The duty of authorities to promote equality not properly realised when constructing sports facilities (TAS 108/2021, issued on 20 January 2022)

The Ombudsman for Equality was requested to investigate whether the City of Espoo has treated riding as a hobby and riding clubs with the majority of members being female in an unequal manner when deciding on construction of sports facilities. The Ombudsman requested the City of Espoo, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland and the Equestrian Federation of Finland to provide clarification on the matter.

Assessment of the matter

In his statement, the Ombudsman for Equality stated that the City of Espoo has not acted in violation of the prohibition of discrimination under the Act on Equality between Men and Women, even though the city has not implemented construction of sports facilities supporting riding activities over the past five years. In municipal construction of sports facilities, the City of Espoo has used discretion provided to it by the Act on the Promotion of Sports and Physical Activity. The Ombudsman for Equality nevertheless estimated that the kind of investments riding as a hobby requires are quite ill-suited to the existing state aid schemes. 

In his statement on the use of private sports facilities back in September 2006 (Rec. no. 5/51/04, 13 September 2006), the Ombudsman for Equality notes that "it is probably worth considering whether the public aid policy has, in practice, driven women to a situation in which they need to set up sports facilities using private funding to be able to practice the sport they wish."
The policy document on construction of sports facilities, adopted in 2014, states that funding for construction of sports facilities should be used to steer actors involved in physical activity in a direction promoting equality by emphasising "circumstances for sports favoured by girls and women, such as riding, ringette, figure skating and gymnastics in aid policy". 

Based on the clarifications received, it is difficult to come to the conclusion that over the past five years particular efforts would have been made to steer state aid to construction of sports facilities to riding as a hobby favoured by girls and women as specified in the policy document on construction of sports facilities. The Ombudsman for Equality considers the principle specified in the legislative materials for the Act on the Promotion of Sports and Physical Activity (HE 190/2014 vp, s. 22) commendable: "granting state aid also for sports facilities intended for the needs of other than large user groups would contribute to enhancing equality between women and men".  In his statement, the Ombudsman for Equality reminded authorities of the fact that it does not suffice that an authority acts in a non-discriminatory manner. The authority must also promote gender equality in all its activities. The promotion of gender equality as part of normal preparation of affairs and decision-making by authorities is a statutory procedure. 

The provision on the duty of authorities to promote gender equality lays foundations for mainstreaming the gender perspective, according to which the gender perspective is included in the preparation of affairs and decision-making. Mainstreaming refers to such modes of administration and operation that support the promotion of gender equality in accordance with the Act on Equality between Women and Men as part of government activities, preparation and administration. One method used for mainstreaming is the assessment of gender impact. 

The assessment of gender impact in, for example, municipal construction of sports facilities means that the impacts of projects under preparation on all genders are assessed in advance, so that the implementation of the project will not generate discriminating gender impacts and that, when implemented, it promotes gender equality. A well-conducted assessment of gender impact provides decision-makers with sufficient amount of information on different solution options and their consequences. The objective is high-standard preparation, decision-making and implementation. 

The assessment of gender impact in municipal construction of sports facilities is an administrative means for implementing the duty of authorities to promote gender equality laid down in section 4 of the Act of Equality between Women and Men. 

The Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland stated in its clarification that it does not conduct a separate assessment of gender impact when preparing construction of sports facilities. The other clarifications received also showed that assessment of gender impact had not been conducted at all or not as a systematic procedure. 

The Ombudsman for Equality reminded the City of Espoo, the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland and the Ministry of Education and Culture about the duty of authorities, in all their activities, to promote equality between women and men purposefully and systematically, and wished that, in the future, this duty would be observed in a clearer manner when applying for and granting state aid for construction of sports facilities.

16.02.2022