Purpose – This paper aims to discuss the gendered dimensions of management control. Gender mainstreaming is a worldwide strategy for gender equality. The question raised in this paper is how a management control system functions under the pressure of mainstreaming gender into a core business. Design/methodology/approach – The evidence stems from a case study at two Swedish Governmental public transport administrations. Interviews, observations of meetings and close reading of documents furnish this paper with data over a five-year period regarding the management control of the policy goal of a gender-equal transport system. The practice of management control for gender mainstreaming is studied by adopting sociological institutional theory and a gender perspective. Findings – The management control system proves to hamper gender equality. In a technocratic core business, the control system fails to support gender mainstreaming. In this paper, the control of a gender-equal transport system results in a quantitative perspective on women and men instead of a qualitative gender perspective on the transport system. Practical implications – This paper has practical implications both for accountants being involved in management control for gender mainstreaming and for all persons involved in promoting gender mainstreaming. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the scarce literature from research with a gender perspective on management control systems. Being exposed to gender mainstreaming, the gender perspective discloses dysfunctional dimensions within the management control system.
Gender mainstreaming has been hampered by the governance guides of New Public Management (NPM). Public Value Management is an alternative approach that can be interpreted as a concept for management accounting that meets the challenges that NPM was never able to handle. This paper discusses the case of gender mainstreaming in the Swedish transport sector. IMPACTThe authors suggest that the governance of public value will contribute to highlighting important qualitative aspects necessary for the successful implementation of gender mainstreaming. The success of work with the strategy of gender equality is dependent on which management accounting system that is in use. A good example is to use gender-awareness as an input and to go beyond short-term assessment of output into long-term valuation of outcomes. To avoid ending up with irrelevant output measures, gender-aware planning and assessment of qualitative processes and outcomes is required.
This article discusses the management control of gender mainstreaming within the policy field of infrastructure and transportation. The strategy of gender mainstreaming has been practiced within the Swedish government for over two decades. It was implemented in the era of New Public Management when quantitative performance measures were much more valid than qualitatively assessed aspects on the effects of the performance. Consequently, the status of gendered power relations was only disclosed by the counting of women and men which hampered the intended results of gender mainstreaming. Time has passed and the Swedish government is now scrutinizing the unintended effects of New Public Management. At the same time, the Swedish Transport Administration has ordered a shift from identification with the building of infrastructure to the broader role as a societal developer. This development has brought about new questions concerning the outcomes of the undertakings. Public Value Management is an alternative which can be interpreted as a concept for management control meeting the challenges that New Public Management never could handle. Three strategic questions are in focus: (i) Is it valuable for the public? (ii) Is it legitimate and politically supported? (iii) Do we have the operational capacity? Effectiveness in Public Value Management concerns the capability of the administration to do the right things in order to reach the policy goals. There is no consensus regarding the definition of Public Value. Such an ambiguity can turn out to be a strength, since there are no ready-made facts to take for granted. Hence the administration needs to listen to and discuss together with various actors before decisions are taken regarding societal changes. If gender awareness is included in the management processes the results can
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