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Gender Budgeting in Scotland

Gender Budgeting in Scotland. Angela O’Hagan, 25 May 2011. Perspectives. Personal, professional, partisan SWBG and Scottish experience UK Women’s Budget Group Context for GBI. SWBG’s key objectives .

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Gender Budgeting in Scotland

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  1. Gender Budgeting in Scotland Angela O’Hagan, 25 May 2011

  2. Perspectives • Personal, professional, partisan • SWBG and Scottish experience • UK Women’s Budget Group • Context for GBI

  3. SWBG’s key objectives • To encourage and advise the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government to conduct and incorporate a gendered analysis of the outcomes of all public spending • To advise the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government on the connections between policy objectives and spending plans • To monitor public spending in Scotland and to review how that spending may affect women and men differently • To highlight where policy and spending plans may have a negative impact on women.

  4. Gender Budget Analysis • Gender Budget Analysis (GBA) is a tool for making the connections between policy priorities and the allocation of resources and for identifying how expenditure benefits women and men. • SWBG believes that analysing how Government Spending Plans affect women and men can inform those plans and improve policy making as a result. • SWBG aims to encourage the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government to integrate effective gender analysis into the practices and processes associated with the national budget.

  5. Scottish context • Spending plans • Equalities Mainstreaming • Draft Budget, Annual Expenditure Review, • Scottish Parliament Equal Opportunities Committee, and other Committees • Policy and other consultations – Independent Budget Review, Cttee Inquiries

  6. Scottish Women’s Budget Group • Voluntary • Unresourced • International • Tenacious and determined • Successful (?) • Vulnerable • Optimistic

  7. New Era, New Politics, Re-newing opportunities (?) • 1999 – dawn of new era for political institutions in Scotland; • New era for equalities? • Nested newness (Mackay) • 2011 – next stage in Scotland’s devolution; an uncharted political landscape; alignment of political narratives? • Women’s representation “stalling not falling” at 35%

  8. Caterpillar rollercoaster • Slow progress • Early ups • Finance Minister; EPBGAG; Internal Study; Departmental Pilots • Mid-point slumps • Policy constraints; Finance Dept. engagement dwindled; EPBPAG off course; SWBG energy sapped • Upward progress • Scottish Parliament, Equal Opportunities Committee; Equality Statements, 2010, 2011; OCEA/ASD in EBAG, challenges to data collection and economic modelling; mixed effectiveness of legislative levers and opportunities.

  9. UK Women’s Budget Group • “In all our work, we ask the question: 'Where do resources go, and what impact does resource allocation have on gender equality?' The impact that government expenditure can have on women's everyday lives, especially women experiencing poverty, is of particular concern to us.” • On UK Budget 2011-12, • “This budget is a disappointing one for women. WBG’s assessment suggests that gender equality is under threat, both in terms of income, and of jobs, and of ability to reconcile employment with the time to care for family, friends and neighbours”, (WBG Response to UK Budget 2011-12, 14 April 2011).

  10. UK Women’s Budget Group • Inspirational, authoritative • Closer links • Voluntary group and Management Committee • Limited grant funding • UK Budget/UK Treasury/Taxation and Benefits • Building alliances • Consolidating reputation

  11. Conditions and Context • Range of favourable conditions as pre-requisites for GBIs • Political will and institutional commitment, aboveallfrom Finance and EconomicPolicydepts; • Supportive policy environment and institutional architecture; • Engagement of outsider/external feminist activists/women’s organisations; • Commitment and resourcestomake visible the norms and differencesbetweenwomen and men as users of publicservices; • Generate a disposition and dynamic for gender awareness and analysis and tochangeprocessesaroundresourceallocation • Institutional dynamics – interaction Parliament and Executive; • Policy space; • International/simultaneous/comparable initiatives; • From voluntarism, external push to integrated ownership by government

  12. Challenges and Opportunities • Weaknesses in implementation of legislative framework; • Weakening of gender/equalities infrastructure in UK; • “Rolling back of gender equality” – legal, economic, social dimensions. • Legal challenges to UK Government – Fawcett (2010) • UK government pursuit of “fairness” and austerity; • Majority government in Scotland that “aspires to be an exemplar in equality and diversity” • Engagement of OCEA and ASD in EBAG

  13. International Perspectives • “The flow of ideas across national borders in feminism has been a catalyst for... women’s empowerment and the role of political women’s agency in influencing governments”, (Hobson, Lewis and Sim, 2002).

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