The general objective of the project is to create the conditions for a continuum of actions on gender culture at the political level in order to improve and increase awareness of the position of women in society, promoting their social inclusion, civic engagement and participation. At a practical level, this is reflected in promoting greater knowledge and awareness of public bodies of the EU Gender Equality Strategy, as well as of the possibilities of its concrete implementation in local policies. To achieve the overall objective of bringing about significant change, the project set two specific objectives, which are - to increase the knowledge of municipal administrators and employees on issues related to gender culture; - to develop practical tools to support public authorities in achieving gender equality and to contribute to social and spatial planning by disseminating the project results.
The E-QUALITY project has been conceived to favour the conditions for a wider action in gender culture and gender equality in the policy making sphere. The project moves from a general necessity of raising awareness on women’s position in society, promoting their social inclusion, civic engagement and participation. In particular, project partners have witnessed that, in spite of the EU being a global forerunner in the promotion of gender quality-oriented policies, small and medium-sized public administrations all over the continent are often poorly equipped in terms of knowledge and skills to actually embrace the EU legislation and the gender equality strategies. This results in difficulties on the part of public administrations in many EU countries to produce, implement and review effective policies in crucial fields like equal education, healthcare access, training and equal job opportunities.