What is Mainstreaming?
What mainstreaming equality and human rights means
In the context of the Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming Strategy and this toolkit, mainstreaming means putting equality and human rights into all parts of how your organisation works. It makes equality and human rights central to what you do every day, not just an add-on.
Instead of treating equality and human rights as separate tasks, mainstreaming makes them part of how organisations think, plan, and deliver services. A mainstreaming approach acknowledges that equality and human rights affect everything an organisation does.
In practice, this means that equality and human rights are integral to how:
- decisions are made,
- policies are designed and developed,
- services are delivered, and;
- money and resources allocated.
Only by doing so can we collectively tackle persistent inequality in Scotland and sustain equality of opportunity.
For the Scottish Government, mainstreaming requires removing systemic barriers. It means changing how decisions are made. It also requires establishing the culture and practice that ensure policy and service delivery permanently focus on equality and human rights. We encourage the wider public sector to consider doing the same.
Mainstreaming is an approach to promote and embed equality and human rights. It represents long-term, sustainable, and adaptable cultural change. Rather than being a final goal, mainstreaming is a method or programme of work that helps achieve the broader aims of equality and human rights.
Mainstreaming sets out to effect cultural, procedural, and systemic change in an organisation so that an equality and human rights perspective is integrated into its day-to-day working across all functions. It aims to ensure that equality and human rights sit at the heart of both an organisation’s culture and operational delivery.
Why mainstreaming matters
Mainstreaming equality and human rights means making lasting changes to how your organisation works. It aims to make equality and human rights part of everyday work, not just an additional consideration.
This approach can help to:
Comply with the law
All public sector organisations in Scotland must comply with their legal duties, principally under the Equality Act 2010. Mainstreaming can help to ensure you meet these duties. This toolkit provides general guidance only – seek independent legal advice for your specific obligations.
Create better outcomes
Considering equality and human rights from the start can help policies and services work better for everyone. This can help to prevent problems rather than trying to fix them later.
Improve efficiency
Putting equality and human rights into existing processes, rather than treating them as separate requirements, can help to reduce duplication and ensure consistent approaches.
Build inclusive workplaces
Mainstreaming can help to create a culture where equality and human rights are part of normal business operations, not special projects.
Make your organisation work better
Embedding equality and human rights can help to deliver fairer outcomes, improve services to the public, and strengthen organisational performance.
Goals and objectives
The main goals of mainstreaming equality and human rights aim to help:
- Promote diversity and inclusion throughout the organisation
- Prevent discrimination and harassment
- Ensure everyone has equal opportunities
- Protect and promote human rights
- Create inclusive services that work for everyone.
Specific objectives could include:
- Embedding equality and human rights into policies and procedures
- Training staff to understand and apply equality and human rights principle
- Collecting and using data to monitor progress in the promotion of equality and human rights and to identify issue
- Working with diverse communities to understand their needs
- Creating accountability systems to ensure progress
- Developing inclusive leadership at all levels
Benefits of mainstreaming equality and human rights
For the organisation, some examples of benefits could include:
- Better organisational performance and effectiveness.
- Better reputation and public trust.
- Better decision-making through diverse perspectives.
- Less risk of discrimination and legal challenges.
- More engaged and motivated workforce.
- Innovation through inclusive approaches.
For employees:
- More inclusive and supportive workplace culture.
- Better career development opportunities for all.
- Less discrimination and harassment.
- Greater job satisfaction and engagement.
- Skills development in equality and human rights.
For service users and the public:
- More accessible and inclusive services.
- Better outcomes for diverse communities.
- Services that meet different needs and circumstances.
- More trust in public institutions.
- Protection of fundamental rights
Getting started with mainstreaming
The following steps are provided as suggestions to help organisations begin mainstreaming equality and human rights. They are not mandatory, and you will need to adapt or use different approaches depending on your organisation’s needs and context.
Step 1: Understand where you are now
- Assess what you’re already doing well.
- Identify gaps and areas for improvement.
- Review your legal obligations and compliance.
Step 2: Develop your approach
- Create or review your equality and human rights strategy.
- Set clear goals and objectives.
- Identify resources and capacity needed.
Step 3: Put it into practice systematically
- Start with high-impact areas.
- Build capability gradually.
- Monitor progress and adjust as needed.
Step 4: Embed and sustain
- Make equality and human rights part of normal business processes.
- Continue learning and improving.
- Share successes and challenges.
Key concepts and terms
Visit the relevant page for the full Terms and Definitions.
- Equality: Ensuring everyone has the same opportunities and is treated fairly, while recognising that different people have different needs.
- Human rights: The basic rights and freedoms that belong to everyone, including the right to life, liberty, privacy, family life, and freedom from discrimination.
- Inclusion: Creating environments where everyone feels valued, respected, and able to participate fully.
- Diversity: The range of different backgrounds, characteristics, experiences, and perspectives that people bring.
- Intersectionality: Understanding how different characteristics (like race, gender, disability, age) combine to create unique experiences of discrimination or advantage.
- Protected characteristics: The nine characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2010: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
- Public Sector Equality Duty: The legal requirement for public bodies to have due regard to eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity, and fostering good relations between people who share a protected characteristic, and those who do not.
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If you need help or support you can email us at ehrmainstreamingtoolkit@gov.scot