Monitoring of the implementation of gender mainstreaming in Austria´s Territorial Employment Pacts

The monitoring of the implementation of gender mainstreaming of the Territorial Employment Pacts was an essential part of the GeM-coordination unit´s work. From 2002 to 2005, the coor-dination unit of the Territorial Employment Pacts in Austria and all the Austrian TEPs worked on a national gender mainstreaming project together, with the goal of creating and realising common tools for the implementation of gender meanstreaming in the TEPs.

Therefore, the TEPs Gender Mainstreaming Platform, abbreviated TEPGEM_Platform, was founded. The GeM-coordination unit organised and conducted, as regards content, regular TEPGEM_Platform meetings.

In a kick-off workshop in June 2002, it was decided to work together on the policy paper regarding the implementation of gender mainstreaming in the Territorial Emploment Pacts, consisting of basics and tools. This policy paper regarding the implementation of gender mainstreaming in the TEPs (in short: TEPGEM_Strategy) was created in a number of workshops as well as in interim working groups. The paper is based on collective development work and the consensus of all participants and symbolises a recommendation of the TEP-GEM_Platform for the Pacts. Furthermore, the paper must be considered as a “paper in progress”, which can be amended and adapted with experiences from the working field if necessary. The TEPGEM_Strategy was presented for the first time in September 2003; in the following some of the elements of the paper were field-tested. The adapted and TEPGEM_Platform approved TEPGEM_Strategy has been available since October 2004.

In Autumn 2005, the TEPGEM-Platform decided to work on an indication paper, additionally to the TEPGEM-Strategy – indicators for the acquisition of equal opportunities on the employment market within the TEPs. This paper also needs to be seen as a recommedation.