Women’s Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 4th International Conference, Volume 2: Technical Papers (2011)

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264 Gender Mainstreaming in Transportation Impact of Management Control eva Wittbom, Stockholm University and Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden In international surveys, Sweden is considered to be the locus classicus for gender mainstreaming. At a macro level, the picture is clear, as government direc- tives include specific goals for gender equality and the expectation that public agencies will mainstream gender into their core business. At a micro level, the situation is more complex. Formal governance meets with gendered norms and cultures that are equally strong, but informal, driving forces among civil servants. The question raised here is how the management control system functions under the pressure of mainstreaming gender. With an interpretive approach, research has been conducted to disclose constructions that tend to enable or to hamper gender equality in the practice of management control at a micro level. The evidence stems from a case study of the Swedish Road Administration and the Swedish National Rail Administration. Interviews, observations of meet- ings, and close reading of documents furnish this paper with data covering the years 2002–2007 with regard to a policy goal of a gender-equal transport system. Applying a gender perspective together with a sociological institu- tional perspective makes gendered rules, norms, and cul- ture visible. The results show how management control is involved in integration of gender by assimilation and by decoupling, obstructing transformative gender main- streaming. The administration is busy keeping up the appearance of fulfilling the goal, legitimizing its activities by reporting relative fulfillment in accordance with the rules of the control system, regardless of the relevance connected to the norms of gender equality. The manage- ment control system perpetuates a culture in which reli- ability lies in measurability; therefore, the goal of gender equality results in a quantitative perspective on women and men instead of a qualitative gender perspective on the transport system. Transportation is equally important to men and women, but a majority of men control the man-agement of transport systems. The Swedish gov- ernment recognized this as a problem, and a specific policy goal of a gender-equal transport system was intro- duced into governance of the national transport agencies in 20021: A transport system that is managed by and serves the interests of women and men equally: The trans- port system shall be designed to meet the transport requirements of both men and women. Women and men shall be given equal opportunities to influence introduction, design and administration, and their assessments shall be afforded the same importance. The goal is equal division of power and influence between women and men in the transportation sector 1 The objective of the Swedish government’s transport policy is to ensure that all parts of Sweden are provided with efficient transport solutions. This is formulated as an overall transport policy goal supplemented by five subgoals embracing accessibility, high trans- port quality, safety, sustainable environment, and positive regional development. The latest added sixth subgoal is that of a gender-equal transport system.

265GeNDeR MAINSTReAMING IN TRANSPoRTATIoN (author’s translation of the Swedish formulation of the sixth transport policy subgoal: “a gender-equal transport system” in the annual appropriation directives issued by central government to the Road and Rail Administra- tions; www.esv.se). This goal is in line with gender mainstreaming, a strat- egy implying that a gender perspective and attention to gender equality are present in all decision making and performance in any kind of core business. In this case, it is applied to planning, implementing, and monitoring the transport sector. Management by objectives is the management con- trol system in use in the Swedish government. State agen- cies receive lump sums of financial resources to be used at their discretion with claims from the state ministries of reaching certain policy goals. The policy goal stated above is in line with the normal management control sys- tem, a system that delegates responsibility to each agency to turn policies decided upon by central government into real-life experiences for citizens (Holmblad Brunsson 2002). Gender mainstreaming has been known for several years, as it was the strategy decided upon in 1995 at the united Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing. Sweden is a country that is known for its status of gender equality and government promotion of gender mainstreaming. The first, with Sweden as the locus classicus, can be styled an “integrated approach.” Gender main- streaming is employed in a global fashion, whereby responsibility for gender equality is extended to most, if not all, actors involved in public policy and is embedded across institutions in society. (Daly 2005, p. 438) The description of Sweden as the locus classicus for gender mainstreaming (Daly 2005) is based on results from international surveys held at a macro level, indicat- ing government actions for gender equality. To reveal more about this favorable picture, research on a micro level is required. By including the sixth transport policy subgoal quoted above, gender mainstreaming is successfully effected at the macro level. The challenge is at the micro level: to mainstream gender equality into the core business of transport agencies. Research with a gender perspective on the transport system (eriksson and Garvill 2003; Friberg et al. 2004; Polk 2001, 2004; Transek 2006) discusses the gender blind spots of transport systems, giving evidence of, for example, unequal accessibility for women and men and safety arrangements that need to be adjusted from a stan- dard male body and mind toward an inclusion of female needs. Accordingly, the transport system plays an active role in regional development that is strongly connected to labor markets, to which gender aspects are vital. The above research shows that there are several failings to gender equality within the transport sector and that the transport system is a male construction, a deficiency that a gender mainstreamed management of the transport system is supposed to change. Benschop and verloo (2007) stated that there is an abundance of propaganda about gender mainstreaming written by advocates of this strategy. The rhetoric on progress impedes serious discussions on why they call for academic analyses and reflections. Parker (2008) argued that people need to know much more about the gendered dimensions of managers’ and accountants’ involvement in strategic planning and decisions: the technicist and quantitative terms of management control “embody gendered dimensions which to date have been opaque to both research and practitioner communities” (Parker 2008, p. 627). The research question is formulated as follows: How is the political goal of a gender-equal transport system, which is congruent with gender mainstreaming on a macro level, treated within the management control sys- tems of the agencies concerned within the transport sec- tor on a micro level? MeThod A research project, designed as a case study (Yin 2006) within the frame of what van de ven and Johnson (2006) called an engaged scholarship in which “researchers and practitioners coproduce knowledge that can advance theory and practice in a given domain” (van de ven and Johnson 2006, p. 803), furnishes this paper with empiri- cal findings from the Swedish Road Administration and the Swedish National Rail Administration. The two agencies took part in a research program at the School of Business, Stockholm university, to examine the develop- ment of performance management practices in Swedish central government. The research project was longitudi- nal, conducting 70 interviews over 3 years, with observa- tions from about 30 meetings and analyses of official and unofficial archival data. It focused on how management control is shaped under the pressure of integrating gen- der (Wittbom 2009). Interviewees were civil servants: some were respon- sible for managing the gender-equal transport system, and some were accountants, business controllers, and project leaders for investments in the national road and rail transport systems. The observation stems from both internal and open meetings with regard to gender equal- ity in the transport sector: open meetings for develop- ment of the transport system and internal meetings for strategic planning of the management control system.

266 WoMeN’S ISSueS IN TRANSPoRTATIoN, voluMe 2 Transcribed interviews, notes from observations, and a close reading of steering documents and accounting reports furnish this paper with data covering the years 2002–2007 with regard to the policy goal of gender- equal transport systems. TheoreTical fraMeWork of a feMinisT approach To ManaGeMenT conTrol The empirical findings are discussed with an interpretive approach of social constructions with feministic theoriz- ing (Bacchi 1999–2008; Minnich 2005) aiming for the transformation of existing knowledge and new gender mainstreamed knowledge concerning management con- trol and accounting (Haynes 2008a). Kirkham (1992) translated Walby’s (1988) discussion of gender aware- ness in four steps into the accountancy field, which pro- vides a fruitful analytic concept for gender mainstreaming in a situated management control system—in this case, public agencies in the transport sector. The first step is gender blind, described in research without any gender analysis at all. An ultimate goal of gender equality can be formulated as conditions of power in which gender turns out to be a neutral factor. Gender awareness is important in this respect, as gender neutrality is an ambiguous con- cept. In general, many phenomena tend to be regarded as gender neutral (i.e., sex and gender do not matter). But behind apprehensions of gender neutrality, one often finds gender blindness (Collinson and Hearn 1994; Hearn 2000)—that is, a lack of gender awareness. Historically, with a growing feminist movement, questions were raised in several research fields about what kind of knowledge was missing because of gender blindness. This development constitutes the second step (Kirkham 1992) in which critical questions were asked, calling for gender awareness. The response came with the third step where considerable feminist research was conducted, mainly by women concentrating on the con- ditions of women and femininity. They found that pow- erful male norms were taken for granted. In the fourth step, one finds gender mainstreaming; gender is present in the analysis, challenging prevailing norms with discus- sions of gendered power relations. The discussions cover the experiences of women as well as of men, masculini- ties, femininities, and nonheterosexuals, thus opening up for transformative strategies (Butler 1990; Rosenberg 2002). With a gender perspective from the fourth step, the policy goal of a gender-equal transport system will be discussed confronting a mainstream—gender blind— management control research approach. The goal talks about gender-equal opportunities and gender-equal division of power and influence; the theories presented below will help one understand how the control system in use relates to gender sensitivity. Broadbent (1995, 1998) entered the fourth step of gender awareness in explaining accounting as a metaphor for reality, representing a particular set of values that result in visibilities and invisibilities. Accounting practice in europe is normatively based on the main principle of a “true and fair view” (International Accounting Standards Board, http://www.ifrs.org/Home.htm). This principle has many interpretations, and from a gender perspective it is crucial. As Broadbent (1995) pointed out, only a reduced image of phenomena is made visible in account- ing. From feminist accounting research, it is also found that management control systems are constructed to sup- port a technocratic male norm (Haynes 2008b; Hines 1992; Parker 2008; Shearer and Arrington 1993), which implies no gender sensitivity and consequently problems in implementing gender mainstreaming. The awareness of how gender is constructed within organizations is vital to disclose gender orders (Connell 2002) and prevailing gendered norms (Kanter 1977). Acker (1990, 1992) and Connell (2002) provided a model for examining gendered structures: (a) division of men and women in horizontal and vertical dimensions by mapping the presence of women and men; (b) sym- bols and discourses that construct gender; (c) interactions between women and men, women and women, men and men, how alliances and exclusions are created, enact- ing dominance and subordination; and (d) individual identity and personal thoughts of fitting into a certain context based on the three previous aspects. Altogether, these characteristics give a picture of gendered power relations, revealing the organizational logic in formal and informal dimensions. only the first four characteristics above relate directly to statistics. Mapping the presence of men and women in the organization provides the basic data to discover the possible existence of organizational glass ceilings and glass walls—that is, gendered segregation resulting in professional areas or hierarchical levels to which only one sex is welcome. To understand why such segregation occurs, organizational processes have to be illuminated with gender awareness (Connell 2002). If the agencies’ performances toward fulfilling the goal of a gender-equal transport system are to be evaluated, gendered orders and norms must be followed up by the management con- trol system. Gender equality is often handled out of a perspective of “gender as a variable,” treating women and men as separate categories (Alvesson and Billing 1997). Such division is problematic, as gender mainstreaming focuses on gendered power relations and not on men and women as separate groups (Squires 2007). The “doing gender” perspective constantly redefines gendered relations (West and Zimmerman 1987), and symbols, discourses, interac- tions, and the shaping of individual identity are all aspects of a more diffuse and discursive type that is impossible to

267GeNDeR MAINSTReAMING IN TRANSPoRTATIoN represent in figures (Martin 1994). To understand these phenomena, a more narrative approach in accounting is of interest (Bjurklo 2008; ely and Meyerson 2000), an approach that mainstream control systems prohibit (Bromiley and euske 1986; Hines 1992). Research has shown that women who enter male organizations tend to assimilate into the male norms to empower themselves. If they do not accept the male culture, they tend to be placed in powerless positions (Gherardi and Poggio 2001). Saidel and loscocco (2005) pointed out that, when it comes to priorities, the gender that is embedded in the context is more important than the gender of the decision makers. This means that the gendered context, gendered relationships, and gender on an individual basis are important to illuminate (Acker 1992; Connell 2002). This knowledge is vital when analyzing how the management control system of the studied agencies treat the goal of gender-equal transport systems. It means that it is not relevant to count the sex of the decisions makers, which is a relatively easy task for any control system. Instead, the control system shall register facts of contexts and relationships of a qualita- tive nature. From Squires’ (2005) theorizing of gender main- streaming, three main strategies can be modeled. one is the inclusion of women in the prevailing (male) norm. Such processes of assimilation and normalization come from the perspective of sameness feminism, supporting a strategy based on understanding gender differences as obstacles that are being eliminated by women adapting to an unchallenged male norm. Another strategy comes from the difference feminist perspective, appreciating femininity as a value to be pre- served. It leads to an agenda-setting model with the aim of recognizing marginalized groups. However, from a gender mainstreaming perspective, the outcome is usu- ally unsuccessful within organizations. The tendency is that the core business has an overwhelming power that places all movements for gender-equal rights and feminist thought in separate, decoupled processes. The presence of gender-equality issues is accepted, but the strategy is to never let them influence core business processes. The third strategy can be seen as a more advanced form of difference feminism and even a form of “queer theory thinking” (Butler 1990), as it challenges the prevailing norm and calls for a transformation. It requires gender awareness and open minds from all actors in order to have negotiations ending up in new norms, where gender equality is normalized within the core business process, inhibiting reconstructions of inequalities. Squires (2005, 2007) pointed out that gender mainstreaming as a strat- egy will result in such a transformation into a gender- equal norm. In this case, with the sixth subgoal of a gender-equal transport system, it means that the values, needs, and reflected experiences of both women and men will permeate every aspect of the transport system. As a consequence, a critical perspective on functioning of the management control system in relation to transforma- tion, decoupling, and assimilation is called for. To gender mainstream, gendered norms must be ques- tioned. one way to scrutinize norms is to view them as deeply rooted habits of thought, as institutions. Within sociological institutional theory, Scott (2001) concep- tualized institutions as being carried by three pillars: regulative, normative, and cultural cognitive. Rules con- stitute what is allowed by regulations, norms are how it should be done in accordance with professional values, and culture indicates how it is being done in a societal context. Rules and norms are external pressures, while culture-cognitive aspects of institutions can be seen as shared social constructions of meaning. Together the three pillars form a stable foundation for meanings that are taken for granted within institutions. Dambrin et al. (2007) pointed out that institutional change is not complete until an idea has been internal- ized in practice by members of an organization. This implies that, when institutionalization is effected, all three institutional pillars (Scott 2001) are congruent at a micro level. In the case study presented here, research is conducted to disclose whether the control system is gender sensitive and has the ability to gender mainstream the core business—that is, to determine whether gender equalities and inequalities are being evaluated through critical gender glasses within rules, norms, and culture. The government has formulated a goal, a rule to fol- low, but one question is how agencies interpret this rule within their norms and cultures. Gender-equality efforts tend to be met with resistance (Pincus 2002; Squires 2007). A common obstacle is that the normal organizational processes are seldom used (Acker 2000). The activities conducted specifically for gender equality are often separated from the core busi- ness. The resistance can be both active and passive, often ending up steering questions of gender equality away from the decisions made in relation to the core business, but still kept in practice on a legitimizing level (Meyerson and Kolb 2000; Meyer and Rowan 1977; Pincus 2002). In this case, however, the decision to formulate gender equality as a transport policy subgoal is to integrate gen- der through the normal tool of government management control systems. Consequently, this appears to be an opportunity to study the integration of gender equality in a favorable environment. ManaGeMenT conTrol for a Gender-eQual TransporT sysTeM The Swedish government and its ministries issue annual appropriation directives to the agencies, setting the goals

268 WoMeN’S ISSueS IN TRANSPoRTATIoN, voluMe 2 to be attained within a financial budget. The directives also give instructions on how agencies should report their performance (Holmblad Brunsson 2002). The goal of a gender-equal transport system (as quoted above) should be reported: An analysis of women’s and men’s utilization of the transport system shall be reported, including their possibilities to influence on the development and management of the transport system with respect to i.e. travel patterns, time spent on travels, transportation modes and travel costs, accessibil- ity to accurate travel information, number of killed and seriously injured persons and increased mobil- ity between local labor markets divided between women and men. The instructions quoted above are mainly qualitative, with a narrative approach (Bjurklo 2008). The agencies shall give their story of a gender-equal transport system and of how their work is progressing. The second part of the sixth subgoal (“The goal is equal division of power and influence between women and men in the transpor- tation sector”) shall be accounted for by indicating the representation of women and men in external groups taking decisions about the trans- port system. The government, in response to the notion of gen- dered power relations, chose to call for quantitative terms, using the problematic “gender as a variable” con- cept (Alvesson and Billing 1997). From a gender perspec- tive, this is disputable, as a qualitative approach is more valid than a quantitative approach (Acker 1990; Connell 2002; Squires 2007). The director generals make agreements for annual performances with each regional manager in the agen- cies. These agreements are concise, dominated by region- ally adapted balanced scorecards (Kaplan and Norton 1996), specifying measures and targets emanating from the visions, missions, and strategic goals that are based on the government transport policy goals. The balanced scorecard model was adopted by the agencies to find systematic ways to make their visions and strategies con- crete and measurable with the purpose of concentrating on performance. This is stated in internal documents, and several interviewees responded with a firm convic- tion of the need for a technical, systematic approach to management control. “The railway is a natural part of the transportation of people and goods” and “we make the good travel possible” are the visions formulated by management. Together with the mission “to provide individuals and the business community with good conditions for trans- port and travel,” these formulations visualize an ongoing reorientation in the agencies. They try to progress from being production oriented to customer oriented, which requires a quest for lateral management processes, giving priority to customer satisfaction instead of vertical, hier- archical processes of management (Modell and Wiesel 2009; Wiesel 2008). Four or five perspectives are included in the studied balanced scorecards. one focuses on the performance of meeting with the requirements of the principal—the government. Another covers customer needs. A third perspective concentrates on creating effective internal work methods. Although money is considered to be a mere means necessary for reaching political goals in pub- lic administration, one scorecard includes financial goals in this internal perspective. In that case, a special staff perspective is added, stating a strategy of creating com- mitment and securing competence. The last perspective covers development of the core business. In each perspective, strategic goals are formulated followed by success factors, performance measures, and targets leading to activity plans (Figure 1). All performance targets are designed strictly from the so-called SMART criteria—making them specific, mea- surable, accepted, realistic, and time set. Interviewees confirm that the measurable and realistic dimensions are unconditional. Measurability implies a translation into quantitative digits and realistic signifies that the target must be reachable during the measured period. only critical success factors that can be transformed into mea- surable performance indicators are allowed on the score- card model. If a success factor is strategically important but not measurable, it is not included on the scorecard. In the first years, scorecards include targets of even representation of women and men in various decisions groups. Action plans call for a counting of male and female bodies in this respect. A change in logic can later be traced. A target of how many persons on the staff have attended education on gender issues is intro- duced, together with targets on a number of activities aimed at the goal of a gender-equal transport system. The production of a handbook on how project lead- ers can work with a gender-equal transport system is also presented as a scorecard target. Throughout the research period, targets related to the sixth policy sub- goal of a gender-equal transport system are entered into the principal, internal, and development perspec- tives. This development can be interpreted as positive from a political gender mainstreaming perspective. The customer perspective is never used for the purpose of promoting gender equality; this is noteworthy, as there is an ongoing reorientation within the agencies from a production- and output-oriented control to a more customer-oriented business and outcome-focused performance control. But the top management of the

269GeNDeR MAINSTReAMING IN TRANSPoRTATIoN agencies did not have the capacity to integrate the goal of a gender-equal transport system in developing man- agement control of customer orientation. Such devel- opment points at a marginalization and decoupling of gender issues in transportation (Squires 2005, 2007). From a gender perspective, the SMART criteria con- stitute major problems as they reduce the performance to having done something that can be labeled promotion of gender equality but do not include any qualitative evalu- ation. New insights make no difference in constructing transport systems and might just as well be left outside the core business. Gender mainstreaming can be mar- ginalized instead of engaged in a transformative process (Squires 2007). There were several signs of marginalization of gen- der aspects. The following quote from an interview is characteristic: Interviewer: You said that the planning had been gender neutral. What do you mean by that? − Yes, but we didn’t wish to divide people into women and men. We plan for what is good for people. overall, it’s not until now that such a dis- cussion is starting, about possible differences in needs and experiences of security [in the transport system] between women and men. Maybe we have to look into that. (Informant vv8b, Swedish Road Administration) The above quote shows that gender neutrality is understood by the respondent in a gender-blind way, dis- closing a point of view that there are no gender aspects worth relating to (Collinson and Hearn 1996; Hearn 2000). Another example of lack of commitment to gen- der equality within the core business is the minimal resources—time and money—spent on managing the gender-equal transport system goal. The human resources staff, who had experience with gender-equality policies in general, were not included in the work. In one agency, the first manager made responsible for the gender-equal transport system did not have a budget. Some civil ser- vants had the responsibility to do something about this goal, but they met with resistance: It’s hard to get on speaking terms, difficult to get through. To whom should you talk, whom should you approach with your ideas? Things are not easy. (Informant vv10a, Swedish Road Administration) In another agency, staff quickly managed to conduct seminars to implement knowledge of a gender-equal transport system involving all project leaders in every region throughout the country. However, the resources to follow up on integration of gender aspects in the plan- ning and executing processes were missing. Case study results from interviews and observations indicate that the technical norms in the agencies created Perspective Strategic goals Critical success factors Performance measures Performance targets Activity plans Principal Customers Transport policy goals Vision Mission Internal Development FIGURE 1 Balanced scorecard model related to this case study.

270 WoMeN’S ISSueS IN TRANSPoRTATIoN, voluMe 2 a strong gendered order that opens career paths only for those employees who assimilate into the prevailing tech- nocratic culture. one example comes from the process of formulating a management tool for customer orientation. In the meetings, female and male civil servants worked together on equal terms. The discussions were vivid and good tempered; everyone listened to one another and reflected on different aspects. But some topics were not welcome. During discussions on how to classify differ- ent groups of customers and customers’ needs, a woman tried to bring up the question of gender connected to the goal of a gender-equal transport system. But her col- leagues (both male and female) counteracted with deep sighs and silence. Gender and gender equality was not an approved topic. The final documents became gender blind. This example gives evidence to the interpretation that gender equality is not institutionalized on a micro level (Dambrin et al. 2007). It can also be interpreted that the glass ceiling is present—not for female bodies but for feminine experiences. In the first year’s reporting back to the ministry on achievements made on a gender-equal transport sys- tem, a wish to augment the share of women in decision making was presented. In the following years, agencies reported statistics of even distribution of women and men in different ways. out of the total number of meetings with four or more participants, 72 per cent have a representa- tion of not less than two persons of any sex. out of these meetings, 24 per cent have a representation level of at least 40 per cent of either sex. Taken together, these assessments indicate that the goal is partly attained. [Swedish Road Administra- tion, Annual Report 2004, p. 29 (author’s transla- tion from Swedish)] It may not be easy for the reader to understand that the above calculations result in a value of 17%. In gender- equality terms, an even distribution between women and men is attained in reaching at least 40% of representation— that is, when no gender is represented by more than 60% or less than 40%. When a goal is considered to be partly attained by having reached even participation at 17% of all meetings, the expectation seems to be devalued because a complete goal fulfillment can be defined only at somewhere around 100%. The next year statistics are presented indicates that of 200 meetings where women and men were counted, female representation was 30%. A footnote explains that the target was set at 27% (Swedish Road Admin- istration 2005, p. 31). The goal attainment was related to the agency’s scorecard target of 27%, which does not correspond to the general notion of gender-equal distri- bution of representation asking for at least 40%. The same procedure continues the next year. The gender- equal transport system is discussed separately and goal fulfillment is stated for 32% female representation (the target for the year) in the meetings that were registered during the year. A discussion of the difficulties in measuring goal attainment emerged in the agencies. Management began to appreciate that there was not enough infor- mation or knowledge to give a stable base for evalu- ating goal attainment with regard to gender equality. Reference was made to government policy goals of gender equality in which power relations are the main focus—relations that cannot be measured quan- titatively. In this respect, it is worth mentioning that agencies produce two kinds of official annual reports: an annual report on the agency’s own performance monitored by accounting rules and annual reports that cover the entire road and rail sectors. The sector reports are optional and there are no specific rules to follow. The Swedish Road Administration quit giving indications on goal attainment on the gender-equal transport system in the sector report once they discov- ered a lack of evidence but kept them in the annual report in accordance with the SMART criteria. The Swedish Rail Administration did not report on goal attainment in the sector reports. In the annual reports, they always report that they have made some progress but never reached the goal. As one interviewee put it: We cannot say that the goal is fulfilled and certainly not indicating failure, since that would give the impression that we are not even trying to achieve a gender equal transport system. That’s why we indicate “partly attained” every year. (Informant Bv20, Swedish Rail Administration) The quote can be interpreted as a form of legitimiza- tion (Meyer and Rowan 1977) that the agency is eager to report something to satisfy the ministry. In the first meeting with a manager who was responsi- ble for the goal of a gender-equal transport system within the Swedish Road Administration, he stated: “Give me three useful metric indicators of a gender equal transport system!” This turned out to be an obvious request coming from an administration permeated by technocratic think- ing relying only on the measurable (Kallinikos 1996). Another manager, responsible for management con- trol systems in the same agency, stated during a presen- tation of this research project: “We must keep this goal away from the staff working with human resources in the personnel department, if not it will be labeled as sissy.” He explained that the transport system requires a techni- cal and not a humanitarian skill set. This is another state- ment disclosing the agency’s technocratic culture.

271GeNDeR MAINSTReAMING IN TRANSPoRTATIoN A qualitative investigation of what is occurring in the planning process for the transport system is lack- ing, precluding the evaluation of gender equality. How is the agenda set? What kinds of questions are welcome? Who has the power to decide the relevance and validity of different aspects? How is that power used? These are the types of questions that need to be reflected upon, giving a fair view of the state of gender equality. The agencies’ project leaders were satisfied by the mere counting of attendant women and men. The answers from the interviewees to the author’s questions of how they use these metric results or what they do about the more or less even representation at the meet- ings indicated that they were only following orders to do the counting. Any actions, or consequent reactions, promoting gender equality were not on their agenda. This means that they did not deal with questions about whether the agenda let female voices be heard to the same extent as those of men and whether the agenda covered topics that are of equal interest to both sexes. Ignorance of whether the needs experienced by women are taken care of to the same extent as those of men was noted. Such questions on gender were not important to the normal civil servant—woman or man. In expert-driven activities, such as planning transport systems, attention needs to be paid to the modus ope- randi, whether the project leaders are open to a lateral process together with civil society or remain in top-down planning for civil society (larsson 2006). The results from the case study indicate that a vertical process with civil servants on top is valid. lateral customer-oriented processes remain in the early planning stage at some civil servants’ desks. More problematic, research results sig- nify that decision makers, regardless of their sex, are not aware of the potentially different viewpoints of men and women. This is in line with the explanations of Saidel and loscocco (2005) of how the current gendered order determines the actions of the present actors. concludinG reMarks The percentages of men and women in agencies’ accounts say little about the distribution of power. It can be of interest to follow the development of sex dis- tribution quotas over time to disclose gendered forums, glass ceilings, and glass walls. However, the statistics do not reveal which type of integration (assimilation, decoupling, or transformation) is in process and to what extent women—as well as men with feminine values— are allowed (and allow themselves) to contribute with their experience to a transformation of the core business to gender-equal normality. An equal representation of women and men can function as a means of reaching gender equality (Squires 2007), but counting the bodies of women and men is far from enough for giving a true and fair view of gender equality. The functioning of management control systems depends on the opinion on stated goals. For those who do not have faith in gender equality, a search for effec- tive means is not meaningful and an instrumental han- dling of the management control model becomes the main objective. Such a priority is not a problem if the management control system is a gender-neutral model; however, that is not the case. The model clings to the rationalistic idea of facts of reality as represented by fig- ures (Hines 1988). In addition, research shows that gen- dered institutions or the gendered nature of an agenda is important for the priorities and decisions being made that is independent of whether the persons in charge are women or men (Dwyer and Roberts 2004; Saidel and loscocco 2005). The transport system is still considered to be a man’s world and thus is gender biased and not gender neutral. Measurability is deeply rooted, and all three institu- tional pillars (regulative, normative, and cultural cogni- tive) embody this at the micro level. Both government and agencies have clear instructions for using SMART criteria, which also are supported by the professional norms of engineers and business administrators, creating a culture in which figures constitute facts and trustwor- thiness. In this case, the criteria turn out not to be smart but misleading. A critical discussion of gender neutrality is needed when analyzing different logics for effectiveness and efficiency. on the one hand, if goal attainment is prioritized, effec- tiveness and relevant outcomes are in focus (Figure 2), thus including qualitative dimensions of gendered power relations. on the other hand, if efficiency is of greater interest, measurable output will be seen as relevant, giving misleading sex distribution quotas and numbers of activi- ties a status of achievements (Figure 2). In the mainstream management control system, the question of gender-equal transport systems is on the agenda. However, as the goal is processed through the balanced scorecards within the technocratic norm, gender equality is reduced to figures, thereby becoming imperfect and marginalized as it is stripped of all qualitative characteristics. Norms based on professional engineering had cre- ated a culture in which only the measureable is valid. The previous section of this paper shows that the man- agement control system in use reinforced the quest for measurability. In accordance with the rules, the goal of gender-equal transport systems was translated into mea- sureable targets. The quotas for the presence of women are used as a proof of degree of equality. This means that the vision of gender equality could easily be satis- fied by adding a few women but without asking whether something in the ongoing core business needs revision and transformation.

272 WoMeN’S ISSueS IN TRANSPoRTATIoN, voluMe 2 It can be questioned how the outcome can be visual- ized with the logics of mainstream management control, a logic that calls for specific and measurable targets in search of perfection. Bromiley and euske (1986) dis- cussed this logic by stating that “It is better to work towards a vague imperfect objective than towards a precise imperfect objective” (p. 318). This statement is based on studied management experiences of huge dif- ficulties in finding precise characteristics to measure and that actually are relevant to measure. In the case of the sixth subgoal of a gender-equal transport system, the objective is considered to be both vague and imperfect when viewed from a technocratic norm. viewed with a gender perspective, the policy goal is both precise and perfect; it formulates the idea of a process for making a gender-equal transport system. Nobody knows what a gender-equal transport system looks like. The goal is the process, not the outcome. As long as the process is performed with gender awareness, it is not relevant to foresee a specific outcome. In practice, the agencies have gone beyond the man- agement by objective model by implementing resource control and action control. As presented in the preced- ing section, managers have concentrated on education to bring in more knowledge about gender, and they have worked on methods described in handbooks for the proj- ect leaders to be used in the planning process. Walby (2005) raised the question of whether gender mainstreaming as a strategy of reaching gender equality and gender equality as a vision can be separated from each other, or if the vision and the strategy can be seen as two dimensions of the same process. This is relevant when analyzing the efforts being made in the transport agencies. So far, management has not had success defin- ing a gender-equal transport system; there is no vision of what it looks like. It is difficult to know whether the goal has been reached, as it is invisible, which makes manage- ment by objectives difficult (Figure 2). This paper treated the transport policy goal as a given success for gender mainstreaming. However, although often used as arguments in promoting gender equality, gender mainstreaming is not a question of seeing women or femininity as extra resources or of women adding values to the male norm (Squires 2007). The only sus- tainable argument is equity and fairness that questions the male norm and transforms it into a norm of gender equality (Young 2000). Transformation would mean changing from a technocratic management control sys- tem to management by a gender mainstreamed action control of core business processes, promoting a qualita- tive gender perspective on the transport system instead of a quantitative perspective on women and men. The agencies seem to have problems finding a way that fits both the sixth transport policy goal and the requirements from the internal management control sys- tem. But their priorities are clear. They hold tight to the control system and only vague implications of behavior transformations stemming from gender mainstreaming can be traced. on the contrary, the management control system has proved to have an impact on hampering gen- der equality. Normatively, a conclusion can be formulated that to improve the visibility of gender equality the control sys- tem needs to be gender mainstreamed and transformed to enable accounts beyond measurement. However, there are no signs of norms or culture that support such a qualitative paradigm. As long as education in gender equality does not bring about internalized (Dambrin et al. 2007) gender awareness, and as long as gender aware- ness is not combined with action, the break of the male norm to open up for a gender-equal norm cannot take place (Figure 3). Figure 3 is inspired by the four steps discussed ear- lier with reference to Walby (1988) and Kirkham (1992) here placed in the perspective of management control for a gender-equal transport system. Gender blindness characterizes the technocratic passion for measurability, a situation that is questioned by the emerging gender awareness. Many of the actions made are marginalized and kept decoupled from the core business, mainly based on the presumption that gender equality is an entirely female affair. A breakthrough that would internalize a gender-equal norm into the core business of the trans- port agencies is still premature. Gender equality(?)Knowledge of gender Handbook on planning with gender perspective processinput output outcome Resource control Action control Management by objectives Quantities of women and men and number of activities FIGURE 2 Management control for gender equality.

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