Active labour market policy and gender mainstreaming in Germany

In recent years the success of strategies for active labour market policy has been paid increased political and scientific attention in Germany. In this respect questions regarding gender-specific aspects have so far led rather a shadowy existence. This forms the starting-point for this paper: it outlines the political and scientific background of gender mainstreaming in German labour market policy and provides results for the years 1998 to 2001 on the access of women to measures, benefits and schemes of the Federal Employment Service and on their destination following the measures in comparison with men. In addition the paper focuses on various target groups among women. The reference period is 1998 to 2001. It can be shown here that the theory and practice of gender mainstreaming in active labour market policy in Germany only correspond with each other to a certain extent: in the case of employment-accompanying benefits in accordance with the Social Code III (integration and recruitment subsidies), women are under-represented compared with their share of the unemployed, though their destination chances are particularly high with these measures. In contrast they are over-represented in measures of further vocational training but have a lower employment-status rate than men for these measures. In the case of groups requiring special support, such as long-term unemployed or older women the measures of active labour market policy have so far helped to only a small extent to overcome the placement obstacles. From the results it is possible to derive conclusions for the need for action in practice and in scientific research. They make it clear that both from the viewpoint of arranging active labour market policy in line with demands and needs and also from the perspective of a scientific evaluation appropriate to the subject there is no getting around a further incorporation of gender-specific aspects.