The Federal Government

With its cabinet decision of 23 June 1999 the Federal Government, based on the national objective enshrined in Article 3 para 2 sentence 2 of the Basic Law, recognised the equality of women and men as a consistent principle guiding its governance and decided to promote this endeavour by means of the gender mainstreaming strategy. Adopted on 26 July 2000 subsequent to this decision, section 2 of the Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries requires all departments to observe this approach in all political, normative and administrative measures of the Federal Government. Section 2 of the Federal Equality Act also stipulates the gender mainstreaming principle.

To implement these provisions, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth developed a relevant concept built around the Interministerial Working Group on Gender Mainstreaming (IMA).