Gender Budgeting What, Why, (How) Nathalie Holvoet Brussels, EU Civil Society Contact Group January, 19 th 2009 Nathalie Holvoet
Overview 1. Definition 2. Key elements 3. Rationale 4. Classification 5. (Approaches and tools) russels, slide n 2
1. Definition No uniform definition but a number of key principles Definition formulated by the Group of specialists on gender budgeting, Council of Europe, 2005: gender budgeting is an application of gender mainstreaming in the budgetary process. It means a gender-based assessment of budgets, incorporating a gender perspective at all levels of the budgetary process and restructuring revenues and expenditures in order to promote gender equality russels, slide n 3
2. Key elements gender mainstreaming different phases of the budget (and policy) cycle (financial and real) content and processes analysis and action wide variety of initiatives (no blueprint) entry point for engendering macro-economic policy and macroeconomics limitations ( realistic expectations ) russels, slide n 4
3. Rationale Gender equality gender is an important objective national gender policy papers/law ratification of international conventions (CEDAW), Beijing Platform of Action MDGs (goal 3) EC: European Consensus on Development (European Parliament, Council and Commission, 2006/C 46/01); EC Regulation of 21 April 2004 (Regulation No. 806/2004); but often policy evaporation GRB may help to lower this Effectiveness and efficiency Gender-sensitive policy: necessary condition for effectiveness and efficiency russels, slide n 5
3. Rationale (cont.) Good governance Accountability Transparency Participatory ( ownership ) Participatory budgeting Decentralisation Results-orientation Medium-term budgeting russels, slide n 6
4. Classification Wide variety of experiences (no blueprint) Classification along different criteria + linkages among different criteria 4.1. Aims Awareness raising Accountability Reformulation of the budget 4.2. Political Location avantages and disadvantages Inside Government Within particular ministries Ministry of Finance Ministry of Equal Opportunities/Gender Line ministries (ed, health, transport) Combination of line & central ministries russels, slide n 7
4. Classification (cont.).2. Political location (cont.) Outside government Civil society, research institutes, etc.: e.g. UK Combined (inside & outside) See e.g. South Africa: Ministry of Finance (GBI) + Women s Budget Initiative Uganda: Ministry of Finance (GBI) + lobby-group within parliament + NGO Tanzania: Ministry of Finance (GBI) + Tanzanian Gender Networking Programme Switzerland: Ministry of Equal Opportunities + trade unions russels, slide n 8
4. Classification (cont.) 4.3. Coverage Expenditures Most of the initiatives, particularly in developing countries mostly social expenditures (education, health) Revenues more in industrialised countries E.g. Belgium: effect of tax reform E.g. gendered effect of different tax systems (direct versus indirect taxes) in developing countries E.g. effect of user fees in Zambia, Kenya E.g. gendered effect of different types of taxes in Nepal russels, slide n 9
4. Classification (cont.) 4.4. Phase of the budget/policy cycle ex-ante: e.g. gender-aware policy appraisal ex-nunc: e.g. Eslon s budget cycle framework ex-post: e.g. gender-disaggregated benefit incidence analysis 4.5. Reporting Official annex to the budget ( gender budget statement ) See e.g. France (jaune budgétaire): see slide 11 Pakistan (federal & province of Punjab): see slide 12 informal reporting Policy briefs, leaflets, articles in newspapers, etc. russels, slide n 10
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Source: GRBI Pakistan website russels, slide n 12
5. Approaches and tools: selected overview 5.1. General approaches Budlender and Sharp 3 categories approach (see a.o. Budlender and Sharp, 1998) Elson s Budget Cycle Framework (see Elson, 2002) 5.2. Tools (see a.o. Hewitt, 2002) gender-aware policy appraisal gender-disaggregated beneficiary assessment gender-aware macro-economic models and medium term economic policy & expenditure framework (see Cagatay, Elson and Grown, 1995) gender-disaggregated benefit incidence analysis (see Demery, 2002) gender-disaggregated revenue incidence analysis (see Himmelweit, 2002a;2002b) gender-disaggregated analysis of impact of the budget on time use gender-aware budget statement russels, slide n 13
Budlender and Sharp s 3-categories approach classification of expenditures in three categories: 1. Gender-specific expenditures (MINOR) 2. Equal employment opportunity expenditures (programs aimed at change within government) (MINOR) 3. General expenditures (LARGE) 1. Expenditures specifically targeted to men and women intended to meet their particular needs example: Australia: agricultural office (see slide 19) russels, slide n 14
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Budlender and Sharp s 3-categories approach (cont.). Equal employment opportunity expenditures Two elements of analysis are relevant: patterns of government employment (do they reflect principles of equal opportunities?) gender-sensitivity of public services could also be determined by employment patterns at the delivery points of public services Specific questions included: description of employment patterns for each ministry (desaggregation according to sex, educational level, salary,form of employment ) description of employment patterns at delivery points of public services with a gender focus (police, reception centre, ) description of membership of committees, advisory boards (distinction between paid and voluntary boards) description of special initiatives to promote equal employment opportunity Examples: Belgium: employment patterns in the public sector (see slide 17) Barbados: membership of committees (see slide 18) russels, slide n 16
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Budlender and Sharp s 3-categories approach (cont.) 3. General expenditures = general or mainstream budget expenditures that deliver goods to the whole population most of the expenditures in different portfolios Possibilities of analysis: see different tools (see 5.2.) russels, slide n 19
Gender-aware policy appraisal Gender-analysis of the planned poverty reduction & sector policy & programme basic question: in what ways will the policies and the associated resource allocations affect men and women; or gender (in)equalities and empowerment specific questions (data requirements): What are the current gender inequalities in the country, sector (e.g. results of previous gender analysis (benefit incidence analysis, beneficiary assessment, Harvard/Moser frameworks, )? What is the likely impact of current policy on these inequalities? Does the policy address these inequalities? Is it possible to reformulate policy? Is it possible to add specific policy measures as to make the policy gender-responsive ( gender-neutral, gender-progressive )? Are resources adequate to implement gender-responsive policies? Examples South Africa: land reform (see slide 21) Rwanda: land reform (see slide 28) russels, slide n 20
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Gender-disaggregated benefit incidence analysis Examines the distribution of public services (and related expenditures) over men and women Three step methodology Identification of unit cost of social services (+ disaggregation over different sub-categories) Identification of usage that is made of social services (+ disaggregation along other criteria: geographical location, age, class, ) Linking of the two previous steps Limits No thorough analysis regarding underlying causes (need for complementary intra-household resource allocation) No economic cost-benefit analysis No differences in needs are taken into account Examples: Ivory Coast: education (see slides 23-25) russels, slide n 22
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Gender-disaggregated revenue incidence analysis examines the distribution of the burden of government revenue raising so far, more focus on industrialized countries (tax administration) data requirements: information about primary and secondary income distribution at individual level differentiation between direct and indirect effects: analysis of direct effects at the level of the individual income analysis of indirect effects at the level of: bargaining power allocation of resources at the level of the household (investment in human capital) allocation of productive resources (who participates at market labour?) long-term welfare of men and women (pensions, ) Examples: Belgium: tax reform: see slide 27 russels, slide n 26
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Selected references Budlender, D. and R. SHARP with K. ALEN (1998). How to do a gender-sensitive budget analysis: contemporary research and practice. Commonwealth Secretariat and AusAID, London and Canberra Budlender, D., D. Elson, G. Hewitt and T. Mukhodpadhyay (eds)(2002). Gender Budgets Make Cents: Understanding gender responsive budgets. London: Commonwealth Secretariat. Budlender, D. and G. Hewitt (eds)(2002). Gender Budgets Make More Cents: Country Studies and Good Practice. London: Commonwealth Secretariat Demery, L. (2002). Gender and Public Spending: Insights from Benefit Incidence, in UNIFEM (eds), Gender budget initiatives: strategies, concepts and experiences. New York: UNIFEM, pp. 38-55. Hewitt, G. (2002). Gender responsive budget initiatives: Tools and methodology, in UNIFEM (eds), Gender budget initiatives: strategies, concepts and experiences, New York: UNIFEM, pp. 30-37 Himmelweit, S. (2002a). Making visible the hidden economy: the case for gender-impact analysis of economic policy, Feminist Economics, vol. 8, nr. 1, pp. 49-70. Himmelweit, S. (2002b). Tools for Budget Impact Analysis, in UNIFEM (eds), Gender budget initiatives: strategies, concepts and experiences, New York: UNIFEM, pp. 62-69. Hofbauer Balmori Helena (2003). Gender and Budgets: Overview Report, Bridge Cutting Edge Pack on Gender and Budget, UK: Institute of Development Studies: Bridge. Holvoet, N. (2006). Gender Budgeting: its usefulness in programme-based approaches to aid: Briefing Note, Brussels: European Commission, EC Gender Help Desk, 56 p. Holvoet, N. (2006). Gender Budgeting: its usefulness in programme-based approaches to aid: Briefing Note, Brussels: European Commission, EC Gender Help Desk, 56 p. (with annexes) Holvoet, N. (2007). Gender Budgeting in Belgium. Findings from a pilot project, European Societies, vol. 9, nr. 2, pp. 275-300. Holvoet, N. (2006). Gender Budgeting Briefing Note. Reeves, H. and H. Wach (1999). Women s and gender Budgets : an annotated resource list. Prepared for the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). United Kingdom, Brighton, BRIDGE, Institute for Development Studies (http://www.ids.ac.uk/bridge/budgets.pdf) Reeves, H. and C. Sever (2003). Supporting resource collection, in BRIDGE, Gender and Budgets Cutting Edge Pack. Brighton: Institute of Development Studies (IDS) (http://www.ids.ac.uk/bridge/reports/cep-budgets- SRC.pdf) russels, slide n 28
Thank you! nathalie.holvoet@ua.ac.be January, 19 th 2009 Nathalie Holvoet