Gender mainstreaming in parliaments: Rule efficacy in the European and Fijian parliaments

Abstract

Since the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, gender mainstreaming (GM) has been hailed as a key strategy in achieving gender equality. While significant focus has been paid to GM in governmental institutions and (international) organizations, less has been directed at parliaments. The extent to which there has been limited institutionalization of the mechanisms, practices and cultures required to review legislation and policies – including workplace processes – from a gender perspective has become an increasing focus of scholarly and practitioner attention. In this chapter, we draw on a framework previously developed for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in 2021 to assess GM as a parliamentary oversight strategy and consider its application in two cases: the European Parliament and the Fiji Parliament. In this extreme-case comparison, we identify environmental and cultural factors that are more likely to support a robust approach to GM.