Kjartan Ólafsson Tryggvi Hallgrímsson With support from the European community – Programme relating to the community Framework Strategy on Gender Equality (2001-2005). Centre for Gender Equality Iceland Kjartan Ólafsson Tryggvi Hallgrímsson Tea For Two – Final Report Grant Agreement VS/2006/0312. With support from the European community – Programme relating to the community Framework Strategy on Gender Equality (2001-2005). The information contained in this publication (or other materials) does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Commission. This project has also received grants from: The Ministry of Social affairs, Iceland The University of Akureyri Research Fund, Iceland Project leader: Centre for Gender Equality in Iceland. Centre for Gender Equality Iceland Copyright ©2008, Centre for Gender Equality - Iceland Centre for Gender Equality Borgum v/Nordurslod IS-600 Akureyri ICELAND E-mail: [email protected] www.jafnretti.is and www.gender.is The information contained in this publication (or other materials) does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Commission. Contents Introduction ........................................................................................... 9 Gender equality and the municipal level ................................................... 11 The five countries at a glance ................................................................. 17 Data and methods................................................................................. 47 Internet survey ..................................................................................... 55 Indicators included and indicators discarded ............................................109 Final list of indicators, measurement and rationale ...................................113 Scoring the data...................................................................................121 Bulgaria ..............................................................................................129 Finland................................................................................................169 Greece................................................................................................219 Iceland ...............................................................................................221 Norway ...............................................................................................253 Sources...............................................................................................319 Final report 9 Introduction In November 2006 partners from five countries, Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Iceland and Norway, started a project given the name Tea for two (TFT). The project was promoted and coordinated by the Centre for Gender Equality in Iceland, the national authority for gender equality issues in Iceland and received substantial financial support from the European Union (EU). This is a trans-national project and aims to analyse the participation of women and men in local government and politics and promote their equal participation at this level. The main objectives of the TFT project are the following: 1. To collect information on women’s and men’s participation in local governments and develop a tool for such data collection and measurement. 2. Make the information available • To the general public, in visual and accessible form • To local governments to evaluate their progress towards a more equal society • To governments to monitor municipal authorities status on gender equality • For future comparison and monitoring of changes This project aims is to promote equal participation of women and men in local politics and governments. It will analyse the situation and strengthen the practical municipal work for gender equality and raise awareness of the issue. Other aims were: • Developing a computer program to make the result visible • Results analysed and made accessible to the partners on a secured website • Results made public on an open website after approval by all partners • Compare the results between participating municipalities in all partner countries • Analyse status and challenges for the municipalities that have done well – as well as municipalities that have done less well • Publish the results of each participating country domestically • Publish joint final report • Stimulating discussion on the subject on a European level by holding an international conference The project began officially on the 1st of October 2006 and is finished 15 months later in January 2008. The first seven months focused on developing a tool for data collection and measurement while the latter half focused on writing reports for publication. Four trans-national meetings were held during the project period, one in Norway, one in Bulgaria, one in Finland and final conference in Iceland. 10 Tea for Two – Illustrating equality The total budget of the project was 325.242,59 Euro of which 80% funding came from the European Union (260.194,07 Euro) and the remaining 20% were funded by the project promoter the Centre for Gender Equality in Iceland. The Centre for Gender Equality in Iceland was the project promoter. The Centre coordinated the project which involved managing and planning all major organisational matters and was therefore responsible for the overall organization and realization of the project. The trans-national partners were responsible for realisation of the project within their countries. This includes conducting the research within their countries, both background information and direct questionnaires, and communicating with two National Experts from their countries to take part in the Expert Advisory Group. Four countries (Norway, Bulgaria, Finland and Iceland) also had to organise the trans-national meetings which took place in their respective countries. The Research Centre of the University of Akureyri (RHA) was responsible for the coordination of the research work in the project and for collecting and analysing the research material for Iceland. The Research Centre was also responsible for writing the final report. This final report is the outcome of the research part of the TFT project. The report is written by the research coordinator of the TFT project, Mr. Kjartan Ólafsson researcher at the Research Centre of the University of Akureyri, and Mr. Tryggvi Hallgrímsson, researcher at the Research Centre of the University of Akureyri and based on contributions from the members of the TFT steering committee . Contributing to this report have been the following: Grammatiki Papazoglou, Central Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece (KEDKE), Greece. Lily Abadjieva, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Bulgaria. May Endresen, The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS), Norway. Sinikka Mikola, The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, Finland. Final report 11 Gender equality and the municipal level Sex and gender Ideas about human nature and about the difference between men and women have prevailed since the dawn of mankind. These ideas have a common thread in that there is a basic biological difference in the nature of men and women. Some of the ideas put forward even assume that the two sexes are so alike that it is almost as if the two sexes are two different species! These ideas can be traced back to Plato and his writings on biological difference of the sexes. Thinking along these lines has characterised Western thinking up until this century and has traditionally been used to justify male predominance in the light of their alleged superiority. The practice of distinguishing different characteristics for the two sexes is in fact a premise for the hierarchy of the sexes and their characteristics. Traces of this attitude are to be found in every aspect of our culture and language is a very illustrating example, e.g. “man” and “mankind”. This essentialist thinking has in years past led to men being credited among other things to having a bigger brain than women, as they were assumed to monopolize reason and sensibility. Women on the other hand were thought to be controlled more by emotions and whims. They were also supposed to have a more caring nature and therefore upbringing and housekeeping were thought to be intrinsic for them. Reciprocally the analytical and masculine nature of men made governance and power a natural part of masculinity. These ideas presented above and similar ones about the different nature of men and women have been used to justify the different status and roles of men and women. Even today there are people in the West who believe that there is an inherent difference in the capabilities of the sexes. What’s more most of these people believe that women’s status is biologically based and see women’s inferior status as inevitable. This attitude has been termed sexism and is the ideology that one sex is superior to the other and defends the “status quo”. As all the major institutions of society are controlled by men sexism manifests itself in most cases in male prejudice and discrimination against women. However, sexism has been on the decline for the last couple of decades as the battle for equal rights and equal opportunities for men and women has gained steam at least in daily discussions. People differ, however, on the issue and many think that although the sexes have gained equal legal status in most of the western world other forces, such as stereotypes of what women are capable of doing, still hold them down and are even