This handbook will be relevant for every organisation and for all work contexts, bothin the public and private sector. However, the content has been tailored to the contextof the EU institutions and agencies (1).

The focus of this handbook is to help organisations understand the nature of sexismin work contexts and to provide leadership, management and staff with the tools totackle it. The focus is on informal mechanisms to foster cultural change.The handbook also touches on ways to deal with sexual harassment, which is illegal,constitutes discrimination and is a form of violence. EU-wide legal obligations necessitateformal responses to such behaviour. While informal mechanisms can accompanyformal responses to sexual harassment, they cannot replace them.

The focus is on policies which cover all staff employed directly by the EU (such as the Staff Regulations of Officials and Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union), highlighting specific good practices and pinpointing gaps. This handbook cannot present all internal policies and informal measures within all EU institutions and agencies.