| Abstract: | Introduction
The Fourth World Women Conference held in Beijing (1995) provided, for the first time in the history, the formal impetus in the creation of worldwide National Women’s Machineries within the larger framework of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Specifically, Strategic Objective H, under chapter IV, outlined the need to ensure gender equality mainstreaming and empowerment of women in governmental institutions, policies and programs through national institutional mechanisms, such as National Women’s Machineries, . Since this time, the number, aims and missions of National Women’s Machineries has grown exponentially, including the Balkans region . More than three decades of international best practices and a rich body of evidence demonstrate gender machineries to be a crucial tool for engendering the state and for promoting feminist policymaking . As by definition, gender machineries are referred as bodies mandated to promote gender equality and support mainstreaming of gender equality into general policies in all areas of policymaking . The main role of such machineries is to improve the situation of women through several actions that aim to increase the collaboration with different ministries, and government agencies and civil society . Usually, they consist of central government bodies complemented with inter-ministerial coordinating gender mainstreaming structures and contact persons or focal points responsible for gender mainstreaming in line ministries. Examining these structures in many countries around the world shows that in practice the machineries take a wide variety of forms, from formal ministries to temporary councils and committees. In some cases, they have been established as result of specific law, such as the law of Equal Opportunities or several specific initiatives taken by the political party who is in power and cares for matters of gender equality. Practitioners in the field of gender equality suggest that gender machineries are effective only if placed in the highest possible government centralised structures and are followed by a dedicated budget with strong leadership. In order for the machineries to resist government changes, they have to be flexible and adaptable in nature so to fulfil their mission on achieving Gender Equality. In some countries, a range of single-issue agencies--for labour, health, and education matters can be more effective than a large Ministry expected to cover all issues . While several studies exist regarding the status of gender machineries in Balkans, including Albania and Northern Macedonia, up to now, no comparative analysis has been made between the two countries, which could provide evidence of either successes or failures on gender mainstreaming in government policies, budgets, and their impact on gender equality. Therefore, the current study focuses on the comparative analyses of gender equality machineries in the Republic of Albania and in North Macedonia and their impact on gender mainstreaming in government policies and budgets and the possible effects on gender equality. |
EBSCOhost
World Bank
EconBiz
De Gruyter
OpenEdition
European Respiratory Journal
Mathematical Sciences Publishers Journals
Comparative analyses of gender equality machineries in the Republic of Albania and in North Macedonia and their impact on gender mainstreaming in government policies and budgets / Ermira Lubani 
