Gender equality or equality between women and men proceeds from the idea that men and women are free to develop their abilities and make their choices free of the restrictions imposed on them by stereotypic gender roles and prejudices.
Gender equality means that the different behaviour, aspirations and needs of men and women are considered and valued and that there is equality of treatment between them. Women and men do not have to become identical, but their rights, duties and opportunities must not depend on whether they are born as women or men.

Estonia has become a party to several international conventions governing the area of equality. In accordance with article 2 of the Treaty of Amsterdam promotion of gender equality has been declared a common task of the member states of the European Union. In order to achieve the objective the states have to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sex and legalise promotion of gender equality in all the areas of life of society.
Pursuant to the Government of the Republic Act amended in the year 2000 promotion of gender equality belongs in the responsibility of the Ministry of Social Affairs. In order to perform the duty in 1996 the Ministry established the Equality Office, which was renamed Equality Department this year. The department is engaged in developing the politics, strategies and measures for reducing gender inequality and promoting gender equality in all areas of life. The department deals with assessing the conformity of Estonian legislation with international requirements and treaties, analysing the status of women and men and counselling professional specialists. The Ministry of Social Affairs is also developing guidelines and methods that enable the influence of a specific programme, measure or project on women and men to be assessed.

About History of Gender Equality

Until the Year 1993
The first time gender equality was more widely discussed was at the Conference of Estonian Women in 1989. Until 1993 traditional/conservative ideas about gender equality were prevalent in Estonian society, i.e. men go to work and earn a living for their families, whereas women raise children and do housework. At the same time the ideas started to change.
In 1992 the Estonian state signed United Nations conventions related to human rights (including the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women). With this Estonia undertook to apply the principle of equality in real life, i.e. to impose legislative and other measures and, if necessary, also sanctions that would end discrimination against women. What the discrimination of women consists of, how it is expressed and how it is interpreted in the western world nowadays was not discussed in detail. For example the Swedish government arranged training where the Ukrainian and Estonian national officials studied for a week how to write a report on the convention.
The topic of human rights and private individual’s rights was not current yet, but the state was in a hurry to catch up with the western states by reuniting with almost all international organisations.

1993-1998
In 1995 Estonia sent an official delegation to the 4th Women’s World Conference in Beijing for the first time. The activity plan of the World Conference that included about 360 sections was a task for the governments of the member states of the United Nations for the years 1995-2000. The final document also forms a basis for determining the priorities of Estonian national activity plans. After the Conference an inter-ministerial committee was formed, pursuant to whose decision the priority trends from the aspect of gender equality are:

1. Creating and strengthening national structures that would integrate the principle of equality into all spheres.
2. Analysing the conformity of Estonian legislation to the international standards of equality.
3. Making official gender-sensitive statistics available.
4. Improving women’s situation in the labour market and increasing their participation in adopting resolutions.

In order to perform the obligations adopted at the national level in December 1996 the equality office was created in the Ministry of Social Affairs.
Thanks to the support provided by international organisations, foreign funds and first and foremost by Nordic Countries by the present moment a lot of women’s organisation networks have been formed which are engaged in fighting for equality.
In 1998 a work group of gender equality made up of national officials of Baltic and Nordic Countries was formed that coordinates training and cooperation projects of officials and researchers. A couple of years ago a non-profit association was founded that deals with men’s problems – i.e. the so-called men’s centre.
This is a period of changes in attitudes. Thanks to the support programmes, workshops and training events gender equality has awoken people’s interest and given rise to a lot of different opinions.

1999-
In 1999 Estonia decided to accede to the European Union where the issues regarding men’s and women’s equal opportunities constitute a distinct area of social policy. This regards particularly issues related to equal remuneration for equivalent work, equality of treatment between women and men in work life and problems related to combination of work and family life.
Since the year 2000 three new functions have belonged in the area of administration of the Ministry of Social Affairs: promotion of gender equality, coordination of work related to this and the corresponding legislation. Gender Equality Act was adopted by the Riigikogu on 7 April 2004.
In the European Union there are eight directives governing equality of treatment between women and men; the principles referred to there must be transferred to Estonian legislation. The principles deal mainly with the topic of work and social security. The Treaty establishing the European Community has made among others express provision of the common objective of all the member states: to reduce gender inequality, promote equality and take into consideration the different status, situation, interests and needs of women and men upon developing and implementing all other policies.

At the moment the inter-ministerial committee for promoting gender equality is developing a national development plan of gender equality until the year 2008. The activity plan shall form a basis for dividing tasks between different ministries upon solving more complex problems (horizontal and vertical gender segregation of the labour and education markets, abolition of outdated stereotypes in textbooks, fighting against violence against women, etc.). However, the main stress is still on training and raising awareness. Of bigger projects the following are being launched:
1. Supporting women upon making decisions related to the economy.
2. The role of the mass media in establishing power relations.
3. Training national officials in integrating the gender aspect into activity plans.
4. Developing the methodology of assessment of the gender effect.

Women and Men – Equal Rights in Estonia (edited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Third Baltic Sea Women's Conference on WoMen and Democracy materials