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If gender relations are made the foundation of any analysis of social relations and women\'s policy is underpinned and supplemented by a gender policy, then old attributions lose their validity and are replaced by new viewpoints. The common assumptions often faced by traditional women\'s policy are invalidated below by the new perspectives of gender mainstreaming.
No longer:
Women are being oversensitive when they criticize the dominant values and norms.
But rather:
The dominant values and norms are scrutinized and modified in terms of gender-specific considerations.
No longer:
Women have specific problems.
But rather:
Socially determined circumstances place women in difficult situations and positions. Women are not the only ones responsible for such circumstances.
No longer:
Women have specific interests based on their gender.
But rather:
Specific interests of women are reflexes to living conditions (e.g. intense cohabitation with small children) which fall to women as the female sex. Men would have the same interests if they were to share women\'s living conditions.
No longer:
Women have shortcomings which have to be eliminated.
But rather:
Women have strengths which men do not (yet) have. These strengths are recognized and conditions created so that they can be applied. Existing shortcomings are not due to gender but because of the socially defined gender role; the same is true of men.
No longer:
Women approach decision-making centres as petitioners and seek to attract support for their concepts.
But rather:
Decision-making centres must take account of the gender mainstreaming principle. Women are consulted as experts on specific situations of women\'s lives. Initiatives by women themselves are warmly welcomed as an additional stimulus because they can improve the decisions made even more.
No longer:
Women\'s policy deals with marginal problems which enjoy prominence depending on the general political situation.
But rather:
Gender democracy and equal opportunities between men and women are central policy objectives.
No longer:
Women are responsible for solving women\'s problems.
But rather:
Women and men accept responsibility for changing gender relations.
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