Continuously raise awareness

Awareness-raising activities shed light on the efforts of your parliament to improve gender equality in your institution and demonstrate that this work is a priority.

Awareness raising is also important because it can help to correct misconceptions about your gender equality action plan and mitigate potential resistance.

What is institutional resistance?

Institutional resistance is defined as ‘a systematic, ongoing, sustained pattern of non-engagement with the issue of gender equality’[1]. It can occur:

  • passively, when individuals slow down the change process unconsciously or deliberately;
  • actively, when individuals outwardly disparage or outwardly boycott the change process;
  • in a hidden manner, when individuals show openness to the change process but do not act accordingly.

Resistance may occur if groups or individuals in parliament consider the plan to be irrelevant for their needs or are hesitant to carry out the work required to implement or monitor the plan.

Dos of mitigating institutional resistance

  • Do emphasise in awareness-raising activities that the gender equality action plan is relevant for all members (MPs and staff) of your institution.

  • Do describe the human and financial resources that have been allocated to the implementation and monitoring of the plan.

  • Do create opportunities and systems for providing feedback to the gender equality action plan, in a respectful and constructive way.

Dont's of mitigating institutional resistance

  • Do not describe the plan as an initiative of a specific party or politician, or as a plan that is only relevant for women.

  • Do not describe the plan as additional work for the parliament, rather than part of the everyday work of the parliament.

Example of a parliament that conducted awareness raising activities after launching a gender equality action plan

The regional Basque Parliament in Spain adopted a gender equality plan for women and men (2018–2022) that includes measures to integrate gender equality into the management, organisation and operation of the parliament[2]. The plan presents an objective to raise awareness of gender equality and women’s political participation through regular, systematic communication activities. These awareness-raising activities include internal gender equality training and the inclusion of gender equality considerations in all training activities. The plan also includes measures to demonstrate and increase the visibility of women both in the parliament and in government institutions in the Basque region. Finally, the plan aims to create a physical space where news related to equality can be shared among the workforce.

Checklist: Continuously raise awareness

  • Make the plan accessible and visible (i.e. by creating a dedicated intranet site to showcase the plan).

  • Create and disseminate a simplified, easy-to-read version of the plan.

  • Mention the plan in internal communications (i.e. regular newsletters, or emails shared with staff) and reflect on its implementation status.

  • Integrate the plan into onboarding training for new MPs and parliamentary staff, and in regular gender equality training.

  • Send targeted messages to different groups (i.e. MPs and parliamentary employees) describing the areas of the plan that are relevant for their work.

  • Identify gender equality champions (i.e. people dedicated to advancing gender equality in parliament by supporting the measures outlined in the plan).

  • Draw attention to the gender equality action plan when participating in international events and campaigns promoting gender equality.

  • Mitigate institutional resistance by emphasising that the plan is relevant for everyone is the parliament in awareness-raising activities.