Gender mainstreaming, which aims to look into the implications that policies and decisions have on both sexes, was not solely a women’s issue, lawyer Roberta Leprè said.

“This is not a fight in which women are against men. It’s not about women taking men’s jobs or having more women on boards and managerial roles... It’s about understanding and accessing the implications of decisions on men and women,” she said, adding that both sexes benefited from such an exercise.

Giving an example, she noted that companies often had the perception that mothers needed ­flexible working hours and work conditions to raise their families.

However, there could be circumstances where this applied to fathers too. Gender mainstreaming was a tool used by organisations to revisit the realities of ­people within them to meet heir needs and break out of ­stereotypes that no longer reflect reality.

Such an exercise was not limited to companies but could be carried out by government entities and policymakers, among others, said Dr Leprè, head of a consultancy team set up by the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality to assist the public sector put gender mainstreaming into practice. This is part of a project co-funded by the EU.

Dr Leprè was speaking during a symposium organised by the NCPE to discuss the topic of gender mainstreaming. The symposium was attended by representatives of government entities and NGOs that work in the field of equality.

Dr Leprè stressed that gender mainstreaming was not synonymous with equality but was one tool to achieve it. Besides, equality was not about treating everyone in the exact same manner because that could lead to an unfair situation. To illustrate her point, she referred to a cartoon in which a group of different animals – including a monkey and an elephant – were told they would be assessed on the same test: climbing a tree. “We all have our strengths and needs. Gender mainstreaming looks into these to the benefit of everyone as even a company will reap the most out of employees by playing on their strengths,” she said.

Education Minister Dolores Cristina stressed on the importance of implementation. “It’s good to have concepts and projects but the most important thing is implementation on the ground,” she said, as she called on all stakeholders to play their part in achieving a more balanced society.