Gender Report Conf Oct01 (1)

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UNIFEM-OECD-Nordic Council of Ministers-Belgium Government HighLevel Conference

‘STRENGTHENING ECONOMIC AND FINANCIALGOVERNANCE THROUGH GENDER RESPONSIVE

BUDGETING’

Egmont Palace, Brussels

16-17 October 2001

CONFERENCE REPORT


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PREFACE

This report highlights the outcomes of the High-Level International Conference ‘Strengthening economic and financial governance through gender responsivebudgeting’. This conference, which took place in the Egmont Palace in Brussels on the16th and 17th of October, was organised by the Government of Belgium, the UnitedNations Development Fund for Women, the Organisation for Economic Cooperationand Development (OECD) and the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The conference brought together ministers, experts, parliamentarians, civil societyactors and high-level policy makers from international institutions and ministries ofbudget, finance, employment, industry, gender, social affairs, transport, developmentco-operation and agriculture from over 43 countries in the world.

Different key-note speakers pointed out that gender-responsive budgeting is especially

relevant in the context of the increasing importance that is attributed to theintertwined objectives of efficiency, equality and accountability. There is mountingevidence that closing the present gap of persistent gender inequalities would produce asubstantial development dividend.

Gender inequality is to a large extent determined at the household level, which doeshowever not operate as an isolated unity. Both parental preferences and decision-making processes are largely influenced by environmental factors that are influenced

and shaped by a government’s own priorities and budgetary allocations. Thecomposition and level of governmental expenditures and revenues and the way inwhich expenditures are allocated and revenues are raised are clearly not producinggender-neutral effects. Gender budget analysis contributes in highlighting themagnitude and direction of these effects and in suggesting corrective measures.

Diverse experts strongly pointed out that gender responsive budgeting is not onlyabout the content of budgets but also about underlying budgetary processes. Here,

advocates clearly find synergies with the discourse of good governance, whichpromotes budgetary processes that are transparent, participatory, results-oriented andmedium-term. Within the present context of increasing legitimacy gaps betweengovernments and citizens, gender-sensitive budget analysis may also help mobilise theparticipation and ownership of citizens, both men and women. The expanding practiceof gender budgeting shows that it offers an instrument for accountability of


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past experiences and to build a common understanding about approaches, concepts,tools and instruments.

Different experts and practitioners contributed to assessing lessons learned,documenting good practices, highlighting potential errors and weaknesses and distillingfeatures that have proved critical to success. Lessons learned focused both on in-country practices and on the development of the methodology in terms of overallconceptual models, frameworks and tools. We may hope that cross-fertilisation ofdifferent actors’ experiences and perceptions will help improving future work in thefield of gender-responsive budgeting.

The conference further realised to mobilise the interest of a larger group ofgovernments to support the incorporation of gender analysis within their own budgetprocesses. About 30 representatives of national governments and internationalorganisations highlighted in their statements the achievements realised in the past andcommented on their future plans. With support of the Government of Belgium, theOECD, the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Commonwealth Secretariat and UNIFEM aconference communiqué was elaborated and discussed with all countryrepresentatives. It proposes a global vision for gender-budget initiatives fashioned toenlist reiteration of commitments made by most United Nations Member States toundertake gender sensitive budget analysis1, and to add a deadline date: 2015. Thisconference communiqué will also be a key input to the preparations for the upcomingMarch 2002 Financing for Development Conference in Mexico.

Finally, different speakers highlighted and recognised the innovating work of theUnited Nations Development Fund for Women and its partners of the CommonwealthSecretariat and the International Development Research Centre in the field of gender-responsive budgeting. Our challenge for the future is to respond to the increasingdemands for supporting new initiatives throughout the world. It is thus hoped that theconference helped in convincing OECD and Nordic Member countries to financiallysupport the gender-responsive budgeting initiative housed within UNIFEM so thatcountries that need help with budget initiatives can turn to UNIFEM and its partners.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. CONFERENCE COMMUNIQUE........................................................................ 4

II. OPENING SESSION SPEECHES (day 1) .......................................................... 6

Eddy Boutmans, State Secretary for Development Co-operation, Belgium... 6

Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director, UNIFEM............................................ 9 Tony Hutton, Director of Public Management Directorate, OECD...............12 Sigurdur Helgason, Deputy Secretary General, Nordic Council of Ministers.15

III. SESSION 1: THE CONTEXT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES.................................17

IV. SESSION 2: TOOLS AND APPROACHES.........................................................24

V. SESSION 3: LESSONS LEARNED IN PRACTICE ..............................................32

VI. OPENING SESSION SPEECHES (day 2) .........................................................49

Laurette Onkelinx, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Employment andEqual Opportunities ...............................................................................49

Eddy Boutmans, State Secretary for Development Co-operation, Belgium..53

Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director, UNIFEM...........................................57 Sigurdur Helgason, Deputy Secretary General, Nordic Council of Ministers.59 Winston Cox, Deputy Secretary General, Commonwealth Secretariat.........62

VII. INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE AND CALLS TO ACTION.....................................67

APPENDIX

A. AGENDA AND SPEAKERS...................................................................................75B. SHORT BIOS OF SPEAKERS AND CHAIRS...........................................................78C. OVERVIEW OF COUNTRY STATEMENTS.............................................................89D. LIST OF CONFERENCE PAPERS..........................................................................91E. LIST OF PARTICIPANTS ....................................................................................92


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I. CONFERENCE COMMUNIQUE

1. As support to strengthening economic and financial governance through genderresponsive budgeting, the Government of Belgium hosted a High Level conference inBrussels on16-17 October 2001 - sponsored by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment (OECD) and supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers, theGovernment of Italy, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), theCommonwealth Secretariat, and the International Development Research Centre-

Canada (IDRC).

2. The conference brought together ministries of budget, finance, employment, industry,gender, social affairs, transport, development cooperation, and agriculture fromgovernments worldwide, as well as experts and international institutions. The goal is tomobilize political and financial support to strengthen the capacity of governments aswell as civil society organizations to carry out these initiatives and to support the globalvision of gender responsive budget initiatives in all countries by 2015.2

3. Gender responsive budget initiatives are an important tool for strengthening economicand financial governance and for promoting accountability and equality. Nationalbudgets reflect how governments mobilize and allocate public resources, and how theyaim to meet the social and economic needs of their people. Gender responsivebudgeting analyses the impact of government policies on men and boys as comparedwith women and girls within and across any given socio-economic category. Genderanalysis is an important part of accountable and responsive budget procedures. Fiscal,financial and economic policies help reduce poverty and redress inequalities in the

distribution of resources.

4. Governments world wide made a commitment, in the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action (1995), to “incorporate a gender perspective into the design, development, adoptionand execution of all budgetary processes as appropriate in order to promote equitable,effective and appropriate resource allocation and establish adequate budgetaryallocations to support gender equality and development programmes that enhancewomen’s empowerment.”

2 he gender budgeting and good economic governance:

The Nordic Council of Ministers decision to apply gender mainstreaming to areas traditionally considered ‘genderneutral’ such as economic and finance policy, both in Member states and in their development co-operationactivities (see Nordic Co-operation Programme on Gender Equality 2001-2005)The 22nd Annual Meeting of the Senior Budget Officials of the OECD in Paris (2001) noted that new analytical tools

T support for has been found internationally through thefollowing initiatives•

;•


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5. Gender responsive budget initiatives can make an important contribution to the growingpractice of civic consultation and participation in the preparation of budgets and in the

monitoring of their outcomes and impact, at local, regional and national levels. Inparticular, they can ensure that women and girls are not marginalised from suchprocesses. This strengthens economic and financial governance by promotingtransparency.

6. Mounting evidence shows that gender inequality leads to major losses in socialcohesion, economic efficiency and human development. Budgetary policy canincrease, reduce, or leave unchanged the losses to society from gender inequalitythrough changes in expenditure and revenue, primarily through adjustments in fiscal

policy. Thus gender responsive budget policies can contribute to achieving theobjectives of gender equality, human development and economic efficiency.

7. Gender responsive budgeting can enable governments, that are parties to theConvention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, to better fulfil theirobligations therein. It is a means to reduce discrimination, direct or indirect, againstwomen in policies governing taxation and expenditure. It is also a means to ensure thatthe requisite resources are taken into account and made available to implementlegislation that advances gender equality and the fulfilment of the human rights ofwomen.

The conference therefore urges governments, international and intergovernmentalorganizations, multilateral institutions and non-governmental organizations to:

I. Encourage the examination of budget processes and objectives to ensure thatwomen’s and men’s needs and priorities are considered equally;

II. Encourage women to participate in this examination, including as electedrepresentatives and members of women's organizations; and involve theresearch community, development banks and civil society;

III. Encourage the incorporation of gender analysis in the preparation,implementation, audit and evaluation of government budgets at all levels; andshow commitment to transparency and accountability by encouraging theapplication of gender analysis in government budget reports, including bysetting out and reporting on the impact of past budgets and the expectedimpact of the proposed budget on gender equality objectives;

IV. Recognize the use of gender responsive budget initiatives as a tool to enhancethe way civil society preferences and needs are incorporated into the budget,to improve transparency and equality, reduce poverty and achieve goodeconomic and financial governance;

V. Encourage and support gender responsive budget initiatives worldwide andcall on the Nordic Council of Ministers, the OECD, and UNIFEM in cooperation

ith th C lth S t i t d th I t ti l D l t


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II. OPENING SESSION SPEECHES

Eddy Boutmans , State Secretary of Development Co-operation, Belgium

It is a privilege for me to welcome you all to this international conference on genderresponsive budgeting. In particular, I would like to welcome the co-organisers of thisconference: Ms. Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the Nations Fund forDevelopment of Women (UNIFEM), Mr. Tony Hutton, Director of the Public

Management Service Directorate of the OECD, Mr. Sigurdur Helgason of the NordicCouncil of Ministers. Despite our various backgrounds and diverse settings from wherewe operate, we managed to organise this conference jointly.

I’m honoured that Belgium was chosen as the meeting place for experts andpractitioners from around the world. I’m sure that this was not a coincidence butrather the deliberate outcome of various influencing factors. First and for all, Belgiumcurrently takes the presidency of the European Union and has included gender as one

of the issues on the agenda. The European Union and the European Commission inparticular are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of an active genderpolicy in its own member states and in its development policy. It is not by accident thatthe Gender Equality Unit of the European Commission is organising a brainstormingsession about the integration of gender issues in public finance, labour markets,financial and capital markets this very week.

Coming back to my own department, this conference is certainly not to be considered

as an isolated event. It is in fact completely in line with the chosen policy of theBelgian Development Co-operation, which places gender at the top of its priorities.Evidence of the latter is the fact that Belgium, as the first together with Italy, has in2000 taken the decision to support the Gender Budget Initiative programme of UNIFEMand its partners of IDRC and the Commonwealth Secretariat. We have done this for aperiod of five years and through a financial contribution of 1.98 million euro(approximately 2.3 million $). We did opt for this very programme because wecompletely subscribe the two-edged approach it takes: global thinking and local

practical practice going hand in hand. UNIFEM and its partners produce global publicgoods through the development of conceptual frameworks and tools and they aresupporting those local political entrepreneurs who want to apply gender responsivebudgeting in their own countries.

Careful budget impact analysis along gender lines and reprioritisation of budgets from


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The persisting presence of inequalities is the result of biased allocative decisions takenwithin several institutions such as the household, the market and the State. These

institutions do not operate in isolation from each other but interact in a rather complexway. When studying allocation and how one might intervene to alter this allocation, itis important not to forget the importance of the various intermediating institutions.

Decisions about allocation are first and for all taken at the household level. Evidencefrom diverse settings shows that parents do invest more in education and health careof sons than of daughters. Parents however do not take decisions as an isolated unity(and often not even as an unity because preferences of mothers and fathers do not

necessarily coincide) but they are strongly influenced by extra-householdenvironmental factors. These are factors, which might be, at least partly, influenced bygovernmental policy and by budgetary allocations. Government itself, however, mostof the time, does not weaken but rather reinforces the already existing biasedallocation at the household level. This is e.g. the case if more public spending goes tofacilities, services that are primarily used by men and boys. Large public spending fortertiary education e.g. at the expense of investments in primary and secondaryeducation will in most cases mean that a larger portion of public spending goes to boys

as it are in particular boys who are enrolled in tertiary education. By investing more infacilities primarily used by girls, most of the time these are the basic social services,and by allocating more resources to increase the supply of appropriate facilities forgirls, a government may intervene in the allocation process and may help to closedown the existing gap.

____________________________________________________________One should however not forget that there is not only a supply side but also a demandside. Even if large investments are made in appropriate schooling and health carefacilities for girls, this does not automatically mean that girls will make use of thesefacilities. It is therefore important to analyse not only the impact of budgets but also toget a clear vision of all factors underlying the gendered allocation of services. ______________________________________________________________________

Here, research on intrahousehold allocation could add some valuable insights to theresults from budget impact analysis. Research from various regions e.g. does showthat mothers and fathers do not necessarily have the same preferences and thatdeliberate targeting of public spending to mothers does seem to have beneficial effectson the portion of resources that are allocated to daughters.


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______________________________________________________________________We should not only and not primarily strive for gender equality in outcomes because of

its potentially beneficiary effects on the overall economic growth and development.Gender equality might indeed be instrumental in terms of reaching other objectives asefficiency but it is first and for all a well-justified final objective in itself.

Thirdly, what I further find interesting in the initiative about Gender ResponsiveBudgeting is that its implications and recommendations are not limited towards thecontent of budgets. It is also talking about underlying budgetary processes and here

advocates of gender responsive budgeting are not standing alone. The same demandsand recommendations for more participatory, results-oriented, accountability-enhancing processes are also made by advocates of pro-poor and environmental-sensitive accounting and budgeting.

This very event itself is important for two main reasons. It offers an opportunity totake stock of the conceptual work developed and the practical experience gained. As astate secretary for development co-operation I find the mix and cross-fertilization ofnorthern and southern experiences interesting. And on this topic, it is clear that thenorth may learn a lot from the south. Whereas a number of countries of the north havealready started initiatives, it seems to me that we may learn a lot from experiencestaken within and outside government in countries as diverse as South Africa, India,Ecuador (at least at the local governmental level), Peru, Tanzania, Uganda, Brazil, thePhilippines.

_____________________________________________________________________I personally also hope that experts from finance ministries and development agencieswhich are present today and tomorrow will benefit from this encounter to take backhome knowledge about tools and approaches and lessons learned from actualexperiences. This will be important in order to convince their ministries to committhemselves politically and financially to support this initiative. This commitment mightperhaps not be fully realized during this very conference but I hope that this gatheringdelivers enough convincing material and creates enough goodwill to have the

commitment accomplished in the near future.

I wish you all an inspirational conference and I have the honour now to give the floorto Ms. Noeleen Heyzer from UNIFEM.


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Noeleen Heyzer , Executive Director, UNIFEM

Mr. Secretary of State, Mr. Hutton, Mr. Helgason, Distinguished Ministers, Delegates,Colleagues and Friends

Threats to global peace and security know no borders. We understand, each day withgreater clarity, how injustice, inequality and conflict undermine good governance. Ourpresence here, under Belgian’s leadership during its presidency of the European Union,

shows our commitment to good governance. In a very modest way, I believe that ourdeliberations about gender responsive budgeting can help advance this agenda.

I would like to begin by acknowledging the powerful alliance that has brought ustogether: The OECD, the Nordic Council of Ministers and UNIFEM’s partners, theCommonwealth Secretariat and Canadian International Development and ResearchCentre. Together, we have convened a truly extraordinary gathering. Extraordinary, Isay, because it brings together partners not used to sitting at the same table. Partners

who use different tools to measure similar economic, social and political outcomes.Collectively here today, we represent government, multilateral and non-governmentalpartners, independent experts, north and south, finance ministries and developmentcooperation. This is a unique gathering.

The idea to convene this Conference came immediately after the Government ofBelgium signalled its generous contribution to support UNIFEM’s work on genderresponsive budget initiatives around the world.

______________________________________________________________________ And after five years of piloting and experimentation, we saw immediately that we werecontaining a groundswell. That a great majority of the 100 countries that we work inwere dedicated to using this tool. That 13 OECD members had already begun in someway to support gender responsive budgets domestically. And that Denmark, Germany,Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland have all supported genderbudget initiatives within their cooperation programmes. We know that the World Bank,DFID, and the ECE have promoted the idea and displayed interest. We saw

immediately what it was that gender budget initiatives share in common with othersuccessful global campaigns. And that is universality of cause. Money matterseverywhere. In the north and in the south. The budget lines in the US are asrevealing about women’s status as they are in Morocco, Vietnam, the Netherlands orJapan.


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First, the political drive for accountability. The recent reviews of UN WorldConferences on Women, Social Development and on Population, all showed mixed

results. But the idea of linking political commitments to gender equality with the way agovernment allocates and generates resources provided a concrete way to measure agovernment’s accountability to nearly half of the population. Sweden’s commitment toprovide decent childcare at an affordable price can be seen it its budget: it spendsalmost 2 per cent of GDP on publicly provided childcare and has one of the highestrates of female employment in Europe.

Gender analysis has also shown how budget allocations may bear little resemblance to

actual expenditures. And while expenditures sometimes exceed allocations, more oftenand particularly in relation to gender items – there is under-expenditure. In South Africa, a gender budget analysis of the 2 million rand allocated for a national domesticviolence act, resulted in a series of recommendations to facilitate the implementationstrategy.

The second force is transparency. Gender budget initiatives offer a way to encouragepublic participation in the budget process. Budget formulation is generally an exclusive

process, and women are typically on the periphery of political and economic discourse.In Uganda, women parliamentarians challenged the budget process as a whole –demanding a greater role for parliamentarians in the design. And the success ofparticipatory budgeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil is credited with increasing access towater services, sewage, paved roads and a doubling of children’s enrolment in publicschools.

The third driving force is equality. Gender responsive budget analysis provides a way

to hold governments accountable for its commitments to gender equality and toprotecting women’s human rights. This is achieved by linking commitments made toinstruments like the Beijing Platform for Action, or the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, with the distribution, use and generationof public resources. National budgets may appear to be gender-neutral policyinstruments. But government expenditures and revenues do not impact equally on menand women. For example, most countries’ education budgets are gender neutral indesign, but because in many countries more boys than girls actually attend school,boys can derive more benefit from educational expenditure than do girls. In Ghana,girls received only 40% of total expenditure on secondary education. Similarly, abudget that provides equally in the health care sector for men and for women, may nottake into account women’s additional reproductive health care needs.

The fourth driving force is efficiency The World Bank has shown that gender


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Clearly, gender budget analysis is beginning to contribute to the great international

debates of the day – around financing for development, poverty reduction strategies,globalisation and good governance. To advance these agendas while advancingprogress for the world’s women, I am asking for your support. Our collective goal isthat all countries in the world undertake gender sensitive budget analysis by 2015.Many donor countries and organization have stepped forward and are providingsupport for those countries without the means to do so. We hope that you will join bythis growing consensus.

_____________________________________________________________________

An historian looking back will see that the next great wave of affirmation – the nextgreat moment of social progress came around gender responsive budgeting. And thattime is clearly now. Gender budget analysis offers tools to measure progress of theworld’s women. It is not a coincidence that this interest in gender budgets ishappening as economic discourse is shifting to one of accountability and goodgovernance. It is rather a signal of our collective readiness to move from an era of

standard setting into an era of application. _____________________________________________________________________


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Tony Hutton, Director of the Public Management Directorate, OECD

i l . t , i t

I am delighted to open this important conference on behalf of the OECD and towelcome you all to Brussels. The organisation of this meeting has been a jointundertaking of the OECD, UNIFEM (the United Nations Development Fund for Women),the Nordic Council and the Belgian Government, and I would like to thank our partnerorganisations.

The importance of gender for the OECD was highlighted by our Ministers in theCommuniqué this summer when they welcomed the success of the two conferencesheld in the OECD last November on Gender Mainstreaming and on WomenEntrepreneurs in SMEs. Ministers also left the OECD with a clear mandate to furtherintegrate gender analysis into our work.

______________________________________________________________________ At the outset, I would like to emphasise one thing: we view gender responsive

budgeting not just as a soc a issue Ra her we v ew i as an issue of economic growththat can help to ensure that our Member countries make full use of their resources inthis increasingly competitive world.

For better or for worse, budgets are the key decision-making structures in thegovernments of Member countries. It is in the budget where policy objective are

reconciled and implemented in concrete terms, thus giving effect to countries’economic and social priorities.

We recognise that it is of prime importance to be able to analyse the budget in termsof its impact on specific population groups, including -- but not limited to -- women.We need to be able to show the impacts -- good and bad, intended or otherwise -- ofgovernment budgetary decisions. This is also very important in terms of increasingtrust in government by citizens and, as such, is at the heart of good governance

agenda.

We are not at this stage, yet. We believe there are several issues that need to betackled for the effective use of budget impact analysis by governments. Allow me todiscuss four of them.


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that is in many ways the easy step; what we do with that data and how it isinterpreted are the difficult elements. Allow me to mention two examples:

1. Women are greater consumers of health care services than men (wheregiving birth plays a very large role) and women live longer on average thanmen --- Should this mean that women should pay higher premiums forhealth care and old-age pensions?

2. Similarly, showing that programs geared towards specific groups areineffective does not always mean that funding should be reduced for theprograms, as would be the classic interpretation. Often it means quite theopposite.

It’s areas like this that make this whole area very sensitive to deal with and call forvery good analytical tools.

_____________________________________________________________________Third, this works needs to be integrated into the work of finance ministries and thebudget committees of parliament. The risk here is that gender budget analysis will beundertaken in specialised units outside of the mainstream budget decision-makingprocess and be less effective as a result. Worst case: this whole exercise could be

nothing more than a public relations activity.

In this context, I am reminded of the difficulties governments face in where to locatemanagement reforms units. Option 1 is to have them as stand-alone units allowingthem to focus exclusively on these issues. However, the downside is often that theyhave no clout to ensure the implementation of management reforms by line ministries.Option 2 is to have them integrated with the work of finance ministries. This certainlygives them the necessary clout to have line ministries take notice, but the downside isthat the work could be overwhelmed by other issues. However, with the politicalemphasis placed on gender issues in Member countries, I do not think that should beas cause for worry as many other areas of finance ministries work.

Fourth, the appropriate role of NGO’s needs to be acknowledged. Governments canmake “raw” information available on public expenditures and the specific beneficiarygroups. In fact, this is at the heart of the development of a robust analytical

framework. Governments would use this information in their decision-making, but itwould be unrealistic to assume that governments would automatically become anadvocacy group based on this data. How NGO’s fit into the overall design needs to bethought through from the very beginning.

The OECD believes it can play an active role in all these areas of concern. We haveh l ff l h


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Blondal – and I invite you to discuss with them further the OECD’s activities in thisarea.

Again, I am delighted to welcome you to this conference on behalf of the OECD. I wishit every success.


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Sigurdur Helgason, Deputy Secretary General, Nordic Council of Ministers

I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to address this forum. I want tothank the Government of Belgium for hosting this conference.

The culture and history shared by the Nordic countries have made it possible to co-operate closely and constructively in different sectors; including gender equality.Gender equality means that power and influence are equally distributed. Women andmen have the same rights, obligations and opportunities in all areas of life. Achievinggender equality and fairness in society requires a comprehensive gender equalitypolicy. This applies to both men and women. Gender equality is connected toimportant values and factors; such as respect, equal worth, understanding, quality oflife and identity.

The basic starting point of the Nordic Co-operation Programme on Gender Equality2001-2005, adopted this year, is that gender equality, equal value and equal

opportunities among women and men must be promoted. This must be done in anincreasingly goal-oriented manner in all areas of society. Factors that inhibitdevelopment for women and men must be eliminated. The programme is intended toreinforce the overall effort to incorporate the gender equality perspective into all areasof policies. At the same time, the programme should yield concrete measures in themost important sectors that have something new to teach us or have received lessattention previously.

The co-operation programme focus on three main target areas, which all today are infocus in the Nordic gender equality debate:

• Gender and equality perspectives in Nordic economic policy

Incorporating a gender equality perspective into national budgets and economic policyis a very challenging task that cannot be addressed only through the means that areavailable to Nordic co-operation on gender equality. The Nordic Ministers of Finance

have also agreed to start a joint Nordic project to evaluate Nordic economic policy froma gender equality perspective.

___________________________________________________________________________________

• Men and gender equality


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In recent years, Nordic countries and the Nordic Council of Ministers have launched a

process for incorporating a gender equality perspective into every policy area. Thismainstreaming process will not replace so-called traditional gender equality work.Without integration, gender equality experts and decision-makers will not be able toengage in the dialogue that is so essential. ______________________________________________________________________ An international examination shows that Nordic societies have come far in achievinggender equality. To ensure that the development remains positive, it is vital that theNordic countries do not have to compromise their achievements. Let us hope that the

Nordic perceptions will evoke a response within the European Union and in otherinternational fora.

This conference will give women and men a good possibility to exchange experiences,create new activities and projects and start dialogue and co-operation on genderbudgeting.


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III. SESSION 1 : THE CONTEXT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

Winnie Byanyima outlined the underlying rationale for gender-responsive budgeting.Being herself a member of the Ugandan parliament and of the non-governmentalorganisation ‘Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), she put her contributionwithin the context of African countries. As Winnie Byanyima argued, in Africa gender-responsive budgeting needs to be put within the global framework of political andeconomic liberalisation.

There has been a major shift in African countries towards liberal democratic policiesthat try to stimulate broad-based inclusive democratic processes. The participation ofcitizens is no longer restricted to voting. Through participation and collective action incivil society organisations, citizens are trying to influence government’s decisions.Gender-responsive budgeting should be considered as a reflection of the evolutiontowards a more participatory inclusive democracy.

‘Gender-responsive budgeting’ can be considered as a powerful political tool that hasput the political aspirations into a language which policy makers and politicians respectand can respond to, however slowly (Winnie Byanyima, 2001). ______________________________________________________________________

The integration of a gender perspective in budgets is also intrinsically linked withnational and international efforts to eradicate poverty. Especially in Africa, where menand women clearly play different roles and where differences in social and economic

indicators are huge, efforts to reduce poverty will not be successful unless the existingdifferences are taken into account. Winnie Byanyima strongly argued for thebroadening of the understanding of underlying intrahousehold relations. Not taking intoaccount the existing asymmetric relationships will render policy measures ineffective. Agendered analysis will, for instance, highlight that, while women form the majority ofthe farmers, they do not control the land they work on. Reducing poverty andincreasing efficiency will necessitate redressing the existing asymmetries in rights andobligations. Most of the time however, government’s policies rather reinforce existinginequalities. It is through a gender budget analysis that evidence is provided about theeffects of government’s policies on men and women.

In Uganda, networking of women’s groups and female parliamentarians has led toeffective lobbying for reforming of the budgetary process. Recently, efforts have been

d i ll d l i b i i hi h b d i Thi


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As Winnie Byanyima pointed out, the recent shift towards PRSP offers opportunities to

question whether budgets reflect the priorities that were identified on the basis ofbeneficiary assessments or in consultation with civil society organisations thatrepresent the marginalized groups in society, i.e. the poor, the disabled, women, etc.In Uganda, women’s organisations have been invited to contribute to the PRSP andthey were able to remove budget items, which they did not consider to be a priority forthe poor. The use of gender budget analysis also enables to monitor more closelyexpenditures and possible gaps between stated policies and effectively receivedexpenditures. It allows analysing to what extent actual expenditures and revenue-

raising correspond with the stated objectives in PRSP.

Winnie Byanyima finally stressed that gender-responsive budgeting is not onlyinstrumental in criticizing existing budgetary policies and practices. It also enables topropose alternative policies and re-allocations of resources as to address unmet needs.

Diane Elson, of the University of Essex (UK), started her contribution by highlighting

gender responsive budgeting as an instrument to close the gap between governmentcommitments to objectives of gender equality and gender mainstreaming andgovernment’s actual fiscal policies.

______________________________________________________________________Gender responsive budget initiatives can help ensure the realisation of gender equalitygoals and improved compliance with the Convention on the Elimination ofDiscrimination Against Women (CEDAW). They can help promote greater accountability

for public resources to the people of a country, especially to women, who are generallymore marginalized than men in decision-making about public money (Diane Elson,2001). _____________________________________________________________________

As Diane Elson demonstrated, an overview of gender budget initiatives taken in thepast leads to the conclusion that there is no single model. Initiatives differ regardingthe political location (national versus local government level/inside versus outside

government), the coverage (the whole budget, only expenditures, only revenues),budget classifications (line items, functional, economic, administrative, programme,territorial), stage of the budget cycle (planning, appraisal, audit or ex-post evaluation)and the presentation of the analysis (number of points in the main budget orevaluation report, special annex to the main budget or evaluation report, briefingpapers for parliamentarians press releases research publications popular education


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A Functional Framework for Gender Budget Analysis

Step 1: The budget is re-organised and presented in terms of planned and realise inputs, activities, outputs and impacts.

Inputs consist of the money appropriated and spent(as presented in the Functional or Programme Classification)

Activities consist of the services planned and delivered: e.g. health services,

industrial support services, social transfers, tax collection

Outputs consist of the planned and delivered utilisation of the activities: e.g.patients treated, businesses supported, incomes increased, taxes collected

Impacts (or outcomes) consist of planned and actual achievements in relation tobroader objectives: e.g. healthy people, competitive businesses, povertyreduction, sustainable growth of national income

Information about the planned inputs, activities, desired outputs and desired impacts istaken from the budget . The realised inputs, activities, outputs and impacts are presentedon the basis of other sources of information including a.o. audits, evaluations,assessments, monitoring reports, existing databases at the level of service delivery units,etc. It is the aim to specify as much as possible inputs, activities, outputs and impacts interms of objective verifiable indicators. This is not always an easy undertaking asinformation in budgets, audits, evaluations, etc. is often not well-specified.

Step 2: planned and realised inputs, activities, outputs and impacts are analysed on theirdegree of gender-responsiveness by asking whether planned and realised:

Impacts promote gender equality (as well as other objectives)

Outputs are fairly distributed between women and men and are adequate toachieve gender equality (as well as other objectives)

Activities are designed to be equally appropriate for women and men (e.g. in

terms of accessibility) and are adequate to achieve gender equality (as well asother objectives)

Inputs are adequate to achieve gender equality (as well as other objectives)

To answer these questions sex-disaggregated information is necessary and anunderstanding of the relevant gender relations A variety of tools and approaches


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Diane Elson showcased some examples of gender budget analysis that fit thisframework, referring both to the planning and appraisal phases, and the audit and

evaluation phases of the budget cycle. Examples include government-led initiatives,(see e.g. the National Public Works Programme in South Africa, InfrastructureDevelopment in South Africa, Expenditure in Selected Ministries in Sri Lanka, IndustrialSupport in Australia, Support for Women’s Entrepreneurship in France) as well asanalysis initiated by civil society actors (Expenditure on adult basic education andtraining in South Africa, Tax Credits in the UK, Translating the Beijing Platform for Action into Programme Activities and Budget Items in Kenya).

_____________________________________________________________________ Planning and Appraisal phase of the Budget

Gender analysis at this stage of the budget cycle requires identifying likely genderdimensions of activities, outputs and impacts. There is often reference made toevaluations and audits about outputs and impacts of previous budgets.

Infrastructure Development in South Africa

‘Investment in infrastructure builds economic capacity and enhances competitiveness, whilecontributing to the quality of life of poor people. Energy, transport, communications and socialinfrastructure bring significant benefits to women and children, particularly.Capital expenditure financed by the national and provincial governments is expected toincrease… capital spending on water schemes and related infrastructure of R 1 537 in 1998/99,increasing to R 1785 million in 2000/1.………..

In late 1995 only one third of African households and less than three-quarters of coloured

households had running tap water inside their dwellings, compared to 97 per cent of Indian andwhite households. Outside urban areas only 12 per cent of African households had an inside tapand 21 per cent had a tap on the site, while 28 per cent were collecting water from a river,stream, dam or well and 16 per cent form a bore hole. One in six African households who hadto fetch water were forced to travel at least a kilometre to do so. In 1993 the average timespent on the task by members of rural African households who collected water was 1 hour and40 minutes. The average time spent by individual women who collected water was over anhour, at 74 minutes. Just over half of rural African women over the age of 18 were spending

part of their time collecting water.’

Source: Department of Finance, Government of South Africa, Budget Review 1998 , Pretoria (p1.5 and 6.58)

Audit and Evaluation phase of the Budget


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have been analysed by Katherine Rake of the UK Women’s Budget Group, a women’s ThinkTank that is regularly consulted by the UK government. She found that 57 per cent of thefunding available for New Deal programmes goes to the programme for young people, 23 percent goes to the programme for long-term unemployed, and only 8 per cent to the programmefor lone parents. (The rest goes on a number of other smaller schemes). Rake estimates thatdouble the amount of money is spent per person in the programme for young people than inthe programme for lone parents.

Source: Katherine Rake, ‘Into the Mainstream? Why Gender Audit is an essential tool forpolicymakers’ New Economy, Vol 7 No 2 (pp107-110) June 2000

Another type of analysis at this stage of the budget cycle is the evaluation of adequacyof funding for Women’s Empowerment and Realisation of Women’s Rights. Thisanalysis compares the actual expenditures for the promotion of women’sempowerment and the realisation of women’s rights with the expenditures that wouldbe required to achieve the above mentioned overall objectives specified in terms ofobjective verifiable indicators.

Shelter for Battered Women in Barbados

‘Between 1992-1996 there were 764 applications for protection orders, of this number 730women were applying for legal protection against their male abusers….While on the wholenational levels of crime are on the decline, there has been a marked in crease in “crimesagainst the person” and specifically sex crimes perpetrated on women and physical violenceagainst women….the establishment of a shelter for Battered Women became an urgentrequirement An NGO, the Business and Professional Women’s Club advanced the initiative ,with start-up funds ($380,000)provided by the Ministry of Social Transformation…..The Shelter began receiving residents inNovember 1999…..However, there remains a significant number of women who need assistancebut that the Shelter is unable to accommodate….

Management at the Shelter estimate that it takes an average of $900 dollars to house one adultShelter Victim per month. This figure rises with the number of children and specific needs of afamily being sheltered. While financial shortfalls concerning the physical establishment andupkeep of the Shelter (such as fencing) are important security issues, the inability of the NGO

to secure sufficient funds to underwrite the major portion of operation costs is an even moresignificant problem. Currently, the Ministry discharges its responsibility to the Shelter incontracts renewable each year. There is no clear indication whether after this first year, thefunds provided will be increased or whether they will be forthcoming past the support for thephysical infrastructure and maintenance of the facility.’

S D St Hill G d A l i f th N ti l B d t 1998 99 B b d Pil t D ft


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of inequality between men and women within the household. Whereas actual fiscalpolicies are often build upon the gender-blind assumption that the household acts as

an unity, it is important that gender budget analysis also looks at impact at theindividual level. Results and divergence of results of household and individual-levelanalysis necessarily need to be fed in into subsequent budgetary rounds.

Secondly, gender budget analysis essentially needs to bring into the picture thegender-blindness and partiality of existing macro-economic models on which macro-economic policies are built. Mainstream macro-economic models and macro-economicaggregates (as the National Product and National Income) depart from the notion of

‘economic’ activity as defined in the System of National Accounting (SNA). Unpaidcaring working, for instance, is not taken into account in the SNA and remainsconsequently largely invisible in macro-economic models. Findings from time usesurveys that highlight the time spent in unpaid caring work show that women still do adisproportionate share of these activities. A budget analysis that aims to look at theimpact on gender equality thus also necessarily needs to visualize the impact ofbudgetary policies on unpaid caring work.

Moreover, gender budget analysis is not only important from the point of view ofgender equality, but also in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. Policy measuresoften do not reach their intended goals because they depart from a number of gender-blind assumptions as the unity of the household, the conceptualisation of labour (bothproductive and reproductive) as a homogeneous, easy substitutable factor ofproduction. A ‘gendered’ analysis unveils the underlying gender-blindness of policymeasures and may suggest a number of adjustments in the design of policy measures,which will eventually lead to increased effectiveness and efficiency.

Diane Elson finally strongly pointed out the need for the recognition of gender as across-cutting issue that is important for the overall budget and not only for thoseprogrammes that are directly targeted towards women. She referred in this context toa number of suggestions earlier made in the UNIFEM report ‘Progress of the World’sWomen’ about a possible set of indicators for monitoring the gender sensitivity of thewhole budget3 (UNIFEM, 2000, p. 118). The shortcoming of these indicators is thatthey are based on the functional, programme and line time classification of the budget

and not on the economic classification. They further only allow highlighting andanalysing part of the picture and not necessarily the most important one. It is at thelevel of the overall macro-economic policy that the room for manoeuvre for changingbudgets is determined. It is therefore important to argue the need for ‘engendering’macro-economic objectives, aggregates and models4.


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Today’s positive environment for ‘gender-sensitive budgeting’ as a vehicle forimproving economic and financial governance, has among others been built by the

individual and collective efforts of the members of the Working Party on GenderEquality. It is since the early 1990s that the DAC WP-GEN and its members (separatelyand collectively) carried out work in its Task Force on Economic Reform. The latterwork included points on public expenditure reviews, and budget processes and theorganisation of a.o. a ‘Workshop on Integrating Gender Issues in Programme Aid,Sector Investment Programmes, Market Reform and other forms of Economic Policy Assistance’ in May 1998.

In January 2001, the DAC Secretariat for the WP-GEN hosted an important workshoporganised and convened by the Commonwealth Secretariat. It was the latter workshopthat led in part to this conference, and the involvement of the OECD in it. And in May2001, the OECD Meeting of Senior Budget Officials put budget impact analysis and inparticular gender responsive budgets on its agenda.

Finally, Diana Rivington, strongly pointed out the need for continued promotion of thepractice of gender-responsive budgeting. She indicated that the WP-GEN and its

individual members will do their best to bring the findings of the conference to theFinancing for Development Conference in March 2002.


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IV. SESSION 2 : TOOLS AND APPROACHES

Rhonda Sharp, of the Research Centre for Gender Studies, University of South Australia, highlighted in a videotaped intervention different guiding goals and multiplestrategies for gender responsive budget exercises. Dr. Sharp argued that theimplementation of gender responsive budget initiatives is a relatively new phenomenonand that there exists no one ‘model’ of a gender responsive budget exercise. On thecontrary, as an increasing number of countries are taking gender responsive budgeting

initiatives, the menu of choices of tools and strategies that might be utilised isexpanding.

In order to facilitate the implementation of gender responsive budget exercises abetter understanding is needed of the central goals of these exercises and thesympathetic discourses that might be drawn upon to devise effective strategies forachieving these goals.

Assessing previous and ongoing gender responsive budget exercises, Dr. RhondaSharp differentiated between three guiding goals that underlie gender responsivebudgets: i) raise awareness and understanding of the gender issues and impacts ofbudgets and policies, ii) make governments accountable for their budgetary and policycommitments, iii) bring about changes to budgets and policies. These goals arecharacterised by interdependent and hierarchical relationships, which underpin thetransformative character of gender responsive budget exercises.

Whereas bringing about changes to budgets and policies is mostly considered to be theultimate goal of gender responsive budgeting initiatives, Rhonda Sharp stronglypointed out that achieving this goal is inextricably intertwined with increasingawareness and government’s accountability. She further indicated that theachievement of the ultimate goal is difficult to assess whereas it is also oftenimpossible to make correct conclusions about the causality between the actionsundertaken within a gender budget initiative and changes to budgets and policies.

Rhonda Sharp further argued that the guiding goals shape the particular design ofgender responsive budgeting initiatives and influence the choice of strategies. Sheshowcased possible strategies that have been used in the past to increase awarenessand accountability and that were contributing to the successfulness of the initiatives.


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Successful strategies for increasing accountability

•

developing frameworks for monitoring and evaluation of budgets (e.g.performance-based frameworks, i.e. inputs, outputs, outcomes 5 )• increasing reporting on a regular basis• reporting of progress on spending and revenue-raising to the own

nationals• reporting of progress on the implementation of international

commitments like CEDAW, Beijing Declaration to international bodies• translating complex budget information into easy accessible language•

establishing of commitment at the highest level (Ministry of Finance)• civil society’s issuing of media reports on the progress of budgetary

activities

Source: Rhonda Sharp (2001) _____________________________________________________________________

Finally, Rhonda Sharp pointed at the importance of building strategic partnerships withdiscourses that show similarities. She in particular referred to the actual discoursesabout gender mainstreaming and good governance, which share commontransformative goals. The possibility of alignment with these discourses should beexplored further as part of a strategic approach to choosing among existing anddeveloping new gender responsive budget strategies and models.

Largely drawing on the extensive record of Commonwealth experiences6, Guy Hewitt,of the Commonwealth Secretariat, mainly explored the expenditure tools developed inthe past by the Commonwealth Secretariat and in particular by Diane Elson. In hiscontribution, Guy emphasized that the tools were firstly developed within the contextof particular countries and were never intended to serve as model or blueprint. It arethe governance framework and the resource availability of a given country whichdetermine which tools are selected.

Tool 1: Gender-Aware policy appraisal

Gender-aware policy appraisal is the analysis from a gender perspective of the policies andprogrammes funded through the budget, which asks ‘in what ways are the policies and their associatedresource allocations likely to reduce or increase gender inequality?


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Tool 2: Gender-disaggregated Public Expenditure Incidence Analysis

Gender-disaggregated Public Expenditure Incidence Analysis estimates the distribution of budgetresources (or changes in resources) among males and females by measuring the unit costs of providing a

given service and multiplying that cost by the number of units used by each group.

Example: Changes to Sri Lanka’s food ratio and subsidy programme in the 1980s revealed that despite

rapid economic growth, the real value of stamps eroded in the first half of the decade and there was a

decline in the real incomes of the poor. A gender-disaggregated analysis concluded that within poor

households, girls and women took the brunt of the increasing food deficit, citing higher levels of

malnutrition among pre-school and school girls and declining birth weights of babies born to low incomemothers.

Tool 3: Gender-Disaggregated Beneficiary Assessments

Gender-Disaggregated Beneficiary Assessment is a means by which the voice of the citizen can be

heard. In these exercises, the actual or potential beneficiaries of public services are asked to assess how

far public spending is meeting their needs, as they perceive them. This can be done through opinion polls

attitude surveys, group discussion or interviews. Questions focus on overall priorities for public spendingor upon the details of the operation of public services.

Example: In 1996, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom initiated a Women’s

Budget Project, asking women to answer a series of questions about the choices they would make in

allocating national budget resources. They calculated the costs of various defence-related programmes

and compared them to potential social welfare expenditures. It then asked: Which would you choose?

Fund the F-22 fighter plane programme for the current year ($2.1 billion) or pay for the annual health care

expenses for 1.3 million American women? Fund ‘Sea wolf’ attack submarines for the current year ($1.7billion) or provide low-income home energy assistance for 5.6 million households? The project estimated

the savings from proposed cuts in military spending and outlined the ways in which such savings could be

invested to benefit women, including employment and training programmes, campaigns against gender-

based violence, and services for the elderly, the majority of whom are women.

Tool 4: Sex-Disaggregated Analysis of the Impact of the Budget on Time Use

Sex-Disaggregated Analysis of the Impact of the Budget on Time Use is a calculation of the linkbetween budget allocations and their effect on how household members spend their time, using

household time use surveys.

Example: Between 1983 and 1985, real per-capita expenditure on health fell by 16 per cent in Zambia.

People had to travel greater distances and wait for longer period of time to get health care treatment


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noteworthy that while this did not mean that the MTEF would necessarily be gender-sensitive, it did signal

a willingness by the Ministry of Finance to engage with gender-equality issues. In fact, the National

Expenditure Survey produced by the Ministry of Finance in 1999 did incorporate more gender analysis. In

Tanzania, the Ministry of Finance is seeking to integrate gender concerns into the new MTEF and

performance budgeting system.

Tool 6: Gender-Aware Budget Statement

Gender-Aware Budget Statement is the government report that reviews the budget using some of the

above tools, and summarises its implications for gender equality with different indicators, such as the

share of expenditure targeted to gender equality, the gender balance in government jobs, contracts or

training, or the share of public service expenditure used mainly by women.

Source: Guy Hewitt (2001)7

As indicated by Guy Hewitt, most of the initiatives to date8 (except for those in the UK,see the contribution of Susan Himmelweit) have focused on expenditure allocations

and to a lesser degree on the revenue side. In the future efforts will be made toconcentrate also on revenue tools, which will contribute to understanding the possiblegender impacts of different revenue-raising measures such as direct and indirect taxesand user fees.

Finally, Guy reflected on a number of guiding principles with regard to theconceptualisation and the implementation of the Gender Budget Initiative programmeat the country level.

Country ownership is thought to be critical for the successfulness of gender responsivebudget initiatives. Starting from the idea that citizens are not only the beneficiaries of acountry’s fiscal policy but also agents of development, participation of differentstakeholders in public expenditure management is necessary. For broad-basedparticipation to be possible and effective, transparency is needed of the consultative,analytic and outcomes processes at the national, provincial and local levels. In order toincrease sustainability and institutionalisation of initiatives, it is necessary that

processes build on existing budgetary and public expenditure managementmechanisms. Finally, as Guy puts it, it is important to conceptualise gender budgetinitiatives as iterative processes of consultation, participation, planning, implementationand evaluation against set goals, objectives, indicators and benchmarks.


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In his contribution, Lionel Demery, of the World Bank, assessed the insights to begained from the benefit9 incidence analysis of public spending when results are

disaggregated by gender.

He started by putting benefit incidence analysis within the context of the welfaristliterature on how to measure the benefits of publicly-provided goods to individuals insociety. Benefit incidence analysis is one of the techniques, which is used to valuegovernment spending. It combines information on the cost of providing public serviceswith data on their use. To date the technique has mostly been used to assess theimpact of public expenditures on individuals and households of different income

categories, and in particular on the poorer sections of the populations whom aremostly the primarily intended beneficiaries.

How public spending is affecting the intended outcomes (mostly in terms of humancapabilities) depends on a number of linkages in between. The first link is betweentotal public spending and the composition. It is e.g. more likely that a larger section ofthe population and in particular the poorer sections of the population will benefit fromhealth care expenditures if a larger portion is spent on primary health care facilities

rather than on tertiary facilities. It is this first link on which benefit incidence analysesfocuses most of the time. The second link concerns the degree to which the budget istranslated into effective health services (the issue of ‘tracking’). As Lionel Demery putsit, if a particular sector is characterised by huge inefficiencies, the level of spending isnot a good indicator of service provision. The third link is related to the response of theprivate sector (‘crowding in’ and ‘crowding out’ effects of publicly provided services)and depends on how the total provision of effective services is affected by publicspending. The final link is between the provision of services and the outcomes at the

individual level. Here one has to take into account other factors, which interact withthe provided services to lead to the intended outcomes. ______________________________________________________________________Benefit incidence analysis involves a three-step methodology

• estimates are obtained of the unit subsidy of a particular service. This is usuallybased on officially reported recurrent public spending on the service inquestion. In order to derive unit subsidies for benefit incidence, revenue fromcost recovery must be netted out of government spending.

• the unit subsidy is ‘imputed’ to households or individuals which are identified asusers of the service. Assigning the unit subsidy to individuals or households isinvariably based on information obtained through a household survey.

• the individuals or households are aggregated into sub-groups in order tocompare how the subsidy is distributed.


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Lionel showcased applications from the education sector in Côte D’Ivoire (1995) andthe health sector in Ghana (1992)10 to highlight the importance of genderdisaggregation for understanding findings from benefit incidence analysis. In CôteD’Ivoire, for instance, it showed that the mistargeting of education expenditure to poorpeople (only 13 percent of total government spending in education reached thepoorest 20 percent) was partly due to high spending on tertiary education facilities(approximately one fifth of the total education budget in 1995) that are not used bypoor households and certainly not by the female members of the households.

For the population as a whole, the average female only gained one third of the total

government spending in education as compared to two thirds for the average male.Distribution of gains clearly differs according to the level of education services. Whilethe relative disadvantage of females was lowest at the primary level where they gained42 percent of the total primary subsidy, it was largest at the tertiary level, where theyonly gained 29 percent.

Findings from the benefit incidence analysis for the health sector in Ghana clearlydemonstrate the usefulness of a combined gender and income disaggregation and of

decomposing expenditures into different sub-sectors. While there is overall anadvantage for females, with 56 percent of the overall health spending in 1992 going tofemales, this conclusion is put in perspective when we decompose health expendituresover different categories (from more expensive hospital in- and outpatient treatment toprimary facilities) and when we disaggregate beneficiaries according to income andsex, thereby taking into account possible differences in health needs between thesexes. A more detailed analysis shows that only in the top two quintiles females gainedmore than males from hospital-based services while in all other sections of the

population, females were at a disadvantage for this type of services. Gender biases inthe use of health services are again explanatory of the poor targeting to the poor.Findings demonstrate that government fails to allocate hospital-based services to thepoorest sections of the population because of the poor access of females to theseservices.

Whereas benefit incidence analysis is useful, it clearly has its limitations. Lionelconvincingly argued that benefit incidence analysis needs to be coupled with analysis

on intrahousehold allocation. Observed allocative outcomes are only marginallyinfluenced by a government fiscal policy and primarily result from decisions taken atthe household level. It are parents, not necessarily together or unanimously, whodecide about the level and kind of resources that are invested in different householdmembers. Weak targeting of both education and health spending, for instance, partlyresult from decisions by poor households not to use publicly funded facilities and


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In her contribution Susan Himmelweit, of the Open University and the UK Women’sBudget Group (WBG)11, concentrated on some tools for the gender impact analysis oftaxes and benefits. The focus on taxes and benefits rather than on the expendituresside as in most other initiatives of budget analysis should be put against thebackground of the particular budgetary process in the UK. Expenditure and revenueraising plans are announced on different days and what is referred to as the ‘Budget’means the annual statement of changes in taxes and benefits and the regulationssurrounding them.

Analysing the gender sensitivity of taxes and benefits involves assessing the direct and

indirect impacts of taxes and benefits on all relevant gender inequalities.

A full gender impact assessment requires examining not only a policy’s directdistributional effects on gender inequalities, but also its higher-order impacts on men’sand women’s behaviour. Without an understanding of its full gender-specific impact,policy may be badly targeted and therefore at worst ineffective in achieving its goals(Susan Himmelweit, 2001). ______________________________________________________________________

Susan Himmelweit argued that for tax and benefit policy, the most immediate effectsare on incomes, both at the individual and the household level. She further pointed outthat there are wider indirect impacts that are equally important: bargaining power andthe distribution of resources within households, labour market behaviour and the long-term futures of men and women. She subsequently demonstrated how tax and benefitpolicy can be examined for its impact at all these different levels.

The most immediate gendered impact of taxes and benefits is on the distribution ofindividual incomes between men and women. A progressive income tax system doesnot only prove to reduce income inequalities, it also tends to reduce gender disparitiesas women, on average, start off with lesser individual incomes than men. As SusanHimmelweit demonstrated, identifying the gendered impact of benefits is morecomplicated as the manner of receipt of benefits is itself gendered. In general,increasing the amount of those types of benefits that in general tend to go more towomen will contribute to reducing gender inequality in incomes.

Taxes and benefits on the household level, which are at first sight gender-neutral mayalso contribute to reducing or strengthening gender inequality. Susan Himmelweitpointed out that policies that increase the incomes of lone parent and singly pensionerhouseholds, in which women predominate, will in general not only reduce income

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particular household members consequently tends to influence their stake in householddecision-making and the final allocation of resources.

As Susan Himmelweit strongly pointed out taxes and benefits do not only redistributeincome, they also provide intended or unintended incentives and disincentives tocertain forms of behaviour. Taxes and benefits are, for instance, often used toinfluence labour market participation. Identifying gendered effects of those taxes andbenefits is a complex undertaking as incentives and disincentives on one partner’sbehaviour may depend on what the other partner does, especially when means testingis applied at the household level. As Susan argued, in-work benefits, if available and

means-tested on a household rather than an individual basis, tend to exacerbategender inequality in labour market incentives within couples.

It is obvious that employment incentives also engender effects on people’s time usewhile also the already existing pattern of time use of men and women, with womenoften fulfilling the largest bulk of caring responsibilities, strongly affects theeffectiveness of employment incentives. ______________________________________________________________________

The allocation of parental caring responsibilities and therefore of demands on the timeof different members of the households is another aspect of intrahousehold inequalitythat gender impact assessment should consider (Susan Himmelweit, 2001). ______________________________________________________________________

As Susan puts it, tax and benefit systems do not in general count the output of unpaidcaring work as a resource. Failing to recognize the skewed time investment of men andwomen in unpaid caring work within the household tends to increase gender inequality

in labour market participation or the gender inequality in free time. The latter effectoccurs when women’s labour market participation is not combined with a redistributionof unpaid household work. ______________________________________________________________________Gender impact analysis should encourage finance ministers, in planning tax and benefitpolicy, to see themselves not only as dealing with a nation’s financial affairs but also asthe ministers responsible for time use (Susan Himmelweit, 2001).

Within a context of changing situations over a life-time cycle, gender impactassessment needs to take a lifetime perspective on individual life courses and has totake into account the effects of present behaviour on people’s long-term prospects.This is in particular important for women as they often are penalised in their later lives,through for instance lower pensions, for the time they have invested in caring work at

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V. SESSION 3 : LESSONS LEARNED IN PRACTICE

In her case-study about South Africa, Pregs Govender, Member of the South AfricanParliament, convincingly highlighted the importance of understanding the intersectionof factors as race, class, gender, rural/urban, disability, culture and sexual orientationto make visible the underlying assumptions in policy making.

She firstly referred to the fact that budgets, economics and financial governance are

not neutral. Basic questions are ‘who defines these and in whose interests’, ‘what arethe priorities’, ‘what is the agenda’ and ‘who determines these?’

Pregs Govender showcased the South Africa’s apartheid budget to demonstrate thatneutrality is a myth. Facts and figures demonstrate the results of the apartheid legacyand its corresponding budgetary policy and allocations. While white South Africans whoconstitute 10.9% of the population own 80% of the country’s wealth and land, about87% of all black South African children under 12 years are nutritionally compromised,

unemployment rates nationally for black South Africans are 35 to 45%.

Budgets do not only lack ‘race’ neutrality, they also lack gender-neutrality. Theapartheid budget did not only target whites but also males while the poor are mostlyblack African women. Many of the poorest households in South Africa are headed byyoung black women, who are illiterate, live in rural areas and are unemployed oremployed in the informal sector.

The basic question is then how to change budgets, economics and financialgovernance to ensure that the poor are addressed and that their needs are taken intoaccount seriously? It is this question that has driven the work on gender responsivebudgets that South Africa has engaged since 1994. ______________________________________________________________________In 1994, prior to the first democratic elections -at the African National CongressConference on putting women on the agenda- there was clarity that the newgovernment departments ‘must indicate the impact of programmes on the status and

conditions of women when requiring funds. When making their reports they mustmake specific reference to whether the objectives spelled out in this regard have beenmet’

Source: Pregs Govender (2001)


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homelessness, developing a social security system, improving access to health care,education, electricity, water. A first step towards gender-responsiveness is then to takeinto account women’s priorities in fiscal policy and the corresponding budget.

Assessing the role of parliament, Pregs Govender strongly advocated ensuring thatparliament and its committees have the necessary powers.

______________________________________________________________________The South African Constitution has given the Parliament extensive powers including:

• initiating legislation that promotes socio-economic rights•

ensuring that draft legislation from the executive conforms to the Constitutionand is effective in promoting socio-economic rights• exercising oversight over socio-economic spending and budget reprioritisation• exercising oversight over the development and implementation of policy and

legislation

Source: Pregs Govender (2001) ______________________________________________________________________

Committees, on the other hand, can monitor, enquire into and make recommendationsrelated to any aspect of policy formulation or any other matter it may consider relevantfrom government departments falling within the category of affairs consigned toparticular committees.

The two committees that have extensively been involved in the gender-responsivebudget work in South Africa were the Joint Standing Committee on Finance (since

1994) and the Joint Monitoring Committee on the improvement of the Quality of Lifeand Status of Women12 (since 1996). These committees have used budget debates,asked for reports from ministers and held hearings with civil society on poverty, genderand macroeconomic policy and budgets.

As a partnership to the above mentioned committees and in collaboration with NGOsthe Women’s Budget Initiative was formed. The latter included about 40 researcherswho did complete a gender analysis of all government department budgets, while

there was also an analysis of taxation and custom excises. The results of this workwere published as the Women’s Budget Books and edited by Debbie Budlender. Apopularised version and training materials to initiate projects of economic literacy werealso produced.

The e e e and the e a e s bstantial es lts at go e nmental le el In 1996 the


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the Department of Finance’s Medium Term Expenditure Framework, which launchedthe introduction of Multiyear Budgeting.

In the 1998/99 period, the Department of Finance has been part of the Commonwealthpilot project which aims to integrate gender analysis into budgetary processes. In theSouth African case, the project has built on the work that was already done by the twoWomen’s Budget Project reports. Some of the analysis, which involved cooperation ofthe Central Statistics department and the departments of among others Trade andIndustry, Welfare, Land Affairs, Water Affairs and Forestry, Labour, Public Works, Agriculture, Arts Culture Science and Technology, Correctional Service, Education,

Health, Housing, Justice, Minerals Energy and Public Enterprises has been included intothe Government National Budget Review.

An immediate result of the exercise was that the Working for Water Programme,decided that 60 % of all wages should be paid to women, that 67% should be in ruralareas and that special emphasis needed to be placed on flexible time schedules forsingle parents.

Finally, Pregs Govender strongly advocated the need for understanding interactionsbetween the macro and the micro, the local and the global.

Devaki Jain, of the Karnataka’s Women’s Information and Research Centre (India),started from the observation that the budget is the most important economic policyinstrument of government and as such a powerful tool in transforming the

state/district/municipality/grama panchayat economies to meet the people’s needs.The aim of her contribution and the project she commented on was not to critique orinform the budget, from what is called a gender perspective but rather to reflect on theconditions and to build, construct budgets, such that the interests of women and othersubordinated groups are safeguarded.

Devaki Jain argued that within the Indian context the primary interest of genderbudgeting is to remove poverty, especially women’s poverty. It thus builds on the

space and method, which would enable poor women to move themselves out ofpoverty.

She convincingly argued that gender budgeting is only meaningful if the budgetarysupport is put to duty in the hands of institutions, which are representative inh t t t th d l l d ibl d t bl D ki


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Secondly, the direction for fiscal policy and the fiscal balances need to be built frombelow. In the Indian context there are certain constitutionally mandated arrangementswhich allow to work backwards from ground level plans all the way to the nationalbalance sheet. India’s Panchayati Ray Institutions (PRI) is such an institutionalarrangement, which puts political power in hands of women. In the state of Karnataka,the Panchayat Ray Act of 1993, provided a 33 percent reservation for women. Finally,43 percent of those elected to gram or village panchayats were women. Nationally, theConstitutional mandate of 1993 brought in three million elected and raised the totalnumber of women in formal politics from 400 persons to one million. The Constitutionalmandate also directed at least 29 specified functions (subjects) and funds13 for

carrying out these functions to these bodies.

_____________________________________________________________________The intention of the Constitutional mandate of 1993 is

• to extend the command of governance beyond the central and state levels• to include a larger number of persons in governance• to introduce accountability through the process of five yearly elections with

a multi party system to three tiers of government; village, clusters of

villages and the district• to accommodate social justice through affirmative action, i.e. reservation of

seats to both women and the underprivileged castes, in the politicallyelected local government structure

• to politicise development, put it back in the hands of the people; toaccommodate ‘difference’, ‘diversity’, ‘pluralism’ in every way- geographical,social- i.e. ethnic, linguistic etc. as well as historical, a necessity in a countrylike India which is so heterogeneous

Source: Devaki Jain (2001) _____________________________________________________________________

Whereas the unique paradigm of local self-government clearly has generated a numberof successes, there are also a number of road blocks. Firstly, the central and stategovernments continue to maintain highly centralised control over the entiredevelopment programme, budget and sectoral staff, which remain, as before,

unaccountable to local representative bodies. Even World Bank’s Social DevelopmentProjects do not use the local elected government structure but rather set up parallelmechanisms for delivery. As Devaki strongly puts it, ‘Donors seldom like democracy, itdelays’. Secondly, despite the fact that funds are seemingly untied, the focus on socialsector schemes has been marginal. Devaki Jain referred in this context to a study of 17G am Pancha ats in Madh a P adesh hich e ealed that e pendit e on social secto


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past borrowing, for instance, is the single largest component of the India’s non-planrevenue expenditure.

Currently an exercise is being undertaken for the state of Karnataka, called BuildingBudgets From Below , which suggest that the only method that can shift thedevelopment paradigm is through a summation of the budgets prepared at local level,pyramided upwards, finally leading to the national budget. The underlying hypothesisis that devolving powers to raise and spend funds at the local level will yield a largersum of resources than when this operation is conducted at the state level anddepartmentally as people tend to show a higher willingness to pay their taxes if theyare able to control more strongly the expenditures.

Devaki strongly pointed out that this exercise is not only about decentralisation butalso about enabling women to determine fiscal policy at national and sub-nationallevels. It is an attempt to upturn the system rather than ask for being accommodated.She compared with other attempts made, such as through earmarked funds or throughspecial programmes for women, which did not deliver the required outcomes.

In her contribution, Françoise Philippe-Raynaud, of the French Women’s Rightsand Equality Office, Ministry of Employment and Solidarity, highlighted the importanceof the (yellow) budgetary annex regarding women’s rights and equality between menand women (‘Le Jaune Budgétaire des Droits des Femmes et de l’Egalité entre lesFemmes et les Hommes’ ). The obligation to include an annex to the budget, whichhighlights the financial efforts for the promotion of equality between men and womenand female human rights has been voted by the French parliament in 1999 and has

been implemented since 2000.

As Françoise Philippe-Raynaud argued, this initiative is not an isolated event. It iscompletely in line with the dynamic and strong policy of the French government tostimulate gender equality (cf. a.o. the governmental actions taken by Ms. Nicole Péry,state secretary for Women’s Rights in 1999). The ‘yellow’ budget annex can beregarded upon as an instrument that enables the different ministerial departments tohighlight their effective efforts in the field of gender equality and it offers at the same

time an opportunity for the parliament (and the population) to control the governmenton its ‘stated’ policy. The system of ‘yellow’ budgetary annexes is not exclusively usedfor the topic of gender equality. It is a system that is frequently used to summariseinitiatives taken by different ministerial department on transversal issues.

The yellow budget annex on Women’s Rights and Equality between men and wome

Documents

Gender Report Conf Oct01 (1)