despite it, they held that project providers do implement the principle, although quite accidentally and not having full knowledge about the problems. They mainly based their opinions on the formal - and thus empty declaration made by project providers in their applications and reports. Some respondents noticed that the awareness of project providers have risen but to a large extent the fact that they take into consideration gender equality results from the conditions on the labour market.

In their applications project providers must declare that the project will be delivered in line with the equal opportunity principle. In your opinion, is it merely a formal requirement or a requirement which leads to concrete actions?

51%

56%

50%

57%

42%

36%

63%

42%

41%

61%

57%

50%

58%

64%

37%

58%

59%

39%

49%

44%

43%

43%

Overall (N=324)

INSTITUTIONS











Merely a formal requirement Leads to concrete actions

42

Like I say, it is hard for me to say whether they take any concrete actions, because I do not know our projects that well. I know them in general. Do they take any actions targeted specifically at gender issues? I don’t think so. It is done spontaneously, an action is taken, a project is done which naturally covers both men and women. I don’t think there are any, but I am not sure... Implementing Authority It is hard for me to say what it is like at the level of the beneficiary, because in fact it is the beneficiary that qualifies ultimate beneficiaries for a project and is responsible for observing the principle in practice. With us the situation is as follows: we receive applications from the Poviat Labour Office or external beneficiaries and we are only responsible for checking whether the application mentions gender equality, so in fact it is hard for us to assess whether gender equality is actually applied, or whether the application does mention it... Implementing Authority I think that now there is no restraint. The projects which are in place have a small number of beneficiaries who fit in the requirement... that the principle is to be applied and the project provider must ensure gender equality, or otherwise they will not reach the number of beneficiaries needed for the implementation of the project. So project providers must use it this way or another, encourage men and women to participate in the project. There are projects which apportion substantial resources for childcare and care of dependants, nearly all projects involve reimbursement of transport costs, i.e. travel to the location of training, traineeship or vocational training. Project providers must demonstrate such an initiative and in my opinion gender equality is actually applied... Implementing Authority Moreover, individual projects also promote equal opportunities between men and women and stress that men and women should be provided equal access to the support... Implementing Authority It seems that during the recruitment of projects, they respect the principle, i.e. create equal opportunities for men and women to take part in a project. Yet I do not know what it is like with private beneficiaries, because we have had only one project, one competition addressed to external beneficiaries. To be honest, I think that we need control or participation of a representative of the implementing authority in the recruitment process in order to establish whether or not the principle is applied, because right now we are forced to believe a beneficiary’s declaration that they comply... Implementing Authority 4.1.4.3 Perceived role of the institutions involved in SOP HRD in disseminating the principle of equal

rights between men and women among project providers The respondents held that their institutions should disseminate the principle of equal treatment of men and women among project providers. At the same time they held that at present it is done to a sufficient extent. However, the surveys carried out among project providers – both quantitative and qualitative have shown that in fact project providers do not receive any support related to the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities between men and women from the institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD. Actually, the issue does not function at all, apart from being mentioned in applications. According to representatives of the institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD, meetings are organised for project providers, during which information is provided inter alia about the equal opportunity principle, or information is published on websites. Yet it should be noted that these actions are not oriented to disseminating the gender mainstreaming principle but to providing general information to project providers about the rules for submitting applications. Before project providers file their projects with us, they are informed that they must comply with the equal opportunity principle. If they have additional doubts what the principle is about and to what extent it should be considered, they may contact us and ask. We have an information point, where anybody can come, and anybody who places a project with us may learn how the project is to comply with the principle of equal opportunities, what should be addressed with special attention and what guidance to follow... Implementing Authority

43

At the beginning it very often happened [that they disregarded the principle], yet it is mentioned in the instruction for filling-in the application, so already at this stage the beneficiaries learn, they know that they have to include certain elements, so as to ensure that their applications will be assessed positively. Now this is less and less often the case... Implementing Authority Equal treatment among project providers should be promoted through meetings and publication of information on websites. There are also opinions that implementing authorities should have more possibilities of controlling the recruitment of ultimate beneficiaries. About publicity or controls, I don’t mean in each and every case, but for example participation of a representative of our institution in the recruitment of beneficiaries. It seems that it would be quite educative also for us. Then we would really see what it is like and we would be able to check whether or not the principle is actually applied, because otherwise it is very hard to establish how the recruitment proceeded, if you only read a document... Implementing Authority However, both the qualitative and quantitative studies carried out among project providers have shown that in fact project providers do not receive any support related to the implementation of the equal opportunity principle from institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD. As a rule, the subject does not function in any way, apart from being mentioned in the application. Only a slight proportion of the respondents took part in related training. The highest proportion of such indications was noted in Field 3 – which is directly related to the issues in question, but even here the percentage reached only 33%.

44

Have you ever participated in training related to equal opportunities of men and women? – telephone survey among project providers

3%

6%

8%

11%

4%

4%

5%

7%

17%

15%

25%

11%

7%

18%

27%

16%

10%

60%

76%

65%

84%

8%

2%

3%

1%

4%

5%

5%

5%

3%

5%

17%

15%

13%

78%

100%

76%

80%

88%

77%

78%

75%

87%

78% 2%

2%

1%

5%

2%

2%

1%

3%

OVERALL (N=500)

PRIORITY

Priority 1 - Active labour market policy and professional andsocial integration (N=373)

Priority 2 - Development of a knowledge-based society (N=127)

FIELD

Field 1 - Active labour market policy (N=225)

Field 2 - Counteracting social exclusion (N=95)

Field 3 - Ensuring equal opportunities for women on thelabour market (N=53)

Field 4 - Continuing education (N=9)

Field 5 - Adaptability of development of enterprises (N=116)

Field 6 - Strengthening administrative capacities (N=2)

TYPE OF PROJECT

Training project (N=294)

Other types of projects (N=206)

RELATION OF THE PROJECT TO EQUAL OPPORTUNITY ISSUES

Project is dedicated to the issues (N=37)

Project is not dedicated to the issues, but related to it (N=289)

Project is not related to the issues (N=174)

Yes, in my own institution Yes, outside the institution No I don't know / hard to say

45

4.1.5 Evaluation of the system for the management and implementation of SOP HRD in view of the application of the gender equality principle at the different stages of the implementation of the programme

4.1.5.1 Participation of institutions and organisations supporting equal opportunities in implementing SOP HRD

Analysing the activity of the organisations supporting equal opportunities of men and women in implementing SOP HRD one should take into account the difficulty of identifying these organisations. Taking into account here exclusively the organisations which are generally defined as “feminist” or “women’s” would mean narrowing down the subject matter. It must be stressed that under SOP HRD the possibility of applying for funds was given to all organisations, regardless of the issues they deal with (although with specific measures (e.g. Measure 1.4) the possibility of applying was limited to the organisations whose statutory goals correspond to the goals of the measure). The activity of “women’s organisations” was demonstrated in the application process. As a result, from the perspective of the representatives of the institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD suitable access was ensured to all organisations regardless of the objects of their operations.

On the other hand, when it comes to the representation of the organisations in the Steering and Monitoring Committees, account must be taken of the fact that the representation of NGOs in these bodies was not too strong. As a result, also equal opportunity issues were not given enough attention. They were usually advocated exclusively by the Plenipotentiary of the Government for Equal Status of Men and Women9. It is worth noting that the low activity of non-governmental organisations does not only affect SOP HRD at the national level. It was also very weak in the 2004-2006 programming period among regional Monitoring and Steering Committees10, thus the abovementioned problem of low participation of the non-governmental sector cannot be attributed to gender issues, but is of a systemic nature. There are also positive opinions about the lack of involvement of so-called “women’s organisations” in SOP HRD, because thanks to it “we avoided excessive ideologization of the ESF, in particular Measure 1.6”.

It must be noted that none of the respondents stated that their institution entered into cooperation with an organisation supporting equal opportunities between men and women.

4.1.5.2 Equal opportunity perspective during the assessment of funding applications When assessing project applications most members of Project Evaluation Commissions and representatives of Implementing Authorities declare that gender equality is taken into account during the assessment. However, it is rather a formal requirement. There is a point in the applications where the project provider is required to refer to equal opportunities and to explain how the project targets to the issues... Managing Authority Theoretically, a project implemented in breach of the gender equality principle should be turned down, but the evaluation has not revealed any such cases. There is no way for a project to be accepted if it does not comply with the equal opportunity principle. To be honest, no project has been reject so far for this reason... Implementing Authority

9 Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Status of Men and Women was liquidated by the Government on 3 November 2005. The tasks previously carried out by the plenipotentiary were transferred to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, which is to coordinate anti-discrimination activities of the government (some of the plenipotentiary’s competences were taken over by Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska) – activities in this respect are also to be carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Education and Ministry of Health. 10 Source: Evaluation surveys and monitoring by the Foundation in Support of Local Democracy implemented in the framework of the Programme named Third Sector financed by Trust for Civil Society and the Stefan Batory Foundation.

46

Many of the respondents maintained that the point in the application form in which compliance with gender equality is declared “does not matter”. There is only one point [in the application] where one writes: “no, we do not breach the principle”. And this does not really matter, so what they do, they [project providers] write that they do not breach the principle, does not really matter. It is all about filling in the spaces in the application... Implementing Authority

If someone does not write that they will discriminate, then we are unable - not having the criteria and not having it as one of our policy objectives - to verify [it] in any way. Beneficiaries write that they will ensure equal opportunities. If they don’t, there is a presumption that they will... Implementing Authority What is more, it follows from the respondents’ opinions that a lack of reference in the application to gender equality did not in fact result in a project being disqualified or granted a lower rank11. As pointed by one of the members of Project Evaluation Commissions (KOP): It is one of the evaluation points and if someone does not make a reference to the programming documents, to SOP HRD or the regional strategy, or equal opportunities and does not include it somewhere in the project, they can get a lower score, yet the number of scores is not so high here. Beneficiaries often forgot all about it, yet they were not rejected. Bottom line, no project provider decides to tick the non—compliance box. They tick the box and that's it. And the only thing is they are afraid of not having a woman or a man on the project, so that nobody can accuse them of not complying, yet this is just mechanical ticking a box in the application... Managing Authority SOP HRD Among the 71 participants in the quantitative survey, whose duties within SOP HRD are related to the evaluation of projects 24% admitted that during the evaluation the equal opportunity principle was not applied.

11 There is no special column in the application concerning the fulfilment of the equal opportunity principle. According to the Guide for beneficiaries of SOP HRD in Point 2.2. “Addressees of support and ways of ensuring participation of ultimate beneficiaries in the project” the applicant is required, among others, to indicate that the project complies with the equal opportunity policy.

47

It follows from the responses of the other persons surveyed who declared a contrary opinion (N=54) that the implementation of the principle consisted mainly in verifying whether the project is not in breach of it - i.e. formal verification whether the principle is mentioned in the application. The spontaneous comments made (see the figure below) prove, however, that the respondents do not have the knowledge as to how they should apply the principle during project evaluation.

Was the equal opportunity principle implemented during the evaluation of projects?

76%

50%

67%

62%

100%

100%

67%

100%

100%

83%

67%

33%

33%

17%

24%

50%

33%

38%

Overall (N=71)

INSTITUTIONS











Yes No

48

4.1.5.3 Verification whether the equal opportunity principle is applied during project delivery During the surveys no examples of qualitative verification of the application of the principle during project delivery were indentified. Practically, the verification is limited to indicating the proportions of men and women among beneficiaries. In the framework of monitoring, in their reports [project providers] indicate the ratio of the men to women who take part in the project to the general number beneficiaries. Plus the point related to the compliance

11%

7%

7%

7%

5%

4%

4%

13%

20%

7%

attention was paid whetherthe applicant ensured equal

access to training for men andwomen

the project provider specifiedin advance the number ofjobs, including those for

women

verification whether theproject does not overtly

discriminate women/men

the evaluator is required toassess the proposal

concerning equalopportunities

equal access of men andwomen to project evaluation

suitable system of credits,granting additional credits to

the projects which implementthe principle

availability of caretakingservices

none of the projects wasdiscriminated

most members of the projectevaluation commission are

women

I don't know/ no answer

N = 56

Please describe in what way the equal opportunity principle was implemented during the evaluation of projects.

Indications over 2%

49

with the principle, where they mark whether the project complied or not. In some cases they must also explain why it did not comply... Implementing Authority However, the respondents were unable to remember any examples of project providers declaring in their reports non-compliance of their project with the equality principle. As mentioned in this report – no project activities were identified which would defy the equal opportunity principle. Project providers are rather sensitive to the needs signalled by ultimate beneficiaries and in situations where proposals are made, e.g. as regards training – try to meet the needs. Therefore one may conclude that feedback from beneficiaries becomes a basis for modifications of the project (extension of its offer, adjustment of the total number of hours to beneficiaries’ needs), and these activities improve the comfort of beneficiaries’ participation – thus they give them better opportunities to benefit from the project offer in a fuller way. 4.1.5.4 Evaluation of the way information on ESF projects is communicated in the context of the

different needs of men and women The respondents do not see any problems as regards information on ESF projects in the context of the different needs of men and women. Moreover, they do not use different methods for providing information depending on beneficiary’s gender. According to an employee of one of the Voivodship Labour Offices: we have an information point which provides all types of information. There are announcements about competitions in newspapers or on the radio. In addition, our office has a website, which contains updated information. We use the same language, i.e. the language of projects. The language is clear both for women and men because they have been implementing projects for a long time, but of course in direct contacts with our beneficiaries we try to talk differently with men and women ...Implementing Authority Data gathered by monitoring is broken down by gender, and then aggregated for reporting purposes. However, respondents do not give too much importance to the data gathered by gender. In general, the monitoring data is used to a limited extent for the management of projects and information about the proportions of genders among project beneficiaries is considered irrelevant by project providers. As mentioned by a representative of one of the Voivodship Labour Offices: I am far from saying that monitoring data is not used, because it is obvious that it can always come in handy, but I think that too little effort is made to draw conclusions (...). There should be more stress on conclusions. Other respondents provide similar comments about the non-use of monitoring data: We just collected that information and made a general check whether equality was observed, whether we have both men and women, but did not have done anything with it so far... Implementing Authority In the quantitative survey nearly half of the respondents (48%, N=324) admitted that gathering monitoring data by gender is merely a formal requirement. This was mostly expressed by the representatives of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and the Voivodship Office in Łódź.

50

However, those who claim that it is not merely a formal requirement and is actually applied find it hard to specify how it is applied.

Monitoring data is collected by gender, do you think it is merely a formal requirement or does it have a concrete application?

48%

22%

42%

50%

42%

14%

63%

33%

52%

50%

63%

58%

58%

86%

37%

67%

48%

50%

52%

78%

37%

50%

Overall (N=324)

INSTITUTIONS











Merely a formal requirement It has concrete application

51

A vast majority of the respondents did not use the data in any way. Nor did they hear of their colleagues doing it. 12% of the respondents declare that they use the data on an individual basis, while 20% admit that the data is used by their collaborators. A much better score here is that of the Voivodship Labour Offices in Poznań, Rzeszów and Szczecin. The weakest performance here is that of the Ministry of National Education and the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development.

12%

11%

5%

5%

5%

5%

4%

3%

3%

3%

2%

26%

11%

permits finding whether the principle has been breached

statistics

drafting analyses about the availability of measures, projects

permits finding whether the principle is implemented

shows the mentality and views of both genders

indicates which gender is more determined to change itssituation on the labour market

analysis of the data should be used for drafting the provisionsof future programming documents, guidelines

for designing what target groups will be covered by support

monitoring the pariticipation of women in projects

for research, analysis - in general

it can be used /no purpose provided/

learning about the profile of beneficiaries /age, gender, etc./

I don't know/ no answer

N = 169

Please indicate the use which can be made of gendered data

Indications over 2%

52

Have you or any of your colleagues ever used gendered monitoring data?

12%

11%

15%

18%

7%

12%

7%

17%

17%

17%

36%

8%

50%

44%

39%

68%

78%

83%

69%

66%

57%

81%

50%

48%

44%

90%3%

20%

11%

7%

17%

Overall (N=324)

INSTITUTIONS

Chancellery of the Prime Minister (N=9)

Ministry of National Education (N=12)

Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (N=54)

Ministry of Regional Development (N=96)

State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons(N=14)

Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (N=52)

Voivodship Labour Office in Poznań (N=12)

Voivodship Labour Office in Rzeszów (N=27)

Voivodship Labour Office in Szczecin (N=18)

Voivodship Labour Office in Łódź (N=30)

Yes, I have Yes, my colleagues have No, I haven't

53

4.1.5.5 Popularisation of issues related to equal opportunities of men and women in the context of SOP

HRD at the different levels of programme management and implementation In January 2006, the Department for European Social Fund Management organised workshops for employees of the institutions implementing SOP HRD. The goal of the workshops was to present practical aspects of gender mainstreaming at all project implementation levels and prepare checklists permitting practical verification of the application of the principle by project providers. Moreover, during the meeting the Practical guide to equal treatment of men and women in the Structural Funds was presented, which had been prepared by the Department for European Social Fund Management. However, none of the respondents (except for representatives of the MRD) declared participation in training or conferences related to equal opportunities of men and women. Only a representative of one of the Steering Committees declared participation in such initiatives, which were, however, organised in the framework of EQUAL CIP. According to most of the respondents they need training related to equal opportunities of men and women, however the need is not big. The declarations of the members of Project Evaluation Committees are much more convincing, because as they themselves hold they cannot assess to what degree the project respects the principle. As one of the female respondents said: The level of awareness of gender issues among EQUAL and SOP HRD committees is very low. I believe that all representatives of the monitoring committees, regardless who they are, should be trained and taught what the thing is about... Monitoring Committee 4.1.5.6 Elements of the implementation and management system requiring a change in view of gender

equality Most of the respondents are not interested in problems related to supporting equal opportunities between men and women and they do not see any need of changes in the next programming period. What is more, they are reluctant to accept the proposal to strengthen equality issues in the successive projects. They are afraid of bureaucracy and of the requirement for a more detailed diagnosis of the application of the gender equality principle. If we wanted to strengthen the issue, appreciate it and draw people’s attention to it, we would have to receive special funds for or adopt an extra criterion, for which applicants would score additional points. Then we would have to design an extra, dedicated system for implementation, monitoring and control, so as to be later able to evaluate the fulfilment of the criterion. This is possible but not right now. We may study the statistics of the number of men and women trained. Interestingly, I never pay attention to it. Every year, I check the reports and sum up the digits (...), but I do not remember the column for men and women at all. We are not in the least interested... Implementing Authority Most of the respondents are not able to make a recommendation as regards future actions related to the equality of men and women. Nevertheless, it seems that equal opportunity issues should be addressed to a much larger degree than so far. As regards implementing authorities and intermediate bodies, indeed we need an–in-depth discussion. To prepare the persons who are to monitor and supervise things, improve their awareness and show what we should talk about, why and to what end – of course we will do it by using arguments, data and trying to achieve understanding of the topic... Monitoring Committee Representatives of the Managing Authority for SOP HRD only pointed that it is no longer necessary to prepare a separate measure addressed to women, i.e. Measure 1.6. While it was justified in the

54

programming period of 2004-2006, it would be a hindrance in the subsequent programming period and would in fact put at risk the implementation of the equal treatment principle. (...) we try to integrate the issues into our activities and move the stress of the project from positive discrimination to the so-called ESF mainstream and we do it by drawing on experience, also mine personal experience that creating ghettos for this social group or another does not make any sense. The ESF should in no way favour people... Managing Authority SOP HRD And I think this would be a hindrance, just as you said, on the one hand, project providers did not want women, because women have their Measure 1.6, and that it was the underlying reason for projects to be rejected under the other measures for women, because they said, no it is inconsistent with the equal opportunity principle, because there are no men here, and women have their own measures, where they can get their money. And this may have led to a misunderstanding of what the principle of equal treatment is, creating conditions for various participants to be able to participate in a project under equal principles, and not chaotic appropriation of funds, segmentation into groups... Managing Authority SOP HRD On the other hand, this will require more control of whether the principle of equal treatment is implemented under the other measures in which it has been treated with neglect so far. For me the key role is to be played by Ms. Kluzik-Rostkowska, who should supervise the preparation of a strategy for using the money. Because, on the one hand, it will be more difficult, and on the other, easier. There is much more money, but there is no direct measure for women any longer. There is nothing that would be reserved. Perhaps we will have to fight for it. If we do not have a competent group of evaluators because evaluators not always understand what it is all for and what the needs are. We will have to prepare training suitable for them... Monitoring Committee

55

4.2 PROJECT LEVEL 4.2.1 The project level – gender mainstreaming – ideal situation vs. practice (summary of

results). For the needs of this evaluation a theoretical structure was built showing the ideal situation, i.e. the conditions which should be met for us to able to state that the gender equality perspective is maintained at the project implementation level. The ideal picture is made up of the following elements:

High awareness of gender mainstreaming problems in a wide social context.

High awareness of the principle in the context of the project providers’ own projects – theory and resultant concrete actions.

Implementation of the principle at each project stage:

• Diagnosis of the situation in gender terms • Analysis of project effects/results taking into account their impact on the situation of men and

women – at different project stages • Consultations with target groups, project partners, advisory bodies, experts, etc. in order to

identify barriers – at the application stage • Solutions facilitating the accessibility of support to men and women • Diversification of support depending on gender • Diversification of promotion and recruitment methods depending on gender

As shown by the evaluation surveys, it was only in the first of the above aspects that the evaluation of project providers was positive. In a wider social perspective project providers present a high awareness of equal opportunity problems However, the awareness does not translate much into issues related with SOP HRD and the projects carried out in the framework of SOP HRD. In many cases, it was the evaluation that forced project providers to reflect on the subject. Project providers do not understand the “idea” of equal opportunities and cannot refer it to their own projects. Here they most often referred to accessibility to the project offer, not analysing, however, whether there can be any barriers to the accessibility. For most part, project providers approach the principle of equal opportunities in a mechanical way, as another formal requirement imposed on them. In their spontaneous answers few project providers were able to indicate concrete actions to be taken to address the equal opportunity principle. Even if such actions are actually carried out in the framework of a project they are done with no awareness that they relate to equal opportunity issues, therefore their potential is not fully exploited. Recommendations for the next programming period

• There is a need to popularise knowledge (through training, publications) about the principle of equality between men and women and to stress the importance of the principle from the perspective of the implementation of projects (with concrete examples what the policy means, also with regard to the project).

• At the application level, the project provider should be required to present the project and

proposed actions in the context of the equal opportunity perspective.

• The project provider should be obliged to demonstrate that they take concrete actions in the framework of the project to implement the principle.

56

4.2.2 SOP HRD – evaluation of assumed goals, gender structure in particular Priorities,

measures and fields of support The equal opportunity principle is monitored at the level of reports on the implementation of projects and Measures under SOP HRD. In their annual and interim reports on the implementation of Measures, implementing authorities declared that the principle was not breached and all projects were implemented with the principle of equal opportunities between men and women observed. However, as shown by a review of the annual and interim reports carried out in the framework of this evaluation, monitoring is limited merely to demonstrating the proportions of men and women participating projects under particular measures. There is a lack of in-depth analyses (both quantitative and qualitative). Also in the evaluations of projects and Measures under SOP HRD carried out so far for the needs of the implementation of Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2004-2006 gender equality issues appear rarely12 and if they do, it is only by demonstrating the differences between the genders as regards the effects of support granted. No reference is made to gender mainstreaming. Also there are no analyses of qualitative nature. No data has been found to indicate that the principle was violated. According to data, between the beginning of the implementation of SOP HRD and the end of June 2007, 60.32% of the persons covered by the support were women, while 39.68% men. This ratio shows that it is women who are the main beneficiaries of SOP HRD. Priority 1 Active labour market policy and professional and social integration

In terms of numbers, in each priority under each measure most of the project beneficiaries are women. Such a structure of participation corresponds to the structure of employment in the institutions covered by the support. It also reflects the gender structure among the unemployed. Under the Priority there is also a measure addressed specifically to women.

Measure 1.1 Development and modernisation of labour market instruments and institutions

Under Measure 1.1, where the Final Beneficiary (Implementing Authority) is the Department of Implementing the European Social Fund (DWF) at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, since the implementation of the Programme support has been provided to nearly 27.1 thousand final beneficiaries, 24% of them men and 76% women. Such a structure of participation corresponds to the structure of employment in the institutions benefiting from the support.

Measure 1.2 Perspectives for youths

Under Measure 1.2, where the Final Beneficiaries (Implementing Authorities) are Voivodship Labour Offices, between the beginning of the implementation of the Programme and the end of June 2007, the projects of the measure covered 301.6 thousand final beneficiaries (38% men and 62% women).

Measure 1.3 Counteracting and combating long-term unemployment

Under Measure 1.3, where the Final Beneficiaries (Implementing Authorities) are Voivodship Labour Offices, between the beginning of the implementation of the Programme and the end of June 2007, 251.7 thousand ultimate beneficiaries began participating in the Measure (49% men and 51% women). In the measure the proportions of men and women are nearly equal.

12 For example in the evaluation nameed Upgrading the skills and qualifications of personnel under Measure 2.3 of SOP HRD the final report does not menion that support was diversified based on gender, although it seems that the results of such a perspective could be interesting. There are also no such references in the report Paths to employment, Examination of paths leading persons at risk of social exclusion to employment under Measure 1.5 of SOP HRD 2004-2006.

57

Measure 1.4 Professional and social integration of disabled persons

Under Measure 1.4, implemented by the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons between the beginning of the implementation of the Programme and the end of June 2007, 29.3 thousand ultimate beneficiaries began participating in the Measure (39% men and 61% women), 61% of whom were disabled persons.

Measure 1.5 Promoting active social policy through supporting high-risk groups

Measure 1.5 is implemented by the DWF at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. Under the Measure, since the beginning of the implementation of SOP HRD support has been provided to 51.6 thousand ultimate beneficiaries (persons who started participating in the support), 38% of whom were men and 62% women.

Measure 1.6 Professional integration and reintegration of women

Under this measure equal opportunity policy was implemented particularly strongly. Measure 1.6 is implemented by the DWF at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. Since the beginning of the implementation of the Programme, support has been channelled to 44 thousand women.

Priority 2 Development of a knowledge-based society

Under Priority 2, the proportions of the participation of men and women are more varied. However, also here the group of ultimate beneficiaries is dominated by women. The only measure where men are a majority is Measure 2.3, yet the advantage is not high.

Measure 2.1 Increasing access to education - promotion of life-long learning

Since the beginning of the implementation of the Programme support has covered over 43.5 thousand institutions (schools and public continuing education centres, libraries, etc.)13.

Measure 2.2 Improving the quality of education with a view to the needs of the labour market

Since the beginning of the Programme, nearly 138.4 thousand teachers (18% - men and 82% - women), 27.0 thousand institutions (including schools and public continuing education centres, the Central Examination Board and Regional Examination Boards, etc.) and 12.4 thousand employees of the institutions have begun participating in the Measure. The proportions of men and women participating in projects reflect the structure of employment in the educational institutions concerned.

Measure 2.3 Development of modern economy workforces

Between the beginning of the implementation of SOP HRD and the end of June 2007 over 352.2 thousand ultimate beneficiaries (51% were men, 49% women) started participating in the Measure. Nearly half of the persons benefitting from the support are employees of small and medium-sized enterprises, but taking into account employees of microenterprises the share increases to 64%. Moreover, support covered over 104 thousand enterprises (56% of which were SMEs) and over 2 thousand institutions.

Measure 2.3 is the only measure where the group of ultimate beneficiaries is slightly dominated by men. An analysis of the participation in the different forms of support shows that, in general, more men benefit from training for entrepreneurs and employees of undertakings. Interestingly, while general training courses are nearly as much popular among women as men, specialist training is mainly attended by men (specialist training in the framework of projects was attended by 1219 men and 288 women). In turn, women are more eager to use longer forms of education, such as post-graduate studies (so far this form of support has benefited 8202 men and 10317 women)14.

13 Data about the persons participating in the Measure will be presented on the basis of data of the Central Statistical Office at the end of the implementation of the Measure. 14 According to Attachment 4 to the report for Measure 2.3 for the first six months of 2007.

58

Measure 2.4 Strengthening administrative capacities

Under the Measure, implemented by the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, in total, since the beginning of the implementation of the Measure, support has benefited 10.2 thousand ultimate beneficiaries (32% men and 68% women) and support has been provided to state administration bodies over 3 thousand times.

Table 6: Priority 2 Measures 2.3 and 2.4

Indicator value achieved during the 1st six months of 2007

Indicator value achieved since the beginning of the implementation of

the Priority

Type of support

M F Overall M F Overall No.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. Training 2 513 5 709 8 222 4 188 9 094 13 282 including under Measure 2.3 491 1 024 1 515 919 2 138 3 057 including under Measure 2.4 2 022 4 685 6 707 3 269 6 956 10 225

2. Training for entrepreneurs and employees of enterprises

84 534 72 889 157 423 158 325 155 243 313 568

including specialist training 316 143 459 1 219 288 1 507 including general training 84 218 72 746 156 964 157 106 154 955 312 061

3. Post-graduate studies 6 964 8 663 15 627 8 202 10 317 18 519 4. Other 492 864 1 356 3 168 4 414 7 582 5 Conferences under Measure 2.3 of

SOP HRD 492 864 1 356 3 168 4 414 7 582

Priority 3 Technical assistance Under Priority 3 by the end of June 2007 support comprised 9,075 employees of institutions (34% men and 64% women) and 230 institutions (inter alia Voivodship Labour Offices, Department of Implementing the European Social Fund at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Department for European Social Fund Management at the Ministry of Regional Development, IBs and IAs, Ministry of National Education, Registries of Vital Records and Statistics / Chancellery of the Prime Minister, State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons, Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, MC, SC, Project Evaluation Commissions, internal audit units, information and advisory points, Krajowy Ośrodek Szkoleniowy Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego (National ESF Training Centre), Regional ESF Training Centres, Regional Financing Authorities), all these institutions have been provided multiple support since the beginning of the implementation of SOP HRD. When analysing the above ratios of participation in projects implemented under individual priorities one may conclude that it is mainly women who benefit from support under SOP HRD. Some persons do not manage to finish their participation in a project. The drop out figures refer exclusively to Priority 1 and are presented below (at this stage we do not have the figures for Priority 2).

59

Table 7: Priority 1

Indicator value achieved during the 1st six months of 2007

Indicator value achieved since the beginning of the implementation

of the Priority

Status on the labour market

M K Overall M F Overall

No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. Unemployed 5 677 7 790 13 467 29 725 35 008 64 733 including under Measure 1.2 2 375 3 473 5 848 16 102 20 726 36 828 including under Measure 1.3 2 486 2 303 4 789 12 031 9 333 21 364 including under Measure 1.4 12 12 24 34 37 71 including under Measure 1.5 804 869 1 673 1 558 1 817 3 375 including under Measure 1.6 0 1 133 1 133 0 3 095 3 095

2. Persons registered by Poviat Labour Offices as job seekers, remaining out of work

10 94 104 27 156 183

including under Measure 1.4 10 9 19 27 29 56 including under Measure 1.6 0 85 85 0 127 127

3. Employed persons 145 489 634 303 992 1 295 including under Measure 1.1 144 405 549 285 762 1 047 including under Measure 1.4 1 3 4 18 34 52 including under Measure 1.6 0 81 81 0 196 196

4. Self-employed persons 0 0 0 0 1 1 including under Measure 1.6 0 0 0 0 1 1

5. Students, doctoral students and learners

0 6 6 0 10 10

including under Measure 1.4 0 1 1 0 1 1 including under Measure 1.6 0 5 5 0 9 9

6. Others 445 354 799 1 217 1 142 2 359 including under Measure 1.4 25 21 46 46 49 95 including under Measure 1.5 420 264 684 1 171 872 2 043 including under Measure 1.6 0 69 69 0 221 221

7. Overall 6 277 8 733 15 010 31 272 37 309 68 581 including under Measure 1.1 144 405 549 285 762 1 047 including under Measure 1.2 2 375 3 473 5 848 16 102 20 726 36 828 including under Measure 1.3 2 486 2 303 4 789 12 031 9 333 21 364 including under Measure 1.4 48 46 94 125 150 275 including under Measure 1.5 1 224 1 133 2 357 2 729 2 689 5 418 including under Measure 1.6 0 1 373 1 373 0 3 649 3 649

Based on the above analysis, it is hard to find a regularity in the drop-out figures. However, the qualitative surveys have shown that participants in projects discontinue their participation because they find work in the meantime. The persons who began participating in a project and were offered an attractive job will take the job rather than continue their participation. Also, employers usually needs an employee right away. On the other hand, even if a beneficiary wanted - despite finding a job – to finish the training – it would be impossible as their status on the labour market has changed and they would not be once again qualified as a beneficiary of support for the unemployed. A systemic problem appears here – it is assumed that the goal of projects for the disabled is to bring beneficiaries back to the labour market, however, from the perspective of the implementation of the programme – the return should not happen to soon, i.e. before the project is completed. Among the most important reasons why beneficiaries discontinue their participation in projects project providers also included beneficiaries’ personal qualities, resulting, among others, their long-term inactivity, which leads to reduced self-discipline, motivation, lack of belief in the possibility of changing their situation. There is also a group of beneficiaries who do not want the change their situation. This refers e.g. to women who have never worked and are not going to take up employment, and to persons - mainly men - who work illegally. Yet, the scale of these phenomena is difficult to be established, because they are just presumptions of project providers themselves. Other reasons mentioned by project providers are purely accidental.

60

On the other hand, an analysis of 60 randomly chosen projects carried out by means of the Desk Research has given the following data: Beneficiaries of five of the projects were institutions, while those of the remaining 55 were individuals. Among the participants of the projects were 19,120 women and 13 840 men. The average number of women and men participating in one project was 348 and 252 respectively. 10 of the projects were addressed exclusively to women (all within Field 3 – Ensuring equal opportunities for women on the labour market, Measure 1.6 - Professional integration and reintegration of women) and there was no training addressed specifically to men. As regards the training in which there were clear disproportions between the share of men and women, the differences resulted from the specificity of the training and the target group. This was the case with the training named Modern Welding Technologies, which was not attended by a single woman, or Security Guard of the 21st century, in which 15 participants were women, i.e. 0.02% of the participants. As shown by the figure below, women had a slight advantage (58%) among the beneficiaries of the projects analysed. Analyzing the individual fields of support, we can observe that in Field 1 Active labour market policy, it is women who are in the majority (59%), while in Field 2 Counteracting social exclusion – it is men (57%). Field 3 - Ensuring equal opportunities for women on the labour market is completely dominated by women. In Field 4 - Continuing education and 6 – Strengthening administrative capacities we can observe a clear advantage of women (79% and 69% respectively), while in Field 5 – Adaptability and enterprise development, that of men (60%).

61

Share of men and women in individual measures

4.2.3 Understanding of the gender mainstreaming principle among project providers The knowledge of issues related to the equality of opportunities between men and women (especially with reference to SOP HRD and projects) is not high among project providers. It is mainly associated with the labour market. Moreover, there is a relatively strong conviction among projects providers (both quantitative and qualitative surveys) that the issues are artificially blown up. This was particularly clear with reference to the labour market – the qualitative studies have shown that project providers quite commonly think that, even though important, the issue of discrimination on the labour market is not fundamental.

58%

59%

95%

62%

55%

43%

51%

60%

100%

100%

79%

80%

40%

38%

69%

69%

42%

41%

38%

45%

49%

40%

21%

20%

60%

62%

31%

31%

5%

57%

OVERALL (N=60)

Field 1 (N=15)

Measure

1.1 (N=1)

1.2 (N=7)

1.3 (N=7)

Field 2 (N=10)

Measure

1.4 (N=3)

1.5 (N=7)

Field 3 (N=10)

Measure

1.6 (N=10)

Field 4 (N=3)

Measure

2.2 (N=3)

Field 5 (N=15)

Measure

2.3 (N=15)

Field 6 (N=5)

2.4 (N=5)

Women Men

62

Project providers perceived the principle of equal opportunities between men and women mainly in the context of equality on the labour market. According to nearly half of the respondents (42%) the term referred to equal opportunities on the labour market, in particular equal pay for men and women (32%). Further, the indications concerned equal access to positions (11%) and equal promotion opportunities (9%) – in particular, project providers delivering projects under Priority 2 – Development of a knowledge-based society, and Field 3 – Ensuring equal opportunities for women on the labour market, in particular Field 5 – Adaptability and enterprise development. Recently, you can hear a lot about equal opportunities of men and women. What do you think does the term mean? Please feel free to share any reflections that you have in this respect.

42%

32%

12%

11%

10%

9%

8%

8%

7%

7%

4%

4%

3%

2%

2%

2%

2%

2%

3%

43%

30%

12%

8%

10%

7%

9%

8%

8%

7%

5%

4%

3%

3%

3%

2%

1%

2%

1%

39%

38%

10%

17%

9%

15%

6%

8%

4%

6%

4%

6%

3%

1%

0%

2%

3%

2%

6%

equal opportunities on the labour market

same level of pay

equal access to education/ improvement ofqualifications

equal access to work posts - based exclusively onqualifications and not gender

equal access to various goods, services, etc.

equal promotion opportunities/ access to high-rankpositions

equal treatment regardless of the gender/ thesame rights and duties - in general

equal treatment by employer

equal civil rights/ equal participation in public andsocial life

EQUAL, ESF, EU programmes

women's access to occupations so far perceived asmale and vice versa

I do not see such discrimination/ it is becomingless and less intensive/ artificially blown-up topic

non-disriminaiton of women because of theirchildren/ willingness to have children

adjustment of the organisation of work to theneeds of women raising children

change of stereotyped thinking

equal sharing of occupational /familyresponsibilities

equal opportunities in politics

equality in assigning responsibilities at work

I do not know / hard to say

OVERALL (N=500)

Priority 1 - Active labour market policyand professional and social integration(N=373)

Priority 2 - Development of aknowledge-based society (N=127)

63

The respondents rarely associated gender mainstreaming with aspects other than labour market. Every tenth respondent declared that it means equal access to various goods or services, and also to education and learning. Project providers, in particular those implementing projects of Field 2 – Counteracting social exclusion, 1.4 - Professional and social integration of disabled persons and Measure 1.1 - Development and modernisation of labour market instruments and institutions associated the principle of equal opportunities of men and women with equal civic rights for both genders and the same access to social and public life. Only 7% of the respondents placed the issues in the context of EU programmes (ESF, EQUAL). For most part, the project providers surveyed by us (60%) did not treat equal opportunity issues as excessively or artificially blown-up, however they were quite reserved in their opinions – only every 5th respondent disagreed. Support for publicising the issues was expressed mainly by the project providers who addressed their actions to women, i.e. persons implementing projects from Field 3 - Ensuring equal opportunities for women on the labour market, Measure 1.6 – Professional integration and reintegration of women. The persons surveyed justified their opinion mainly by the importance of the problem for the entire society, manifested mainly by the underprivileged situation of women on the labour market (women have worse opportunities on the labour market and receive lower pays). The necessity to equalise the opportunities of men and women on the labour market was stressed in particular by the respondents implementing project under Field 1 – Active labour market policy and Field 2 – Counteracting social exclusion. The type of project and its relation to gender equality did not have a significant impact on the opinions in this respect. At the same time, the respondents who considered that gender mainstreaming is excessively publicised, did not notice any signs of discrimination based on sex. It was also indicated that despite the problems being widely publicised, the situation has not changed radically, and the issues are raised merely for political purposes. The project providers who target their projects at the unemployed (including long-term unemployed) stressed in the case studies in which they participated that a more common problem is discrimination on the grounds of age, and if a woman is unemployed and she is aged over 40 – then her chances to find work are indeed lower.

64

One can hear opinions that equal opportunity issues are excessively and artificially publicised. How strongly do you agree (disagree) with this opinion?

3%

11%

4%

22%

6%

33%

38%

25%

26%

44%

33%

36% 30%

2%

3%

2%

4%

4%

50%

7%

5%

6%

33%

33%

33%

50%

41%

41%

41%

40%

40%

40% 19%

20%

14%

23%

18%

19%

Overall (N=500)

PRIORITY

Priority 1 - Active labour market policy and professionaland social integration (N=373)

Priority 2 - Development of a knowledge-based society(N=127)

FIELD





Field 5 - Adaptability and enterprise development(N=116)


[4] Strongly agree [3] Rather agree [2] Rather disagree[1] Strongly disagree Hard to say

65

The qualitative studies (case studies) have shown, however, that project providers also express contrary opinions, stating that though important the question of discrimination on the labour market is not a fundamental problem. In the studies, the persons who were well acquainted with the current trends and did not just quote common opinions, maintained that at present the labour market is undergoing dynamic changes and the issue of discrimination based on gender is a less and less common phenomenon. The attitude of employers and of the unemployed themselves as regard the classification of professions as ‘typically male’ or ‘typically female’ is changing. More and more women are benefiting from training in professions so far associated with men, e.g. in warehouses, transport, manufacturing and security. And what is important, they are successful in finding employment, and even become much desired employees, as more reliable and disciplined and, as one of the project providers said, “non-drinking” employees, i.e. causing fewer accidents in the occupations where accidents are common. 4.2.4 Attitude to gender mainstreaming in the framework of projects The qualitative studies have shown that for most part project providers approach the principle of equal opportunities in a ‘mechanical’ way, as another formal requirement imposed on them. Although in the quantitative studies 60% of the respondents admitted that the declaration in the application that the project complies with the equal opportunity principle requires concrete follow-up activities, yet very few persons were able to indicate what activities these should be. The case studies of selected projects carried out in the framework of the evaluation have shown that project providers are only to a limited extent interested in whether the principle is actually applied in their projects. Many a time, it was the evaluation that forced project providers to reflect on the subject. These reflections were limited above all to general statements that men and women should have equal access to the project offer and should combat discrimination based on sex. The need to take concrete gender-related activities in the framework of a project was more often implied by the respondents implementing project under Priority 1 – Active labour market policy and professional and social integration. In their applications project providers must declare that the project will be implemented in compliance with the principle of equal opportunities between men and women. Do you consider this to be merely a formal requirement, or a requirement that leads to concrete actions?

66

The results of the quantitative and qualitative studies indicate that the fact that project providers treat gender mainstreaming merely as a formal requirement has a few reasons, which are described below. Few project providers took part in any training related to the equality of opportunities between men and women. 85% of the persons surveyed admitted that such training is not provided in their institutions, while 78% did not take part in such training. Most often such undertakings were attended by the project providers implementing projects targeting women (Field 3 – Ensuring equal opportunities for women on the labour market, Measuer 1.6 - Professional integration and reintegration of women), and projects dedicated to or related to equal opportunities between men and women. Even when project providers did participate in training – the training was concerned with projects in general, how to write them and the formal requirements related to their implementation. Even if the training tackled equal opportunities issues – then it was done in a very general way.

48%

41%

28%

34%

56%

47%

36%

38%

34%

49%

50%

66%

64%

62%

51%

50%

37%

40%

43%

50%

44%

50%

66%

57%

53%

72%

59%

63%

52%

60% OVERALL (N=500)

PRIORITY

Priority 1 - Activ e labour market policy and professional and socialintegration (N=373)

Priority 2 - Dev elopment of a knowledge-based society (N=127)

FIELD

Field 1 - Activ e labour market policy (N=225)


Field 3 - Ensuring equal opportunities for women on the labour market(N=53)


Field 5 - Adaptability and enterprise dev elopment (N=116)

Field 6 - Strengthening administrativ e capacities (N=2)

TYPE OF PROJECT


Other type of project (N=206)

LINK OF THE PROJECT WITH EQUAL OPPORTUNITY ISSUES


Project is not dedicated to the issues, but is related to them (N=289)


2.4 Supporting adaptability (N=2)

Merely a formal requirement Leads to concrete actions

67

Have you ever participated in training related to equal opportunities between men and women? Project providers do not understand the “idea” of equal opportunities and are not able to refer it to their own projects. The results of the qualitative studies show that in their work most of the persons surveyed (62%) have not pursued any activities related to equal opportunities between men and women. This was more frequent in the case of projects not related with gender equality and implemented under Measures 2.2 and 2.4.

3%

6%

8%

11%

4%

4%

7%

17%

15%

25%

11%

7%

18%

27%

60%

76%

8%

2%

3%

5%

5%

5%

5%

17%

15%

13%

78%

100%

65%

80%

88%

77%

78%

75%

87%

78%

5%

2%

2%

1%

2%

2%

1%

3%

Overall (N=500)

PRIORITY

Priority 1 - Active labour market policy andprofessional and social integration (N=373)

Priority 2 - Development of a knowledge-basedsociety (N=127)

FIELD



Field 3 - Ensuring equal opportunities to womenon the labour market (N=53)


Field 5 - Adaptability and enterprisedevelopment (N=116)

Field 6 - Strengthening administrative capacities(N=2)

TYPE OF PROJECT




Yes in my own institution Yes, outside the institution No I don't know / hard to say

68

Do you perform any activities related to the equal opportunity principle in your work? (projects not dedicated to equal opportunities) Even if such activities were actually taken (175 respondents) they were mainly concerned with the general observance of gender equality – preserving equal numbers of men and women (38%), observing the gender criterion during recruitment (10%), watching that projects do not lead to discrimination, or creating opportunities for women (9%).

32%

41%

37%

39%

22%

33%

61%

40%

38%

78%

100%

67%

63%

59%

60%

68%

62% OVERALL (N=463)

PRIORITY

Priority 1 - Active labour market policies andprofessional and social integration (N=337)

Priority 2 - Development of a knowledge basedsociety (N=126)

FIELD



Field 3 - Ensuring equal opportunities to womenon the labour market (N=36)

Field 4 - Continuing training (N=9)


Field 6 - Strengthening administrative capacities(N=2)

Yes No

69

Activities taken in the framework of projects aiming to implement the equal opportunity principle. On the one hand, the persons who did not carry out any activities related to the principle of equal opportunities between men and women do consider that such actions can be integrated into their own tasks (60%). On the other hand, they see them exclusively in terms of ensuring equal access to training. 16% of the project providers surveyed (N=500) declared that they do not see any space for the application of the gender mainstreaming principle in their projects.

N= 175 Persons who declared implementation of activities consistent with the equal opportunity principle in their projects

38%

10%

9%

9%

4%

4%

2%

2%

1%

6%

watching that the number of men and women is equal

recruitment

watching that the participants are not discriminatedagainst due to different criteria

opportunities for women

infromation about equality between men and women

advertising & information campaign, publicity activities

career advice

encouraging employers to employ women on the samepositions as men

project promotion through a website

I do not know / hard to say

70

Reasons underlying the opinion that there is no room for implementing the principle of equal opportunities between men and women under a project. The qualitative studies have shown that the offer of projects addressed to the unemployed tries to respond to the needs of the labour market and signals from employers. This is evidenced by the high employability of the beneficiaries of these projects. Both the topics of the training and the related services are oriented to activating beneficiaries into returning to the labour market. Project providers take a special account here of the needs of employers. As a result when employers perceive occupations in a stereotypical way, as male or female – then the project offer will reflect this. On the other hand, when an employer signals that they want to employ a woman as a security guide, then the project provider changes their attitude, offering the training also to women. On this basis a recommendation may be formulated as regards the need to promote the idea of equal opportunities among employers. Career advisors have a major role to play here. They form a group to which much of the training related to equal opportunities between men and women should be addressed to. On the other hand, in projects oriented to employed persons equal opportunity issues do not seem to be present at all. Although project providers cannot be accused of disrespecting the principle, the case studies carried out have not revealed any examples which could be described as good practice. Project providers are unable to refer the principle to their projects and most often treat it as a formal requirement, which does not matter much in their projects. The projects are most often addressed to concrete professional groups, and the participation in a project reflects the proportions of persons employed in the individual professions targeted by the project, e.g. teachers, officials, employees of specific industry sectors. These projects do not envisage special facilitations or incentives for women or men and as project providers themselves say “everyone is treated equally”. However, to actually encourage persons to participate in projects certain organisational facilitations are put in place, e.g. proximity of the training location to the place of residence, training provided during working hours, which improves the availability of the project offer in a significant way.

28%

19%

19%

15%

6%

3%

3%

3%

1%

1%

1%

tasks are not gender-oriented

I don't see such a need/ I don't see any possibleapplication/ hard to say

recruitment for training is based on other criteria thangender

the projects we receive from beneficiaries alwaysstress that the principle is observed

in settling applications other things matter more thangender

general issues related to the entire labour market

N=78Persons who do not see and room for the implementation of the equal opportunity princple in their project

71

The studies carried out have clearly shown that it is not the activities under SOP HRD (e.g. training) that are a stimulus for breaking the segregation of professions into male and female – their shape reflects the demand on the market. It must be stressed, however, that they very precisely respond to any changes on the market in this respect and they respond to any needs of the market overcoming the stereotypical perception of male and female professions. It seems, however, that reflection on the part of project providers and an in-depth analysis of the market, taking into account gender issues, and then a follow-up publicity campaign, would be likely to strongly reinforce the budding changes of the stereotype in this respect. The studies have shown that communication is unilateral here and that the stimuli come from the market, e.g. from employers who report “demand” for women as security guards. If such stimuli do not exist or have not been noticed (omissions at the level of diagnosis) the offer of project providers reproduce the existing stereotypes about male and female occupations. As shown by the qualitative studies, such conservative project providers most often reacted with surprise to questions concerning the participation of men/women in the support they offer. They said that if a women comes to them, they will not send her back, but mostly they also reacted with laughter. 4.2.5 Delivery of concrete actions related to the principle of equal opportunities between men

and women in the framework of projects In their spontaneous answers few project providers were able to indicate concrete actions to be taken to address the equal opportunity principle. Strangely enough, when asked about such actions in a straightforward way, they more often claimed that such actions were actually delivered under their projects.

72

Have the following actions taken place under your project? (assisted question)

Most project providers declared that they took actions related to diagnosing the situation in gender terms at the application drafting stage (50%), and that they carried out an analysis of the effects/results of their project in view of its impact on the situation of men and women – at any stage of the project (45%), consultations with target groups, project partners, advisory bodies, experts, etc. or other actions to find hidden barriers which hinder or make impossible the participation of men and women in the project – at the application stage (40%) and put in place facilitations increasing the availability of support for men and women (39%). The respondents also considered these actions as most useful in their project. Much less

50%

45%

40%

39%

15%

8%

58%

54%

40%

39%

24%

7%

47%

38%

43%

42%

12%

11%

74%

62%

68%

57%

21%

17%

11%

44%

11%

11%

0%

0%

28%

26%

30%

29%

2%

3%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

Situation diagnosis takingaccount of gender issues atthe application preparation

stage

Analysis of projecteffects/results taking into

account their impact on thesituation of men and women

Consultations with targetgroups, project partners,

advisory bodies, experts, etc.

Faciliations improvingavailability of support for

men and women

Differentation of support formen and women

Differentiation of promotionand recruitment methods

depending on gender

Overall (N=500)



Field 3 - Ensuring equal opportunities for womenon the labour market (N=53) Field 4 - Continuing education (N=9)

Field 5 - Adaptability and enterprise development(N=116) Field 6 - Strengthening administrative capacities(N=2)

73

frequently, the support (15%) or the promotion and recruitment method (8%) were diversified in terms of gender. This was due to the fact that project providers considered such actions as being of little use. It should be stressed that every fourth respondent admitted that none of these actions were carried out in the framework of their projects. The actions enumerated related to gender mainstreaming were most frequently taken into account in projects dedicated to gender-issues and addressed to women. They were least frequent under Field 4 – Continuing education and 6 – Strengthening administrative capacities, which involved specific projects oriented to specified occupational groups. Here the availability-related reflection concerned concrete target groups, not identified in gender terms, but in terms of the occupation and work place. Project providers did not make here any gender-related assumptions, but intuitively assumed that the proportions of participating men and women will reflect gender proportions in the occupation concerned. Nor did they have any ambition to interfere or stimulate a change in the proportions. Please indicate the usefulness of the actions we talked about for your project... - AVERAGE 4.2.5.1 Diagnosis of the situation in gender terms at the application stage Diagnosis of the situation in gender terms at the application stage is the most frequently indicated activity which project providers implemented in the framework of the gender mainstreaming principle. However, the diagnosis was prepared by persons involved in the project (93%). Only in 18 case it was prepared by external experts. Experts were most often involved in projects of Measure 1.5 and 1.6 and training projects not related to equal opportunities between men and women. They were mainly specialists in sociology (6 cases), psychology (4 cases), statistics (3 cases). In most cases (93%) the diagnosis was used to write the application. When it was not used for this purpose, it was mainly because it was carried out during the implementation of the application or drafted for information purposes only.

3,5

2,7

3,7

3,8

3,9

3

1

2

3

4

5

6

Diagnosis of the situation taking into account genderissues- at any project stage

Consultations with target groups, project partners,advisory bodies, experts - at the application preparation

stage

Diagnosis of the situation taking into account genderissues at the application preparation stage

Faciliations improving availability of support for men andwomen

Diversification of support depending on gender

Diversification of promotion and recruitment methodsdepending on gender

OVERALL (N=500)

SCALE: [6] Indispensible, [5] Very useful, [4] Quite useful, [3] Neither useful nor useless, [2] Rather not useful, [1] Useless

74

Was a diagnosis carried out during application drafting? (Those who declared that their diagnosis was gendered)

4.2.5.2 Analysis of project effects/results in view of their impact on the situation of men and women – at

any stage of the project In most cases, the analysis of project effects/results, in view of their impact on the situation of men and women, was carried out after the project was completed (71%), or when it was in progress (67%). Much less frequently the analysis was carried out during the application drafting stage - 38% of the cases.

91%

92%

96%

97%

94%

94%

3%

6%

93%

93%

92%

0%

100%

0%

8%

6%

4%

8%

7%

9%

7% Ov erall (N=248)

PRIORITY

Priority 1 - Activ e labour market policies and professional and socialitegration (N=215)

Priority 2 - Dev elopment of a knowledge-based society (N=33)

FIELD



Field 3 - Ensurng equal rights to women on the labour market (N=39)


Field 5 - Adaptability and enterprise dev elopment (N=32)

Field 6 - Strengthening administrativ e capacities (N=0)

TYPE OF PROJECT



Yes No

75

At what project stage or stages was the analysis of the project effects/results in view of their impact on the situation of men and women carried out? The analysis at the application stage was carried out most often under Fields 4 and 3. It was only in half of the cases that it had an impact on the final shape of the project. Particularly low proportions of project providers declaring that the analysis had an impact on the final shape of the project were noted in Fields 1 and 2 and in non-training projects. As declared by the respondents, certain project components were changed, including the number of ultimate beneficiaries, the target group or the scope of subject matter. Moreover, actions were taken to ensure equal access for both genders.

71%

73%

65%

81%

44%

73%

75%

63%

0%

67%

67%

62%

66%

75%

64%

50%

63%

0%

38%

39%

29%

39%

36%

45%

50%

27%

0%

OVERALL (N=224)

PRIORITY

PRIORITY 1 - Activ e labour marketpolicy and professional and social

integration (N=190)

Priority 2 - Dev elopment of aknowledge-based society (N=34)

FIELD

Field 1 - Activ e labour marketpolicy (N=121)

Field 2 - Counteracting socialexclusion (N=36)

Field 3 - Ensuring equalopportunities for women on the

labour market (N=33)


Field 5 - Adaptablity and enterprisedev elopment (N=30)

Field 6 - Strengtheningadministrativ e capacities (N=0)

After project completion During project delivery At the application stage

76

Did the results of the analysis at the application stage have any impact on the final scope of the project, were changes made to the project based on the analysis? The analysis at the project implementation stage was carried out most often under Field 2. Overall, in 46% of the cases it resulted in changes to the project. Also here, the changes concerned the number of participants and the project’s subject matter.

51%

48%

70%

43%

38%

73%

50%

75%

0%

69%

35%

40%

43%

20%

47%

54%

20%

50%

13%

23%

54%

7%

11%

0%

0%

8%

13%

8%

11%

9%

10%

9% OVERALL (N=85)

PRIORTY



FIELD





Field 5 - Adaptability and enterprise development (N=8)


TYPE OF PROJECT



Yes No I don't know/hard to say

77

Were any changes made in the project as a result of the analysis carried out during project delivery? 4.2.5.3 Consultations with target groups, project partners, advisory bodies, experts, etc. or other actions

aiming to detect hidden barriers which make it difficult or impossible for women or men to participate in a project – at the application stage

The main activity carried out to diagnose hidden barriers were consultations (74%), in particular in Field 3. The type of project and its relation to the equal opportunity principle did not have a significant impact here. Besides, actions were pursued to obtain information by means of surveys and interviews (8%), also career advisors were interviewed (5%). The consultations were mainly carried out with the project’s target groups (59%), less frequently with advisory bodies (23%) and experts (26%).

46%

48%

30%

62%

53%

0%

59%

46%

40%

52%

49%

70%

38%

100%

47%

41%

51%

60%

0%

3%

4%

2% OVERALL (N=149)

FIELD



Field 3 - Ensuring equal opportunities to women onthe labour market (N=21)

Field 4 - Continuing Education (N=2)

Field 5 - Adaptablity and enterprise development(N=19)

Field 6 - Strengtheninig administrative capacities(N=0)

LINK OF THE PROJECT WITH EQUAL OPPORTUNITYISSUES


Project is not dedicated to the issues, but is relatedto it (N=107)


Yes No I don't know/hard to say

78

What actions were carried out to find hidden barriers? In most cases (74%) the actions allowed for the barriers to be diagnosed. The barriers were relatively easier to be detected in Field 4 and 3. The type of project and its relation to the equal opportunity principle did not have a significant impact here. The most frequently spotted barriers included: travel problems (21%), the need to ensure childcare (17%), qualifications of the persons participating in the project (17%), financial barrier (13%) and lack of self-confidence (13%). The abovementioned difficulties were particularly present in projects related to “gender mainstreaming”.

78%

71%

0%

70%

74%

83%

0%

29%

100%

17%

30%

22%

26% Overall (N=202)

FIELD

FIELD 1 - Active labour market policy (N=89)


Field 3 - Ensuring equal opportunities to women on thelabour market (N=36)




Consultations Other actions

79

During those actions, were any barriers diagnosed making it difficult or impossible for women or men to participate in the project? 4.2.5.4 Facilitations increasing the accessibility of support to men and women Project providers applied the same solutions to increase the availability of support to both genders (80%). It was rare for support to be diversified (8%). This was the case mainly in projects oriented to women – Measure 1.6 or dedicated to gender equality. Women were most often provided help in childcare and care of dependants, while men benefited from facilitated access to training or received reimbursement of travel fares.

76%

100%

57%

0%

76%

74%

83%

0%

43%

17%

24%

24%

26% OVERALL (N=202)

FIELD

Field 1 - Active labourmarket policy (N=89)

Field 2 - Counteractingsocial exclusion (N=41)

Field 3 - Ensuring equalopportunities for women on

the labour market (N=36)

Field 4 - Continuingeducation (N=1)

Field 5 - Adaptability andenterprise development

(N=35)

Field 6 - Strengtheningadministrative capacities

(N=0)

Yes No

80

Were men and women targeted with the same solutions to improve the availability of support, or was the support diversified? 4.2.5.5 Diversification of support depending on gender Project providers rarely diversified their support by gender. If this was the case, then they only strengthened existing divisions between genders, in particular as regards the subject matter of training or a workshop. In addition, more often support was channelled specifically to women. Women were mainly offered training in the occupations which are typically preferred by women, the subject of training was tailored to their needs, and they were provided help in the care of children or dependants. Similarly, men were offered training in typically male professions, or grants for economic activity. Unfortunately, this proves that SOP HRD lacks creativity as regards its offer for the labour market.

80%

77%

91%

97%

85%

10%

100%

91%

0%

77%

84%

50%

83%

82%

9%

3%

2%

15%

23%

3%

11%

5%

17%

6%

11%

67%

11%

33%

7%

8%

0%

11%

12%

6%

1%

13%

6%

12% OVERALL (N=193)

PRIORITY

Priority 1 - Activ e labour market policy and professional and socialintegration (N=158)

Priorytet 2 - Dev elopment of a knowledge-based society (N=35)

FIELD



Field 3 - Ensuring equal opportunities for women on the labour market(N=30)


Field 5 - Adaptablity and enterprise dev elopment (N=34)

Field 6 - Enhancing administrativ e capacities (N=0)

TYPE OF PROJECT



LINK OF THE PROJECT WITH EQUAL OPPORTUNITY ISSUES


Project is not dedicated to the issues, but is related to them (N=130)


The same solutions for both gendersDifferent solutions for men and womenI don't know/ hard to say

81

4.2.5.6 Diversification of promotion and recruitment methods depending on gender In most projects, the promotion and recruitment methods were not diversified. If they were, they were mainly dedicated to women, less frequently to men. The publicity and information activities oriented mainly to women comprised, first of all, information in the media (10 cases), in labour offices (6 cases), distribution of posters and leaflets (7 cases), publication of information on websites (4 cases) and direct recruitment interviews (3 cases). The studies have shown that at the level of publicity and information actions, project providers very rarely considered taking into account the different needs and expectations of men and women. The actions were carried out “to meet the market needs” and had no creative value. If there was a market need (i.e. signals from employers that they seek for employees with specific competences or want to improve the competences of the employees already working) then recruitment and promotion headed in that direction. Yet it must be stressed once again that project providers reacted with a lot of sensitivity to the needs and showed a high flexibility in this respect during the project (naturally within the allowable formal framework). 4.2.5.7 Access to accompanying activities The results of the quantitative studies indicate that project providers ensure various access to accompanying activities, which are aimed to facilitate the access of beneficiaries to the project. Most often, training was organised in a friendly and safe surroundings, which could be easily reached, and the timetable was adjusted to the needs of the less flexible persons. The less frequent actions included providing assistance to beneficiaries in reaching the project locations and publication of training materials on the Internet. It was only occasionally that beneficiaries could count on help in care over children or dependants. Most often accompanying support was provided to the project participants of Measures 1.5 and 1.6. In most projects no support was provided for childcare and care of dependants. It was only in every tenth case that the project provider offered such support, while in 7% there was readiness to do it, yet the participants were not interested. Such support was also implemented under Fields 3 and 2 and projects dedicated or related to issues linked to equal opportunities between men and women. In the framework of such assistance, rather than organising care financial means were granted to cover the its costs.

82

Did the project provided help in childcare and care of dependants? As declared by project providers, the project timetable was in most cases tailored to the less flexible persons. Such a situation occurred in 82% of the cases, especially under Field 3. Rarely were training materials published on the Internet – in every fourth case.

4%

26%

36%

1%

14%

4%

8%

82%

77%

98%

86%

68%

51%

100%

98%

100%

65%

78%

93%

14%

11%

22%

13%

3%

14%

1%

5%

9%

9%

1%

7% OVERALL (N=500)

PRIORITY


Priority 2 - Dvelopment of a knowledge-based society(N=127)

FIELD






Field 6 - Enhancing administrative capacities (N=2)

LINK OF THE PROJECT WITH EQUAL OPPORTUNITYISSUES


Project is not dedicated, but is related to the issues(N=289)


Yes, it was No there was readiness, but the participants were not interested No it wasn't

83

Was the project timetable – schedule of events, etc. organised in such a way as to ensure participation of less flexible persons? According to the declarations of nearly all project providers training was delivered in a friendly and safe surroundings, in an easily accessible location. However, not all projects offered help in reaching the location of training, traineeship or vocational practice. 65% of project providers admitted that beneficiaries were not offered such support. This was especially the case with projects under Priority 1 dedicated or related to equal opportunity issues.

18%

17%

20%

20%

15%

9%

44%

18%

50%

91%

56%

50%

82%

85%

80%

83%

80%

82% OVERALL (N=500)

PRIORITY



FIELD







Yes No

84

Was help provided in reaching the project location (training, traineeship or vocational preparation)?

73%

34%

24%

63%

21%

28%

26%

67%

63%

50%

24%

26%

49%

1%

1%

2%

1%

1%

2%

1%

2%

74%

33%

50%

49%

76%

35%

71%

77%

75%

35%

65% Overall (N=500)

PRIORITY



Field





Field 5 - Adaptablity and enterprise development (N=116)


LINK OF THE PROJECT WITH GENDER EQUALITY ISSUES


Project is not dedicated to the issues but is related to them(N=289)


Yes No I don't know

85

4.3 SOCIAL LEVEL 4.3.1 Results of SOP HRD – social perspective The goals of SOP HRD related to the implementation of the equal opportunity principle covered also a wider social perspective. By assumption, the programme was to contribute to an actual improvement of the situation of women, especially within the labour market:

• improvement of the situation of women on the labour market, • limiting the feminisation of poverty, • improvement of the access by women to employment, information and business-related advisory

services, including those related to self-employment, with the aim of improving the conditions for women and men to reconcile work and family life.

The impact of the programme should be also noticeable in terms of awareness – one of the expected results was increased awareness of issues related to equal rights between men and women, and thus also a change in the gender stereotypes and related behaviours, in particular issues linked to the occupational role of women, as well as the division of housekeeping roles. And some of the evaluation studies carried out within the social-impact module were dedicated to capturing the impact. The two years was too little to expect radical changes of the public opinions about one of the fundamental issues, i.e. the position of men and women. However, the studies have shown that within the last two years there have been certain changes in Poles’ system of values, changes which must have been sparked by the recent wide-range media actions and favourable changes on the labour market.

Both for men and women, work is becoming less and less important. More and more importance is attached to private life – family, friends and acquaintances, leisure. Such a shift in the priorities is undoubtedly linked to the declining unemployment, and thus also the fact that the threat of unemployment has ceased to dominate the other spheres of life.

Despite a growth in the number of persons thinking that occupational work of women takes place at

the cost of children and family, which growth is caused by the abovementioned priority shift, it can be clearly observed that the attitude to the occupational role of a women as separated from family life has clearly improved – we can observe here a clear growth in the acceptance of the occupational role of women and understanding of the benefits that the role gives to women.

In the years 2005-2007, a radical growth was registered in the share of persons maintaining that

professional work is the best way for a woman to achieve independence.

the traditionally female domain is housekeeping and childcare. Importantly, within the two years, changes were observed in people’s awareness, especially that of women, but also men, concerning the fairness of the traditional division of housekeeping duties. Undoubtedly, this was influenced by the wide-spread media campaigns targeting the situation and position of women. A change of awareness is the first, but not fundamental step towards a change of behaviours.

Changes in both genders’ awareness can be also observed in the way of thinking about men’s

engagement in housekeeping duties. Although it is still women rather than men who think that men should participate more in performing housekeeping duties, regardless of the situation, it can be clearly seen that the growth in the share of the persons sharing this view is registered both among men and women.

86

During the last two years, the share of the persons having small children and taking advantage of public or private kindergartens have grown. Fewer persons use the services of private baby-sitters. However, the share of persons having children at kindergarten age and not using any form of childcare services is high. So, as can be seen, the situation in this respect has improved, although much remains to be done.

The two years saw a clear radicalisation of the views concerning the popular gender stereotypes – in

2007 both the number of persons approving and disapproving gender stereotypes grew (the number of undecided persons declined). This was undoubtedly caused by the wide coverage of the problems in the media – you hear about the issues more and more often and it is difficult to remain indifferent.

Traditionally, men support the gender stereotypes more often than women. The strength of the

stereotypes among men increases, while among women it declines.

Compared to 2005 the number of persons feeling that they belong to a discriminated group grew three times (from 5% to 15%). Women feel discriminated against more frequently than men (17% and 13% respectively). This proves that the level of awareness has grown, mainly thanks to campaigns in the media.

It must be stressed, however, that the persons who feel discriminated against on the grounds of

gender have a less intensive feeling of discrimination than the persons who felt discriminated against two years ago.

Recommendations for the next programming period

• Further improvement thanks to wide-spread campaigns in the media.

• Changes of legislation.

• Campaigns targeted at employers showing the advantages of the underrepresented gender.

• Promotion and introduction of flexible forms of employment on a wide scale 4.3.2 Equal opportunities between men and women – opinion leaders’ voice The inequality of opportunities between men and women is a problem, which as opinion leaders claim, must be solved urgently. Providing equal opportunities is needed in those spheres where equality is missing, where any signs of discrimination based on gender may be observed. At the same time, opinion leaders point that the equalisation of opportunities is not the same as equalisation of rights; Providing equal opportunities consists in creating such conditions under which the laws that safeguard the equality are observed. It is commonly held it is women who are at risk of discrimination in social life. Discrimination may take many different forms – it may be overt, hidden, but may also result from activities aiming to support a group which is at risk of discrimination – all in all some activities to support women’s opportunities, their participation in social life, may contribute to the limitation of the opportunities. We witness constraints on women’s participation in social life in many of its areas. According to experts, the field where discrimination is most common is the labour market. Because of their potential or actual motherhood, which is perceived by many employers as a drawback, women have more difficulties finding a job. What is more, women not only find it hard to get a job, but having the same qualifications and competences and working on the same positions they earn 20% less than men (data derived from surveys known to opinion leaders). They hold managerial posts less frequently than men. An example quoted here by opinion leaders was the situation of men and women in low level education - the profession of a teacher is a strongly feminised profession, yet it is men who most often hold the post of the headmaster. Opinion leaders also pointed to the problem of women leaving and returning to the labour market after a maternity leave, and the resultant problem of maintaining or finding a new job by young mothers.

87

As a result of the current situation of women on the labour market the fertility rate, which ensures the replacement of generations, is falling. According to opinion leaders, those women who want to remain on the labour market must often make a choice between family life and work because they have no guarantee that they will be able to return to the labour market after childbirth and may have no access to childcare. The situation is adverse not only for women, but also for the entire nation, which becomes an ageing society. Therefore according to opinion leaders, it is important to put in place solutions that would allow women to reconcile family life and work. Another sphere where discrimination of women is vivid is public life. In Poland the number of women in authority is several times lower than men. The participation of women in the Polish Parliament, the European Parliament and the government is clearly lower. In general, women also occupy lower positions in state government institutions. According to opinion leaders, the discrimination of either gender is founded on stereotyped perception of the role of the gender concerned, and as a consequence, stereotypical perception of the gender’s competences. Sociologists also point that there is a kind of cultural pressure, forcing people into specific roles, which may also lead to discrimination. Traditionally, men and women are attributed to social roles – the former are seen as breadwinners; the latter as mothers and housewives. This is harmful both for the women who want to take gainful employment, and for the men who want to take over housekeeping and child raising. Indeed, the studies suggest that more and more persons are of the opinion that the occupational career of a young mother may affect her small children. On the other hand, more and more persons consider that men should participate in domestic tasks and childcare. This is linked to a shift in the values of the persons surveyed – for the respondents career becomes second to family life. Opinion leaders agreed that the equalisation of opportunities between men and women is needed. They also repeated that the implementation of equal opportunities should not consist in making one group privileged over the other, even if the group has been discriminated so far, but in establishing legislation to guarantee equal opportunities and conditions both for men and women. It was also pointed that there is a need not only for legislative tools enforcing equal treatment, but also for carrying out such educational activities as to abolish stereotypical perception of genders and gender roles. Professor Renata Siemieńska maintains there is a need for the roles of men and women to be culturally redefined, which may lead to a positive change in the relations between men and women. There is a need for equal treatment, fair competition based on qualifications and competences and ensuring equal opportunities in obtaining these qualifications and competences. According to opinion leaders, the problem of unequal treatment of men and women on the labour market should be solved not by introducing additional privileges, but by finding a solution which would make such privileges redundant. Any activities taken by the legislator to ensure that women are protected on the labour market and granting them special rights, e.g. rights to extended maternity leaves, are perceived by opinion leaders as harmful and reducing the opportunities of women on the labour market, because – as they argue – the privileges will reduce their competitiveness in the eyes of potential employers. In view of this, opinion leaders postulate that young men and women should be made equally attractive or unattractive for employers. Hence the idea to grant a portion of the post-maternity leave to young fathers, so that temporary non-participation in the labour market affect to the same or comparable extent men and women. Another concrete solution likely to make it easier for young mothers to return to the labour market, is a network of company-financed or public kindergartens and crèches, thanks to which children would have care, while their parents would be able to return to work. It can be seen here that aiming to equalise the opportunities of men and women does not only involve ensuring and enforcing equal rights on the labour market, but also creating a family policy which will not be discriminatory for either gender. As noticed by Minister Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska “a family policy means reconciling career and family life and this cannot be done without the idea of gender equality

88

present across the different spheres of life”. Equal treatment also means creating such conditions in which a woman is not forced to give up her career for family life and vice versa, does not have to sacrifice her family and give up children to work in her profession. Opinion leaders criticised the previous family policy instruments of the government, which have not brought long-term effects, but only temporary solutions. Opinion leaders commonly maintain that there is a need for a network of kindergartens, which would be an obvious help for women willing to return to work after childbirth – such a solution can benefit both employers, employees and their families. Sociologists claim that thanks to it will be easier for women to make a decision to have a child, and they will not drop out of the labour market, or at least the break will not be as long as to make them less competitive than men. Opinion leaders agreed that the idea of equality should be implemented by introducing mechanisms which work in a flexible way on the labour market and in public life rather than by establishing artificial parities. What is more, as observed by the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection, Janusz Kochanowski, “introducing parities defies the idea of an open, competitive and development-oriented society”.

Opinion leaders hold that the level of knowledge about equal opportunities between men and women among Polish society is lower than in western Europe. The problem of inequality is mainly raised by female organisations classified as feminist. However, opinion leaders claim that their actions do not respond to the situation - Professor Janusz Czapiński pointed to the Polish paradox: although men and women are not treated equally in Poland, they have lower opportunities than men, they do not feel discriminated against. Therefore the slogans propagated by feminists are unlikely to be welcomed. Because issues related to equal opportunities between men and women in society are little known, sociologists think that there is a need for awareness-raising actions, targeted especially at women, to make them realise what rights they have and what they can expect from employers. They also claim that it is necessary to carry out research to draw the real picture – to see what the differences are and where they appear. Thanks to the knowledge, one will have arguments needed to discuss the reality and arrive at solutions capable of responding to the situation. 4.3.3 Equal opportunities between men and women – voice of society 4.3.3.1 Place of the following spheres in women’s lives: work, family, friendship, religion, etc. Both for men and women work is becoming less and less important (although it is still very important for slightly more than 50% of the persons surveyed). More and more importance is attached to private life – family, friends and acquaintances, leisure. Such a shift in priorities is undoubtedly linked to the declining unemployment rate, and thus also the fact that the threat of unemployment has ceased to overshadow other spheres of life.

89

Please explain how important the following things are in your life?

86%

88%

40%

36%

13%

11%

50%

52%

1%

1%

8%

10%

3%

4%

1%

1%

3%

1%

1%

51%

67%

38%

21%

5%

5% 4%

September 2007 (N=1027)

July 2005 (N=4017)


July 2005 (N=4017)


July 2005 (N=4017)

Very important Fairly important Not so important Not important at all Hard to say

Family

Work

Friends and acquaintances

5%

6%

32%

36%

23%

19%

43%

41%

40%

42%

18%

16%

1%

3%

31%

31%

5%

5%

2%

2%

1%

2%

2%

34%

29%

53%

50%

9%

17%

2%


July 2005 (N=4017)


July 2005 (N=4017)


July 2005 (N=4017)


Leisure

Politics

Religion

90

Let us see whether or not within the two years the priorities of men and women in the two walks of life – family and career - have changed. As regards family, no changes were registered either among men and women. As regards career, the percentage of opinions “very important” dropped, while that of "important” increased. With women the shift is slightly higher (men - 14% and women 17%).

4.3.3.2 Sharing domestic tasks Traditionally, domestic tasks are a “female” domain. Indeed, women do the housework more often than men and it is women who think that the division of responsibilities in their households is not fair.

47%

64%

56%

70%

40%

22%

35%

19%

6%

5%

4%

4%

3%

4%

2%

5%

3%

3%

3%

4%

4%

3%

3%

51%

67%

38%

21%

5%

5% 4%


July 2005 (N=4017)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)

Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

Very important Fairly important Not so important Not important at all Har

89%

90%

84%

84%

10%

9%

15%

13%

1%

1%

1%

1%

1%

88%

86%

11%

13%

1%

1%September 2007 (N=1027)

July 2005 (N=4017)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)

Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)


Family – importance

Professional work - importance

91

On average, how many hours a week do you dedicate to housework? If you have children, please do not count the time spent for childcare and children’s leisure. The inequality in sharing domestic tasks between men and women is clear. The women surveyed dedicate many more hours a week to housekeeping than men - 14% women and 4% men spend more than 36 hours a week doing housework. At the same time, every third men and every fifth woman spend less than seven hours a week doing domestic duties. Importantly, within the two years, changes were observed in people’s awareness, especially among women, but also men, concerning the fairness of the traditional division of housekeeping duties. At present, 16% more women think that they do much more at home than it would result from a fair division of tasks. The changes are much less radical among men – 5% growth in the percentage of men admitting that they do less than it would result from just division of tasks. It must be pointed that men are in a much more difficult situation from the psychological point of view – it is men who are forced to confess that they are involved in housekeeping much less than they should. So as can be seen, the two years saw perceptible changes in women’s awareness in terms of task sharing. Undoubtedly, this was influenced by the wide-spread media actions targeting the situation and position of women. A change in awareness is the first, but not fundamental step towards a change of behaviour.

30%

20%

22%

17%

14%

16%

4%

7%

4%

12%

4%

14%

1%

1%

18%

13%

3% Men (N=489)

Women (N=538)

0 1- 7 8-14 15-21 22-28 29-35 36 i > Refusal I don't know / hard to say

92

Fair division of domestic tasks between men and women – changes in 2005-2007. Changes among both genders can also be observed in the way of thinking about men’s engagement in housekeeping duties. Although still it is women rather than men who think that men should participate more in performing domestic tasks, regardless of the situation, it can be clearly seen that the growth in the share of the persons sharing this view to place both among men and women – a growth by 4% was seen in both cases.

8%

6%

37%

27%

14%

7%

5%

6%

42%

22%

13%

12%

I do much morethan if domestic

tasks wereequally divided

I do slightly morethan if domestic


I do more or lessas much as in afair division of

domestic tasks

I do slightly lessthan if domestic


I do much lessthan if domestic


Hard to say

men 2007 (N=296)

men 2005 (N=1141)

42%

20%

29%

3%

2%

3%

26%

21%

34%

4%

2%

12%

I do much morethan if domestic


I do slightlymore than if

domestic taskswere equally

divided

I do more orless the same

as in a fairdivision of

domestic tasks

I do slightly lessthan if domestic


I do much lessthan than if

domestic taskswere equally

divided

Hard to say

women 2007 (N=306)

women 2005 (N=1215)

93

Do you think that men should share domestic tasks? - years 2005 – 2007 comparison 4.3.3.3 Childcare – division of childcare tasks between partners, taking advantage of institutional forms

of care – crèches, kindergartens or paid baby-sitters. Childcare is another element of family life. Also this sphere puts a much heavier burden on women. On average, how many hours a week do you dedicate to childcare?

27%

8%

21%

17%

14%

15%

2%

9%

5%

11%

6%

13%

1%

0%

21%

27%

4%

1%

Men (N=136)

Women (N=153)

0 1- 7 8-14 15-21 22-28 29-35 36 i > Refusal I don't know / hard to say

67%

14%

9%

5%

2%

5%

63%

16%

10%

5%

1%

5%

Yes, regardless of thesituation

Yes, but only when thewoman works

Yes, but only if they areunemployed and their

occupational work is lesstime consuming that

that of the woman

No, domestic tasks arenot for men

No, men are unable to dothe housework

I don't know

Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

75%

7%

7%

2%

5%

4%

71%

13%

9%

3%

1%

3%

Yes, regardless of thesituation

Yes, but only whenthe woman works

Yes, but only if theyare unemployed and

their occupationalwork is less time

consuming that thatof the woman

No, domestic tasksare not for men

No, men are unableto do the housework

I don't know

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)

94

Twice as many women surveyed than men spend more than 36 hours a week doing childcare (13% v. 6%); nearly every third men (31%) and every tenth woman (9%) spend less than 7 hours a week taking care of children. Unfortunately, we are unable to compare this variable to 2005 (in the previous study the question was not asked at all). However, let us take a closer look at whether within the two years the use made of the different forms of childcare has changed. The most frequently used form of childcare support are kindergartens. Compared to 2005 in 2007 the percentage of the persons declaring that within the last 7 years they have used a public kindergarten has grown by 17%, and a private kindergarten by 4% per cent. Although a continuously high share of persons having children at kindergarten age (49%) do not use any childcare services, still the percentage is 21% lower than two years ago. So, as can be seen, the situation in this respect has improved, although much remains to be done. Have you used the services of a ... during the last 7 years? 4.3.3.4 Reconciliation of work and family life, general attitude of men and women to women’s

occupational work. At present, compared to 2005, more persons surveyed state that a woman’s career takes place at the cost of their children and family life. This tendency is most probably linked to the change in the attitude to work in general, which was mentioned at the beginning of this section. Work is becoming a more and more easily available good, which causes it to be rated lower in the hierarchy and leads to prioritisation of family life.

43%

4%

3%

5%

1%

49%

26%

4%

6%

1%

1%

70%

public kindergarten

public creche

paid baby-sitter

private kindergarten

private creche

none of the above


July 2005 (N=469)

95

How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements? Analysing the changes in the opinion of men and women across the statements which took place within the two years in question, one can observe the following regularities:

• among men a 6% fall was recorded in the number of those who agree that a mother working professionally may give the same amount of warmth to her children as a non-working mother.

• we witness a contrary trend among women – a 5% growth in the percentage of women accepting

this view.

A working woman may give the same amount of warmth and security to her children as a non-working mother

Professional work may affect the child

All things considered, family life suffers when a woman works full-time

17%

8%

11%

4%

42%

32%

31%

24%

17%

23%

20%

24%

19%

19%

19%

27%

31%

36%

6%

2%

5%

5%

1%

4%

2%

1%

16%

14%

41%

43%

17%

16% 3%

6%

5%

5%


July 2005 (N=4017)


July 2005 (N=4017)


July 2005 (N=4017)

Strongly agree Agree Neither agree, nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree Hard to say

96

How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements? - a professionally working mother may give her children as much warmth as a non-working mother. Both among men and women a growth was seen in the percentage of those who think that professional work of a mother may be harmful for the child. It must be noticed, however, that the growth is higher among men than women (men – growth by 22%, women – growth by 15%). How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements? It is harmful for a small child when his/her mother works professionally Over the two years, there was also a clear growth in the percentage of men thinking that a woman’s professional work may be harmful for her family life – growth by 18%. Among women the growth amounted to 9%.

21%

18%

45%

43%

16%

14%

26%

21%

13%

18%

8%

4%

3%

1% 10%

11%

37%

42%

18%

17% 4%

1%

5%

4%

Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)


15%

8%

39%

31%

17%

22%

15%

25%

23%

29%

2%

3%

6%

2%

5%

2%

19%

9%

46%

34%

16%

23% 3%

5%

Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)


97

How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements? - All things considered, family life suffers when a woman works full time. Despite the growth in the number of persons holding that a woman’s professional work may affect children and family life, which growth is caused by the shift in priorities, it can be clearly observed that the attitude to the professional role of women as separated from family life has clearly improved – we can observe here a clear growth in the acceptance of women’s professional roles and understanding of the benefits that the role gives to women. In the years 2005-2007, a 14% fall was registered in the share of persons maintaining that professional work is the best way for a woman to achieve independence. When respondents compare professional work with housekeeping, a clear growth can be observed in the opinion favouring the household domain: there was a 10% growth in the share of persons maintaining that women work professionally not by choice but by necessity, and a 12% growth in the share of those claiming that housekeeping may give a woman just the same amount of satisfaction as occupational work.

9%

4%

26%

22%

20%

23%

24%

33%

37%

38%

4%

6%

8%

1%

6%

2%

12%

4%

37%

27%

21%

26% 5%

5%

Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)


98

How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements? However, it is worth noting that with the above clearly described tendencies, the declarations of men and women differ, and moreover the group of men reveal a higher growth in the share of opinions locating women in the household. Thus the growth in the share of men accepting the opinion that most women would rather keep the household than work was 12%, while the growth among women was 9%. How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements? - Women work professionally but most of them would rather be housewives and bring up children

Women work professionally but most of them would rather be housewives and bring up children

Housekeeping may give a woman as much satisfaction as professional k

Professional work is the best way for a woman to be independent

11%

7%

23%

17%

43%

35%

51%

43%

21%

26%

17%

23%

26%

25%

20%

19%

7%

7%

3%

3%

4%

1%

1%

4%

11%

2%

10%

2%

8%

5%

9%

28%

34%

29%

24%

3%


July 2005 (N=4017)


July 2005 (N=4017)


July 2005 (N=4017)

Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree Hard to say

8%

6%

32%

25%

22%

26%

21%

21%

31%

27%

1%

2%

4%

6%

12%

2%

10%

4%

10%

31%

37%

30%

25%

5%

Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)

Strongly agree Agree Neither agree not disagree Disagree Strongly disagree Hard to say

99

As regards the opinion that housekeeping may give a woman just the same amount of satisfaction as career, the views of men and women are more similar. The dynamics of the changes shows a similar tendency. The growth in the number of persons accepting this view, both among men and women, reached 11 percentage points. How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements? Housekeeping may give a woman the same amount of satisfaction as professional work We can observe reverse tendencies in the statement that professional work is the best way for a women to be independent. Both the number of men and women accepting this view have risen. The growth among men was 11 and among women 13 percentage points. How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements? - Professional work is the best way for a woman to be independent

10%

8%

42%

33%

19%

26%

18%

16%

22%

21%

2%

2%

6%

3%

13%

1%

8%

6%

11%

37%

43%

26%

23%

4%

Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)

Strongly agree Agree Neither agree not disagree Disagree Strongly disagree Hard to say

27%

22%

52%

44%

12%

20%

9%

8%

4%

7%

1%

1%

1%

2%

9%

3%

7%

13%

17%

42%

49%

26%

22%

1%

Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)

Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree Hard to say

100

4.3.3.5 Persistence of popular gender stereotypes The two years saw a clear radicalisation of the views concerning popular gender stereotypes – in 2007 both the number of persons approving and disapproving gender stereotypes grew (the number of undecided persons declined). This was undoubtedly caused by the wide coverage of the problems in the media – you hear about the issues more and more often, it is difficult to remain indifferent. Traditionally, men support gender stereotypes more often than women. The strength of the stereotypes among men increases, while it declines among women. A growingly higher number of men and a declining number of women hold that “men are better-suited for politics than women". 39% of the persons surveyed share the opinion that men are better suited for politics than women (47% men and 32% women agreed with the statement). 51% of the persons surveyed disagree, including 41% men and 61% women). As regards the opinion that men are better suited for politics than women, when analysing the opinions of both genders we see contrary tendencies – there was a growth in the number of men who agree (7%) and a fall in the number of women by 3%. Do you agree with the opinion that... “Men are better suited for politics than women" Likewise a growing number of men and a declining number of women think that women should “take care of the household and leave politics to men". In 2007 over twice as many men as women expressed this opinion (41% and 18% respectively). However, there are fewer persons who agree with the stereotype than those who disagree (52% men and 72% women).

32%

35%

61%

53%

7%

12%

40%

47%

44%

41%

16%

11% Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)

Agree Disagree Hard to say

101

Do you also agree with the opinion that... “Women should take care of the household and leave politics to men" Similarly, more and more men and fewer and fewer women think that “when there is a shortage of jobs men should have more right to work than women". However, the differences between men’s and women’s opinions are smaller here than in previous statements. More and more men and women agree with this view (there are more persons who disagree than agree with this stereotype, including 65% women and 52% men in 2007). In 2007 almost every third man (30%) and every fifth woman (19%) agreed with the opinion. Do you agree with the opinion that... “When jobs are scarce, men should have a greater right to work than women" 4.3.3.6 Discrimination of women – the feeling of discrimination and the perceived causes of

discrimination Compared to 2005 the number of the persons surveyed feeling that they belong to a discriminated group grew three times (from 5% to 15%). Women feel discriminated against more frequently than men (17% and 13% respectively). This proves that the level of awareness has grown, mainly thanks to campaigns in the media.

18%

24%

72%

64%

10%

11%

41%

34%

52%

52%

7%

14%

Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)

Agree Disagree Hard to say

19%

20%

65%

59%

14%

12%

4%

10%

2%

9%

30%

26%

52%

48%

14%

16%

Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)

Agree Disagree Neither agree nor disagree Hard to say

102

Would you consider yourself a person belonging to a group which is discriminated against in Poland, treated in a worse way? The most frequently quoted reason behind the feeling of discrimination is financial situation – 28% of the persons who indicated the answer. The second most frequent reason is gender – nearly every fifth respondent (19%) feels discriminated based on gender. The less frequently marked indications were age and rural background (the other indications below 10%). What are the reasons why you feel discriminated against, treated in a worse way? It must be stressed, however, that the persons who feel discriminated against based on gender feel the discrimination to a lesser degree than the persons who felt discriminated two years ago. In 2005 61% of the persons surveyed answered that they have a very strong or strong feeling of being discriminated, two years later 25% answered that the feeling is strong. In 2007 the number of persons who pointed that they feel moderately discriminated against increased nearly two times (24% in 2005 and 60% in 2007). On the other hand, the number of persons who feel slightly discriminated against increased over twice (from 5% to 12%).

N=30

2 8 %

19 %

1 3%

1 2%

9 %

5%

4 %

3 %

2 %

1%

1%

1%

1%

1%

1%

fin an cial s itu at io n

g e n d e r

ag e

r u r al b ack g r o u n d

u n e m p lo ym e n t

m ar ital s tatu s

e d u catio n

h e alth

alco h o l

u p b r in g in g

r e lig io n

p o lit ics

o b e s ity

p r o fe s s io n

n o an s w e r

15%

5%

81%

92%

4%

3%

September 2007(N=1027)

July 2005 (N=4017)

Yes No Hard to say

103

How strongly do you feel discriminated against on the grounds of gender? 4.3.3.7 Opinions about equal opportunities of women in various walks of social life. According to the respondents, both two years ago and currently, men are more likely to find work. However, in the opinion of the respondents there has been a shift of opinions. Over the two years the radical advantage of men on the labour market was reduced by 5%. Please consider now the current situation in Poland. Do you think that it is men or women who are more likely to find work in Poland, or do they have equal opportunities? The shift in views concerns both men and women, yet the fall in share of the opinions that men have a clear advantage here among women was more radical (from 24% in 2005 to 17% in 2007), while among men the fall was 3%.

2%

3%

1%

16%

21%

48%

45%

32%

30%

2%September 2007(N=1027)

July 2005 (N=4017)

Definitely men Rather men Same opportunities Rather women Hard to say

12%

5%

4%

10%

0%

15%

25%

46%

60%

24%

September 2007(N=30)

July 2005 (N=23)

[5] Very strongly [4] Strongly [3] Slightly [2] To a small degree

104

Please consider now the current situation in Poland. Do you think that it is men or women who are more likely to find work in Poland, or do they have equal opportunities? The assessment of the situation by the persons surveyed does not correspond to what they think would be the desired situation. Over 80% of the persons surveyed think that the opportunities should be equal. However, within the two years there was a rise in the share of the opinions (by 6%) that after all it is men who should have more opportunities of finding a job. And what do you think the situation should be like? Do you think that it is men or women who should have more opportunities of finding work in Poland, or should they have equal opportunities? The growth was seen both among men and women, although it was higher among men (women – by 3%, men – by 7%)

17%

24%

53%

45%

27%

27%

2%15%

18%

42%

44%

32%

33%

1%

1%

2% 1%

1%

2%

4%Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)

Definitely men Rather men Equal opportunities Rather women Definitely women Hard to say

4%

2%

11%

7%

83%

89%

1%

1% 1%


July 2005 (N=4017)

Definitely men Rather men Equal opportunities Rather men Hard to say

105

And what do you think the situation should be like? Do you think that it is men or women who should have greater opportunities of finding work, or should they have equal opportunities? The persons surveyed also think that men are favoured as regards holding managerial positions. Yet the percentage of the respondents holding this view went down radically (by 14%). The tendency is observed both among women and men. Do you think that it is men or women who are more likely to be employed on a managerial position in Poland, or do they have equal opportunities? Both in 2005 and 2007 most of the respondents held that men and women should have equal opportunities of holding managerial positions in companies (87% and 91% respectively). Over the period, the percentage of persons thinking that it is men who should have more opportunities of holding such positions decreased twice (in 2005 12% of the persons surveyed maintained this, in 2007 – 6%). Both two years ago and currently women more often than men maintained that men have more opportunities of being employed on a managerial position.

9% 86%

90%2%

2%

5%

3%

6%

14%

9%

79%

87%

1%

1%

1%

1%

1%

2%Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)


9%

15%

11%

22%

42%

49%

49%

50%

43%

33%

37%

25%

1%

1%

1%

1%

10%

19%

45%

50%

39%

29% 1%

1%

2%

2%

2%

4%

2%

4%Septe mber 2007(N=1027)

July 2005 (N=4018)

M en 2007 (N=489)

Me n 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Wome n 2005 (N=2155)


106

And what do you think should the situation be like? Do you think that it is men or women who should have more opportunities of holding managerial positions, or should they have equal opportunities? The evaluation of the actual situation in terms of educational possibilities does not differ much from what would be the desired situation. Most of the respondents think that men and women have equal educational opportunities (83%), and most of them think that it is right (91%). Among the persons who think the educational opportunities of men and women are not equal twice as many persons consider that men have greater opportunities to obtain education (this is maintained by 11%, while 5% think that the opportunities are higher among women). The changes in the way the respondents view these issues are not significant compared to 2005. Please consider now the current situation in Poland. Do you think that it is men or women who have more educational opportunities, or do they have the same opportunities?

4%

9%

9%

10%

10%

84%

81%

82%

81%

1%

1%

1%

1%

3%

2%

2%

3%

9%

10%

83%

81%

4%

5%

5%

3%

4%

4%

1%

1%

1%

1%

2%

1%


July 2005 (N=4017)

Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538)

Women 2005 (N=2155)

Definitely men Rather men Equal opportunities Rather women Defini tely women Hard to say

21% 15%

8%

10%

76%

84%

89%

88%

6% 12%

91%

87%

1%

1%

0% 0%

1%

1%

1% 1%

1% 3%

2%September 2007(N=1027) July 2005 (N=4017)

Men 2007 (N=489) Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538) Women 2005 (N=2155)

Men (definitely + rather) Equal opportunities Women (definitely+rather) Hard to say

107

And what do you think should the situation be like? Do you think that it is men or women who should have more educational opportunities, or should they have equal opportunities? Politics is a sphere in which, according to the persons surveyed, men have more opportunities for making a career. Both men and women agreed less than two years ago agreed with the opinion that men have greater opportunities of making a political career than women (however, still over half of the men and women surveyed think so). The number of women maintaining that women and men should have equal opportunities in making a political career grew, while the number of men sharing this opinion declined. Do you think that it is men or women who have more opportunities for making a political career in Poland, or do they have equal opportunities? The evaluation of the desired situation did not change much over the two years. Every fifth respondent thinks that men should have greater opportunities for making a political career (in 2005 - 22%, in 2007 – 21%) three in four of the persons surveyed think that the opportunities should be equal (76% in 2005 and 75% in 2007). The views of men are stable here, although we observe a slight drop in the percentage of persons thinking that men should have a stronger position in politics.

17%

26%

18%

33%

49%

46%

55%

46%

31%

26%

25%

18%

1%

1%

2%

17%

30%

52%

46%

28%

22%

1%

2%

1%

2%

2%


July 2005 (N=4017)

Men 2007 (N=489)

Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538)

W omen 2005 (N=2155)

Definitely men Rather men Equal opportunities Women (rather+definitely) Hard to say

9% 4%

3% 3%

88%

95%

94%

96% 1%

6% 4%

91%

96%

1%

1%

1%

1%

1%

2%

2%September 2007(N=1027) July 2005 (N=4017)

Men 2007 (N=489) Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538) Women 2005 (N=2155)

Men (definitely+rather) Equal opportunities Women (definitely + rather) Hard to say

108

And what do you think should the situation be like? Do you think that it is men or women who should have more opportunities of making a political career, or should they have the same opportunities?

6% 4%

3% 4%

19% 20%

13% 16%

71%

74%

80%

78%

5% 4%

16% 18%

75%

76%

1% 1%

1%

1% 1%

3% 1%

3%

1%

3%

1%

September 2007(N=1027) July 2005 (N=4017)

Men 2007 (N=489) Men 2005 (N=1862)

Women 2007 (N=538) Women 2005 (N=2155)

Definitely men Rather men Equal opportunities Women (rather+definitely) Hard to say

109

5 SET OF INDICATORS This section proposes a set of indicators which may be used to monitor the implementation of gender equality in the successive years. The proposed indicators were agreed with the Contracting Authority. In order to increase the usefulness and ensure comparability of future data obtained by means of the indicators presented below, each indicator is accompanied by the question on the basis of which the its was developed and the method of its calculation. General indicators – perspective of the entire SOP HRD 1) pay gap based on gender – growth from 87.9% (2002) to 90% (2008) [impact]; The most recent data we were able to obtain come from October 200615. According to the data, the average monthly salary of men and women amounted to: men PLN 2,903.68 women PLN 2,385.68 As can be seen, in October 2006 the average monthly salary of women represented 82% of the average salary of men. 2) the share of women – recipients in the total number of women aged 15+ [results] (lack of baseline value) According to the data, as at the end of 2007 the number of female beneficiaries of SOP HRD16 was 719,220. Assuming that in 2006 the number of women aged 15+ was 16,720,20017, the share of women – recipients in the total number of women aged 15+ was 4.30%. 3) number of women – recipients [product] (lack of baseline value) According to the data, as at the end of 200718 the number of beneficiaries of SOP HRD was 1,198,700, 60% of whom, i.e. 719,220 persons were women Proposed indications – institutional level The indicators were built on the basis of a CAWI survey among employees of institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD. The number of the persons who responded to the e-mail survey was 918, including 324 persons involved in SOP HRD. Detailed data concerning the methodology of this component of the study is presented in Section 6.1.2. 1) Level of acceptance of the equal opportunity principle in respect of SOP HRD. The share of persons accepting the principle - 56%, including: strongly accepting persons (‘strongly agree’ answers) – 27% people who quite agree (‘quite agree’ answers) – 29% Question by means of which the data was obtained:

15 Central Statistical Office Salary structure according to professions in October 2006, table 7, p. 98. 16 The data is derived from the implementation report for SOP HRD for the first six months of 2007. 17 CSO, Statistical Yearbook 2007, table 16 p. 132 18 The data are derived from the SOP HRD report for the first six months of 2007.

110

S4. Do you think that in your work related to SOP HRD there is room for application of the equal opportunity principle? Strongly agree Rather agree Disagree Strongly disagree Hard to say 2) Level of acceptance of the principle of equal opportunities between men and women in respect of the project level of SOP HRD. Percentage of respondents thinking that the implementation of a project in accordance with the principle of equal opportunities is not merely a formal requirement – 49%. Question by means of which the data was obtained: S6. In their applications project providers must declare that the project will be delivered in line with the equal opportunity principle. In your opinion, is it merely a formal requirement or a requirement which leads to concrete actions? Merely a formal requirement It leads to concrete actions 3) Level of knowledge about the principle of equal opportunities between men and women in the context of SOP HRD among employees involved in the implementation of the programme. Percentage of persons unable to provide an answer in this respect (sum: no answer and answers “I don’t know/hard to say” - 44% Question by means of which data was obtained (open question): S5. Please specify what activities related to the equal opportunity principle could be implemented. (The entire distribution of the answers to the question is presented in the Annex on page 166) 4) Respecting and application of equal opportunity principles by institutions

• a) Gender Index (detailed methodology for calculating the Gender Index is presented in Section 6.1.2.1.

Table 8: Gender Index: Gender Index Rank

State Fund for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons 5.4860 8

Polish Agency for Enterprise Development 3.6670 3

Voivodship Labour Office in Szczecin 5.4170 6

Voivodship Labour Office in Poznań 2.4590 1

Voivodship Labour Office in Rzeszów 5.4490 7

Voivodship Labour Office in Łódź 5.1530 5

MRD 3.2725 2

MNE 5.0965 4

111

5) Application of equal opportunity principles during the evaluation of applications for financing (as declared by the respondents) 76% of the persons surveyed considered that the equal opportunity principle was applied during the evaluation of projects. Question by means of which data was obtained (N=71 persons dealing with evaluation of projects): S9. Was the equal opportunity principle applied during the evaluation of projects? Yes No 6) Proportions of men and women on the Monitoring Committee and Steering Committees for SOP HRD Out of the 60 members of the Monitoring Committee 50% were women. Similar proportions (slightly divergent from 50%/50%) were registered for the Steering Committees: SC for Priority 1 – out of its 60 members 27 were women SC for Measures 2.3 and 2.4 – out of its 61 members 28 were women SC for Priority 3 – out of its 61 members 32 were women 7) Attitude to gender-based monitoring – Is it merely a formal requirement? 48% of the respondents considered that it is merely a formal requirement, while 52% that it has a concrete application. Question by means of which the data was obtained: S10. Monitoring data is collected by gender, do you think it is merely a formal requirement or does it have a concrete application? Merely a formal requirement It is applied 8) Use made of data obtained by monitoring 12% of the respondents declared that they used data obtained by monitoring as broken down by genders, another 20% that such data was used by their colleagues Question by means of which the data was obtained: S12. Have you or any of your colleagues ever used gendered monitoring data? Yes, personally Yes, my colleagues No Proposed indications – project level The indicators were built on the basis of a CATI survey among project providers. 500 telephone interviews were carried out on a nationwide stratified sample comprising all Measures. A detailed description of the methodology is presented in Section 6.1.3. 1) Percentage of project providers promoting the idea of equality - training programme for own employees

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Training related to equal opportunities between men and women is carried out in the institutions of 14% of the project providers, of which 2% of the training is cyclical. Question by means of which the data was obtained: R3a. Is any training related to equal opportunities carried out at your institution? Such training is not carried out at all Such training is held only occasionally Such training is held in a cyclical way 2) Percentage of project providers who carried out the following activities related to the principle of equal opportunities between men and women at the stage of project creation and delivery:

• Diagnosis of the situation in gender terms during application drafting – 50% • Consultations with target groups, project partners, advisory bodies, experts, etc. or other actions

aiming to detect hidden barriers which make it difficult or impossible for women or men to participate in a project – at the application stage – 40%

• Analysis of project effects/results taking into account their impact on the situation of men and women – at any stage of the project – 45%

• Diversification of promotion and recruitment methods depending on gender – 8% • Facilitations increasing the accessibility of support to men and women - 39% • Diversification of support depending on gender – 15%

Questions by means of which the data was obtained:

S7. Have the following actions been carried out in the framework of your project: …? Yes No Activities: ROTATION:

1. Diagnosis of the situation in gender terms at the application stage 2. Consultations with target groups, project partners, advisory bodies, experts, etc. or other actions

aiming to detect hidden barriers which make it difficult or impossible for women or men to participate in the project – at the application stage

3. Analysis of project effects/results taking into account their impact on the situation of men and women – at any stage of the project

4. Differentiation of promotion and recruitment methods depending on the gender 5. Improvements increasing the accessibility of support to men and women 6. Differentiation of the support for men and women

3) Provision or readiness to provide assistance in childcare and care of dependants in the framework of the project 18% of the project, in this case in 11% assistance was granted, in another 7% there was readiness, but there was no need for such assistance. Question by means of which the data was obtained: S9) Did the project provide assistance in childcare and care of dependants? Yes, it was

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No, there was readiness but the participants were not interested No, it was not provided

4) The surroundings in which the training was held (only for training projects) Friendly, safe surroundings – 99% Easy to be reached - 98% Question by means of which the data was obtained: S13) Did the training take place: in friendly, safe surroundings? in a place easy to reach – means of public transport were available nearby? Social perspective: The indicators were built on the basis of a quantitative, multi-topic survey carried out by means of direct interviews on a 1000-person representative sample of Poles aged 15+. A detailed description of the methodology is presented in Section 6.1.4. 1) Growth in the share of working men and women In 200319 the employment figures were as follows20: The total number of employed persons - 12,640,713, including 5,814,872 women In 2006 the employment figures were the following: The total number of employed persons - 13,219,964, including 6,038,162 women 2) Fall in unemployment figures The unemployment rates across 2002-2007 (month compared – October)21 were as follows: October 2002 19.5% October 2003 19.3% October 2004 18.7% October 2005 17.3% October 2006 14.9% October 2007 11.3% The differences between the unemployment rate among men and women in the different years were as follows22: Men Women 2002 19.1% 20.9% 2003 19.0% 20.4% 2004 18.2% 19.9% 2005 16.6% 19.1% 2006 13.0% 14.9% 2007 8% 9%

19 The baseline data were that for 2003 – the year before SOP HRD was launched 20 According to the Central Statistical Office Employment in the national economy in 2006, table 1, p. 19 21 According to the Central Statistical Office Unemployment rate in the years 1990-2007 (registered unemployment) 22 Data according to Eurostat

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The 2002-2007 data concern the annual average unemployment rate, the 2007 data are for November 2007. 3) Changes in the attitude to sharing housekeeping duties between men and women a) changes of behaviours – engagement of men and women in housekeeping tasks (average number of hours). Table 9: Average number of hours a week dedicated to housework (in %) 2005 2007

Men (N=1862)

Women (N=2155)

Men (N=489)

Women (N=538)

0 6 3 3 0 1-7 36 18 30 20 8-14 27 22 22 17 15-21 17 23 14 16 22-28 4 8 4 7 29-35 5 13 4 12 36 + 6 14 4 14 Refusal 0 0 1 1 Hard to say 0 0 18 13 Average 12.8 20.5 12.6 22.1 Question by means of which data was obtained: P6. On average, how many hours a week do you dedicate to housework? If you have children, please

do not count the time dedicated to childcare and your children’s leisure. b) changes of awareness – feeling that the existing division of domestic tasks between men and women is just Table 10: Feeling that existing division of domestic tasks between men and women is just (in %) 2005 2007

Men (N=1862)

Women (N=2155)

Men (N=489)

Women (N=538)

I do much more than if domestic tasks were equally divided 5 26 8 42

I do slightly more than if domestic tasks were equally divided 6 21 6 20

I do more or less as much as in a fair division of domestic tasks 42 34 37 29

I do slightly less than if domestic tasks were equally divided 22 4 27 3

I do much less than if domestic tasks were equally divided 13 2 14 2

Hard to say 12 12 7 3 Question by means of which data was obtained: P8. Which of the statements on the sheet best describes your wife’s/husband’s (partner’s) share in

domestic work:

115

I do much more than if domestic tasks were equally divided 1 I do slightly more than if domestic tasks were equally divided 2 I do more or less as much as in a fair division of domestic tasks 3 I do slightly less than if domestic tasks were equally divided 4 I do much less than if domestic tasks were equally divided 5 Hard to say 8 4) Growing acceptance for the professional role of women a) Professional work is the best way for a woman to be independent Table 11: How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements? - Professional work is the best way for a woman to be independent (in %) 2005 2007

Men (N=1862)

Women (N=2155)

Men (N=489)

Women (N=538)

Strongly agree 13 22 17 27 Agree 42 44 49 52 Neither agree nor disagree 26 20 22 12 Disagree 8 7 9 4 Strongly disagree 1 1 1 1 Hard to say 9 7 2 3 Question by means of which data was obtained: P14. How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements? Strongly

agree Agree Neither agree

nor disagree Disagree Strongly

disagree Hard to say

f. Professional work is the best way for a woman to be independent

1 2 3 4 5 8

b) Attitude to men’s priority on the labour market Table 12: Agreement with the opinion that when jobs are scarce men should have more right to work than women (in %) 2005 2007 Men

(N=1862) Women

(N=2155) Men

(N=489) Women (N=538)

Agree 26 20 30 26 Disagree 48 59 52 48 Neither agree nor disagree 16 12 14 16 Hard to say 10 9 4 10 Question by means of which data was obtained: P13. Do you agree with the opinion that... “When jobs are scarce, men should have more right to

work than women" Agree........................................................................1 Disagree ...................................................................2 Neither agree nor disagree .....................................3 Hard to say ..............................................................8

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6 DESCRIPTION OF THE METHODOLOGY USED IN THE STUDY In order to achieve the assumed study objectives, we used a study model comprising, on the one hand, the institutional level, and on the other hand, the project level of SOP HRD. Moreover in order to obtain a wider social perspective, the study included, on the one hand, adult Poles, and on the other hand, public opinion leaders, including experts and politicians. Further, the report presents a graphical illustration of the study model applied. The subsequent sections describe in detail the different elements of the study. The description includes both the reasons for the choice of an element, for the choice of the method and a description of the size and method for selecting the sample.

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6.1 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT STUDY MODULES In accordance with the recommendations of the ToR and the offer, the evaluation will concern both levels of SOP HRD implementation – i.e. the institutional level and the level of projects. Such an approach will facilitate a complementary evaluation of the phenomena and actions to be examined. Desk Research will bring the two levels together. The study will be complemented by the social perspective – Poles’ opinion supplemented with the voice of opinion leaders. 6.1.1 Desk Research – bringing the institutional and project levels together The Desk Research analysis was based on documentation of all SOP HRD levels – both the institutional and project level, as well as monitoring data. List of documents analysed during the Desk Research:

1. Gender Mainstreaming in new ESF programmes (2007-2013), Programming Framework, Report by the Ad hoc working group of Member States for gender mainstreaming, June 2006.

2. Report on the progress made in the implementation of the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2004-2006 in the first six months of 2007.

3. “Evaluation of training projects in the framework of Action 2.3 Model a) SOP HRD 2004-2006, Final Report, BDG-V-281-92-MK/06, June 2007

4. Evaluation of the management and implementation system for the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2004-2006, Grupa Doradcza Sienna, Warszawa, September 2005

5. Paths to employment, Examination of the paths leading persons at risk of social exclusion to employment under Measure 1.5 of SOP HRD 2004-2006, Policy & Action Group Uniconsult Sp. z o.o., Warsaw, August 2006.

6. Report on Phase I and II of the study named Evaluation of the management and implementation system for the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2004-2006, Grupa Doradcza Sienna, Warszawa, September 2005

7. Evaluation of Measures 1.2 and 1.3 of the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2004-2006, Institute of Sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, November 2005

8. Survey among ultimate beneficiaries of the assistance granted in the framework of the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2004-2006, Anna Chrościcka, Warszawa, October 2005

9. Final Report on the study named Evaluation of the management and implementation system for the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2004-2006, Grupa Doradcza Sienna, Warszawa, December 2005

10. Survey of ultimate beneficiaries of the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2004-2006. Quarterly report on the second session of surveys among persons receiving support for the unemployed in the 3rd quarter of 2006, ABR Opinia Sp. z o.o., Warszawa, May 2007.

11. Survey of ultimate beneficiaries of the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2004-2006. Quarterly report on the second session of surveys among persons receiving support as employed in the 3rd quarter of 2006, ABR Opinia Sp. z o.o., Warszawa, May 2007.

12. Survey of ultimate beneficiaries of the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2004-2006. Quarterly report on the first session of surveys among persons receiving support for the employed in the 2nd quarter of 2006, ABR Opinia Sp. z o.o., Warszawa, April 2007.

13. Survey of ultimate beneficiaries of the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2004-2006. Quarterly report on the first session of surveys among persons receiving

119

support for the unemployed in the 2nd quarter of 2006, ABR Opinia Sp. z o.o., Warszawa, April 2007.

14. Description of the training projects implemented in the framework of Priority I and II of the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development, Warszawa, August 2005

15. Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on equality between women and men – 2007

16. Report from the Commission to the Council, The European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on equality between women and men, 2005 Brussels, 14.2.2005 COM(2005) 44 final

17. Gender Mainstreaming, Conceptual framework, methodology and presentation of good practices, Final Report of Activities of the Group of Specialists on Mainstreaming (EG-S-MS), Strasbourg, May 1998

18. A Framework for integrating the principle of Gender Equality in the new ESF programmes, Report by the ad hoc working group of Member States on gender equality and gender mainstreaming, June 2006

19. Gender Mainstreaming Guide 20. The Mid Term Evaluation of ESF Interventions, Equal Opportunities 21. The New Programming period 2000-2006: technical papers by theme, Technical Paper 3,

Mainstreaming Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in Structural Fund Programmes and Projects, March 2000

22. Breaking through the glass ceiling: Women in management, International Labour Office, Geneva 23. A Framework for integrating the principle of Gender Equality in the new ESF programmes, Report

by the ad hoc working group on gender equality and gender mainstreaming of the ESF Committee, April 2006

24. Make it Happen: Effective gender mainstreaming in Ireland and the UK, Conference Report of the Gender Mainstreaming in UK & Ireland, Structural Funds Conference, 13th May 2002

25. Gender Index, Indicator of equal rights between men and women at work, www.genderindex.pl 26. Gender Mainstreaming Manual, A book of practical methods from the Swedish Gender

Mainstreaming Support Committee, Stockholm 2007 27. National Action Plan for Women – 2nd implementation stage for the years 2003 - 2005 28. Guide for gender mainstreaming trainers under EQUAL CIP in Poland 29. Practical guide to equal treatment of men and women in the Structural Funds

An integral part of the Desk Research was a detailed analysis of 60 projects chosen randomly from among all projects. The analysis was carried out on the basis of the applications and project reports. The results of the analyses were used in the section concerning the project level. In addition, the annex contains the analysis report. The random selection of projects was made at the level of the layers distinguished according to the fields of support. The numbers of particular layers are presented in Table 13.

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Table 13: Distribution of the sample of projects covered by the detailed Desk Research analysis23

Priority

Field of support

Measure No. of all projects

Proposed structure of the

sample 1.1 231 1.2 374

Field 1

1.3 760 15 1.4 215 Field 2 1.5 362 10

Priority 1 Field 3 1.6 322 10 2.1 23 Field 4 2.2 30 5

Field 5 2.3 707 15 Priority 2 Field 6 2.4 13 5 Total 3037 60 6.1.2 Institutional level The study covered all types24 of institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD. In the framework of this level of the research two study phases were delivered: the exploratory phase – based on qualitative studies, and the core phase – on quantitative studies. The qualitative studies covered all institutions involved in the implementation of SOP HRD. 25 individual in-depth interviews were carried out among the following: a) Managing Authority for SOP HRD – Department for European Social Fund Management – 2 IDIs b) Monitoring Committee for SOP HRD – 2 IDIs c) 2 Intermediate Bodies for SOP HRD – the Coordination Division within the Department for European

Social Fund Management and Structural Funds Department of the Ministry of National Education – 3 IDIs

d) 3 Steering Committees – 3 IDIs e) Implementing Authorities, including the Project Evaluation Committee – 15 IDIs

• Department of Implementing the European Social Fund at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy – 2 IDIs

• State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons – 2 IDIs • Office for the implementation of the ESF in the Ministry of National Education – 2 IDIs • Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and Regional Financing Authorities – 4 IDIs (2 IDIs

PARP, 2 IDIs RFA) • Chancellery of the Prime Minister (as the implementing authority for Measure 2.4) – 1 IDI • Voivodship Labour Offices – 4 IDIs (including 2 IDIs with members of the Project Evaluation

Commissions) The participants of the individual interviews were selected in an intentional manner in consultation with the Contracting Authority. The persons interviewed were those who had the most extensive knowledge about the areas in question. Moreover in the case of implementing authorities, in each case (except for the Chancellery of the Prime Ministers) at least one of the interviews planned was made with a representative of the Project Evaluation Commission. 23 Data as at the end of 2006. 24 Both the qualitative study and CAWI covered a representation of Voivodship Labour Offices (Szczecin, Łódź, Poznań, Rzeszów)

121

As recommended by ToR, one of the criteria for selecting the Voivodship Labour Office was its future of an intermediate body in the Human Capital Operational Programme. The core phase interviews were made by means of CAWI. It was assumed at the level of the methodology report that the minimum number of the interviews will be 200. The number of persons who responded to the e-mail survey was 918, including 324 persons involved in SOP HRD. An invitation to complete in the CAWI form was sent to all those employees of the institutions covered by the study whose e-mail addresses were made available by the institutions. According to its assumptions the survey was to cover all employees, regardless of their involvement in SOP HRD. As regards the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of National Education, the addresses provided were those of the employees who are occupationally linked with SOP HRD. The response from the different institutions differed considerably. The smallest number of interviews were received from the Chancellery of the Prime Minister (9 interviews out of 14 sent) and the Ministry of National Education (12 interviews out of the 27 interviews sent) as well from the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (18 interviews our of the 70 sent). The highest fraction in the sample was formed by the employees of the Ministry of Regional Development. Due to the composition of the sample, it is hard to achieve comparability between the different institutions (their representatives represent various populations – some of the institutions are represented by employees involved in SOP HRD, the others are represented by employees of the entire institution). Moreover, the comparison is hindered by the difference in numbers, with some institutions have a very small representation. Therefore, although the data presented in the report is broken by the different institutions, the comparison should be made with a great care. We suggest assuming that the sample obtained represents the employees of the institutions involved in SOP HRD, yet its structure does not allow for the statistical induction error to be estimated. The slides presented below contain data about the sample involved.

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Institutions surveyed – share of participating employees

A vast majority of our respondents are women. This reflects the employment structure of the institutions surveyed, in which men are a clear minority.

1%

43%

2%

14%

2%

7%

5%

6%

1%

18%

Chancellery of the Prime Minister

Ministry of National Education

Minis try of Labour and Social Policy

Minis try of Regional Development

State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons

Polis h Agency for Enterpr ise Development




Voivodship Labour Office in Łódź N = 918

123

Gender of the respondents who participated in CAWI

32%

44%

42%

27%

35%

28%

35%

47%

35%

26%

23%

32%

32%

58%

65%

72%

65%

53%

65%

74%

68%

68%

56%

77%

68%

73%

Overall (N=918)

INSTITUTION



Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (N=165) Ministry of Regional

Development (N=396)

State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (N=18)






LINK WITH SOP HRD

Yes (N=324)

No (N=594)

Man Woman

124

Do you deal with SOP HRD in your work?

6.1.2.1 Gender Index Methodology Apart from questions dedicated specially to this evaluation, the survey of employees also contained blocks of questions which were used in calculating the Gender Index for the institutions concerned. The index was calculated on the basis of information obtained in HR departments (a special questionnaire for the HR

35%

100%

100%

33%

24%

78%

40%

71%

40%

39%

53%

76%

22%

60%

29%

60%

61%

65%

47%

67%

Overall (N=918)

INSTITUTION



Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (N=165)

Ministry of Regional Development (N=396)

State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (N=18)






Yes No

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Dept.) and responses of employees, in accordance with the instructions provided to Pentor RI by the authors of the method, with due consideration taken of the product’s copyright25. The use of the instrument was recommended by the Contracting Authority in ToR. In order to build a measure for equal treatment of men and women we used the information which was included in the surveys completed by the human resources department and those filled in directly by the employees of the institutions concerned. The indicator building system applied comes from a report published by Kuropka, Pisz 2007 concerning the methodology used in the previous edition of the competition entitled Firma równych szans (Company of Equal Opportunities). However, due to the slightly different form of the survey, not all data were in the same format as previously, while certain information was missing completely. The list presented below describes the changes made to the indicators: Section Protection against dismissal Indicators WF3 and WF4 – according to the definition these represent the number of women who, after returning from a maternity or post-maternity leave, were employed for at least a year on the same position as before going on the leave in 2005, relative to all the women who returned from maternity/ post maternity leaves in 2005. In the present evaluation, the indicators are merged due to the fact that we only had available cumulative information about the number of women returning from a maternity OR post-maternity leave. Moreover, the survey provided information about the number of women who returned to the same position, yet it did not provide any information whether a woman returning from the leave worked on the position for at least a year. Therefore here the indicator is calculated as the share of the women who, after returning from a maternity or post-maternity leave, were employed for at least a year on the same position relative to the number of women who returned from the maternity leave in 2005. Indicator WP14 – the quoted report did not contain any information about the way the answers „I do not know/Hard to say” were treated. For the needs of this evaluation, they were disregarded in calculating the indicator. Section Pay Indicator WE1 – in the current evaluation the level of salary was not provided at two, but at three levels: managerial, administrative, rank-and-file positions. Naturally, this was taken into account in calculating the index, adopting as the average pay of the other posts the average for administrative and rank-and-file positions.

2/)2/)(2/)(

(2007220071

2007220071

2007

20071 PP

PPPPW M

pMp

Kp

Kp

Mk

Kk

E ++

+=

Indicator WE3 – according to the previously applied definition, the indicator represents the share of the bonuses granted to persons who are on maternity and post-maternity leaves in the total number of women who were entitled to the bonuses in 2005. As there is no information about the number of women who were entitled to the bonuses, the total number of women was used. Indicator WP17 – there was no relevant question in the survey; the indicator was not calculated. Indicator WP17a – there was no relevant question in the survey; the indicator was not calculated. Section Reconciliation of work and family life

25 In accordance with the documents and procedures developed in the framework of EQUAL CIP prepared by MA EQUAL CIP and provided for by the National Support Structure in its Special Communication no 97 of 14 November 2006: “Manual for entities taking part in the EQUAL Community Initiative Programme for Poland 2004-2006 concerning the rules for transferring copyrights and granting licences.

126

Indicator WF1/2 – in the current survey the number of forms of activity was 8, and the structure of the indicator was adjusted accordingly:

∑=

=8

12/1 8

1i

iF DW

Indicator UP18 – in the current survey a series of questions were asked as to whether care and educational allowances were used – if at least one such allowance was reported, the employee concerned was treated as one that thinks that allowances are actually used. Section Protection against harassment and mobbing Indicator WP27 – there was no relevant question in the survey. However, because of the relevance of the subject, the question was replaced by the following: “Have you ever participated in training organised by your institution concerning equal treatment at work, counteracting any forms of discrimination, including harassment and mobbing?” The indicator was calculated as the share of the persons who participated in such training in the overall number of employees. Indicator WP31 – the indicator was calculated on the basis of two questions related to harassment and mobbing – value 1 [YES] was granted if at least one of the questions was answered positively. Indicator building rules Within the different fields of evaluation concerned, the institutions were ranked according to the most desired level of a quality, i.e. such that indicates the lowest gender gap. Then the ranks of particular fields were summed up. On their basis each institution was given a rank within the field concerned – the final order corresponds to the rank achieved in the classification by the individual institutions. The cumulative result, i.e. the final ranking, was established as the weighted average of the ranks granted in the individual fields. The weights were constructed, similarly to the previous edition of evaluation, based on the answers to the question assessing the importance of particular fields. The calculated weights are presented in the table below: Table 14: Weights granted to individual fields

No. Fields Weight 1 Recruitment of employees 0.158 2 Access to promotion 0.151 3 Protection against dismissal 0.128 4 Access to training 0.082 5 Pay 0.147 6 Reconciliation of work and family life 0.182 7 Protection against harassment, mobbing 0.152

6.1.3 Project level Also at the level of project providers the studies started with the exploratory phase. In this case the exploratory phase was based on case studied involving in-depth interviews with the project managers and other persons involved in project delivery – each case study involved 2 in-depth interviews. Apart from in-depth interviews the case studies also involved a detailed description of the project in terms of the gender issues, and an analysis of the documents, monitoring data and reports.

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20 case studies were delivered. The projects for the case studies were selected in a deliberate manner at the level of the layers distinguished according to the field of support. The sizes of particular layers are presented in the table below. Table 15 Distribution of the sample of projects selected for case studies

Priority

Field of support

Measure No. of all projects

Propose structure of the

sample 1.1 231 1.2 374

Field 1

1.3 760 5 1.4 215 Field 2 1.5 362 4

Priority 1 Field 3 1.6 322 3 2.1 23 Field 4 2.2 30 2

Field 5 2.3 707 4 Priority 2 Field 6 2.4 13 2 Total 3037 20 At the level of project providers, the core phase consists of the following two research modules:

• Module A - computer assisted telephone interviews - CATI – (Sample 500).

• Module B – a short e-mail survey concerning all implemented projects (excluding projects which were surveyed by means of the telephone interviews) – regardless of the implementation phase (CAWI).

Module B was devised as a counterpart of the e-mail survey delivered at the institutional level. Both surveys had a common part – the part referring in a general way to gender equality issues – involving both the respondent’s level of knowledge and the respondent’s attitude to the issues. A separate block of questions was also dedicated to project-related issues, of course in the context of gender equality. The e-mail survey was targeted at all project providers – project managers, excluding the projects which were addressed by the telephone survey It was assumed that the minimum feedback would be 500 interviews. All in all, we received 912 surveys, although not all questions were answered by all the persons surveyed. The slide below presents the distribution of the sample between the different activities. Because we have more detailed data obtained by means of CATI (representative sample) we mainly use the CATI data in this report. The results of the e-mail survey confirm the results of CATI. A graphical presentation of the e-mail survey is presented in the Annex.

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CAWI survey of project providers – distribution of the sample between the activities

83%

17%

60%

15%

8%

3%

14%

0%

2%

31%

27%

6%

10%

8%

2%

1%

14%

0%

Priority 1 - Active labour market policy and professional andsocial integration (N=758)




Field 3 - Ensuring equal opportunit ies for women on thelabour market (N=75)




Measure 1.1 Development and modernisation of labourmarket instruments and institutions (N=17)

Measure 1.2 Perspectives for youths (N=286)

Measure 1.3 Counteracting and combating long-termunemployment (N=242)

Measure 1.4 Integracja Professional and social integrationof disabled persons (N=51)

Measure 1.5 Promotion of active social policy by supportinggroups at risk (N=87)

Measure 1.6 Professional integration and reintegration ofwomen (N=75)

Measure 2.1 Improving access to educat ion - promotingcontinuing learning (N=16)

Measure 2.2 Improving the quality of educationin view oflabour market needs (N=13)

Measure 2.3 Developing modern economy workforces(N=125)

Measure 2.4 Supporting administrative capacities (N=0)

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Because a tool such as an e-mail survey requires to be simple and brief, a slightly more in-depth analyses were conducted on the basis of telephone interviews – Module A. In this case, because in 2 of the Measures no projects have been completed as yet, all projects implemented in the framework of the Measure have been taken into account. 500 telephone interviews were carried out – on a nationwide stratified sample comprising all the Measures. The share in the sample of projects falling into a given layer is proportional to the share of projects implemented in the framework of the Measure to all the projects implemented in the framework of SOP HRD, which makes the sample comprise all fields of support in a proportional manner. The anticipated and achieved distribution of the sample is contained in Table 16. Table 16 Distribution of the sample of project providers in CATI

Priority

Field of support Measure

No. of all projects % of projects

Structure of the sample

1.1 231 8% 38 1.2 374 12% 62

Field 1

1.3 760 25% 125 1.4 215 7% 35 Field 2 1.5 362 12% 60

Priority 1 Field 3 1.6 322 11% 53 2.1 23 1% 4 Field 4 2.2 30 1% 5

Field 5 2.3 707 23% 116 Priority 2 Field 6 2.4 13 0% 2 Total 3037 100% 500 With a sample thus constructed the maximum statistical error in assessing the regularities among the population is approx. 4%. In the telephone survey the field related to the application of gender equality principles during the project implementation phase was deepened.

6.1.4 Social perspective The element complementing the entire picture obtained in the study is undoubtedly public opinion, notably the voice of opinion leaders. Therefore the survey covered both the population of adult Poles and opinion leaders. This block of the study will include the following modules: Module C – survey among opinion leaders – IDIs with representatives of the world of science, politics, etc. 7 in-depth interviews were carried out with the following persons:

• Professor Dr. Hab. Renata Siemieńska - head of the Social Studies at the University of Warsaw. Professor Siemieńska specialises, among others, in gender sociology

• Ms. Joanna Kluzik Rostkowska – Minister at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy • Ms. Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka – a politician, MP of the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th term.

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• Professor Dr. Hab. Janusz Czapiński - psychologist, • Professor Ireneusz Krzemiński – sociologist, • Mr. Kamil Durczok - journalist • Dr. Janusz Kochanowski - Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection of the Republic of

Poland Module D – survey of adult Poles In 2005, in the framework of the project “Strengthening the policies of equal treatment of men and women, Pentor RI carried out a series of studies whose aim was to fill the gaps in existing data about equal status of men and women. The questionnaire used in that survey was used as a source of the indicators used in this evaluation. Because if possible the indicators were composed in such a way as to maintain continuity with other studies (e.g. Polskie Generalne Sondaże Społeczne – Polish General Social Surveys) – data collected since 1992, Word Value Survey, etc.) we obtained a wider time horizon, going beyond 2005, which may be used for comparisons. The study was carried out in the framework of the cyclical Pentor Omnibus survey. The questionnaire was included in the Annex to the report.

PENTOR OMNIBUS is a quantitative, multi-topic survey carried out by means of direct interviews on a representative 1000-person sample of Poles aged 15+.

PENTOR OMNIBUS is conducted by means of computer assisted personal (face-to-face)

interviews (CAPI) Respondents are interviewed at their own places, in the evenings, and during weekends, when they are most likely to be at home.

For each opinion poll 200 research areas/start addresses are selected randomly. The

addresses are obtained from Rządowe Centrum Ewidencji Ludności PESEL (Governmental Vital Statistics Centre) – which has an address data base for all Polish citizens.

Five interviews are carried out in each of the research areas. The first interview is conducted

with a respondent selected randomly by name and surname, the subsequent four are carried out in every fifth counted-out flat/household, alternately with a man and a women. If a household has more members fulfilling the requirements of the sample, the person interviewed is that who was the last to celebrate her/his birthday. The flats are counted out according to a special procedure, i.e. the left hand-side method, which precisely sets the direction towards which the pollster is to move.

The sample is selected by layers. The algorithm for the selection of starting point addresses is

based on the administrative and urban division of the state into regions, voivodships and types of towns (villages, towns up to 20 thousand, cities 20-200 thousand and over 200 thousand residents). The results obtained are weighted in order to obtain representativeness. The weighting algorithm is based on data of the Central Statistical Office from the 2002 Census.

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3%

8%

6%

6% 7%

7%

13%

3%

5%

3%

5%

13%

3%

4%

8%

5%

Distribution of the sample by voivodships

37%

13% 12%

18% 18%

5%

RURALAREA

TOWN UP TO19,999

TOWN20,000 -49,999

MIASTO50.000 -199.999

TOWN OVER200,000

WARSZAWA

Distribution of the sample by town size

Documents

Evaluation study on the implementation of the gender … Evaluation... · This report from a evaluation study on the implementation of the gender mainstreaming principle the HRD SOP