Gender equality the BESTA way: Working for equal statistics and pay in the governmental sector

Purpose and goal

The goal of the project was to a) develop gender sensitive methods for the application of BESTA codes and b) make an analysis of the BESTA code system in a gender perspective. The project has produced a booklet ´To code in the BESTA way´ (http://www.gender.uu.se/digitalAssets/164/164726_3praktikerbok-for-webben.pdf), which is primarily a basis reflection for people who work with the codes, in order to draw attention to gender equality pitfalls. Part of the survey of the system itself has been incorporated in the booklet and has also been reported scientifically.

Results and expected effects

The initial interviews with the project partners revealed a number of problems in the BESTA system, and above all that it is used in very different ways by the different authorities. Some changes have taken place in the partner organizations´ coding practices. The project has found that BESTA coding on the one hand is often a relatively marginal task, but on the other hand it has wider effects than what it generally assumed. This understanding is necessary to motivate the users of BESTA codes to engage in reflecting on the gender equality aspects of this task.

Approach and implementation

The project has been based on researchers´ interviews in the partner organizations and on two workshops. In the first phase the involvement of the three partner organizations consisted of exchange of experiences and in the second phase they acted as a reference group to the booklet. They have also spread knowledge about the project in their networks. The examination of the code system itself has been complicated by the fact that the Swedish Agency for Governmental Employers only gave the project access to the national statistics in the last month of the project, after court appeals.