Gender Equality and Quality of Life

Main goal of the project ‘Gender Equality and Quality of Life' (GEQ) is to investigate gender equality (GE) and the benefits it has for quality of life and social development. The lack of progress in fostering GE in Europe and particularly in Poland calls for new framing of gender equality in order to construct effective policies to overcome this impasse.

Our bottom-up approach to GE focuses on the cultural and institutional contexts of individual lives and struggles for a satisfactory and healthy life in relation to gender equality. Project methods involve survey research in Poland, backed up by secondary data analysis, policy analysis and qualitative research in both countries.

Expanding on a Norwegian method of measuring GE we will conduct the first comprehensive study in Poland that is centrally focused on GE. The survey research will include seven dimensions related to gender equality: attitudes and norms, practices, resource distribution, identity, life course experiences, quality of life and social development. All these dimensions will be studied over the life course in different areas, including work, family, political participation, decision-making and violence.

The findings will map existing inequalities, highlight the structural, cultural and institutional determinants of GE and identify the conditions that foster positive impact of GE on the quality of life and social development. The project represents a major step towards methodological progress concerning measurement of GE, making the project unique on the European scale.

The outcomes will include frontline expert research-capacity building in Poland and Norway, inputs and guidelines for further research and development, and new research evidence. The new GE framework will be a stimulus for a new, more comprehensive and effective gender mainstreaming strategy in Poland and in Norway.

Project description