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Gender Budgeting: Promoting Gender E quality Through Economic Policy

Explore the importance of gender budgeting in promoting gender equality, its methodologies, and impact on economic policy. Learn how to facilitate gender budgeting within parliaments.

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Gender Budgeting: Promoting Gender E quality Through Economic Policy

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  1. Gender Budgeting:Promoting Gender Equality Through Economic Policy Professor Claire Annesley University of Manchester / Women’s Budget Group claire.annesley@manchester.ac.uk Presentation to International Parliamentary Conference on Gender and Politics Portcullis House, Westminster 7 November 2012

  2. The Problem: Gender Inequality • Some progress towards gender in terms of international, regional, national and local initiatives, strategies and policies. • But gender inequality remains in employment, income, resources, education, health and personal safety. • Danger that gender equality falls off the agenda in times of economic austerity.

  3. Country at-risk-of-poverty rate by gender: 2010 • http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_266844.pdf_266844.pdf

  4. The Case for Gender Budgeting • Gender Budgeting is a powerful tool to promote gender equality in economic policy. Including in times of economic austerity. • What is Gender Budgeting? • Why Gender Budgeting? • How it is done? And by whom? • A case study of the UK: recent examples of Gender Budget analysis by MPs and UK WBG.

  5. What is Gender Budgeting? • It is not a separate budget for women. • It is not about spending the same on men and women. • It is about whether spending is adequate to meet men and women’s needs. • The analysis of any form of public expenditure or method of raising public money from a gender perspective.

  6. Why Gender Budgeting? • Budgets are not ‘neutral’ (Elson 1998). • Existing patterns of gender inequality mean that budgets affect men and women in distinct ways. • Important to take into account impact of budgets on paid and unpaid economies. • Gender budgeting can promote equality and efficiency in economic decision making (Himmelweit 2002).

  7. How to do Gender Budgeting • Wide range of tools & methods, for example: • Beneficiary assessments • Public expenditure incidence analysis • Tax incidence analysis • Gender impact analysis • Gender mainstreaming • GB can be done at any point of the budget cycle: planning  identifying objectives  financial allocation  evaluating outcomes.

  8. Who can do Gender Budgeting? • Gender Budgeting can be done by actors inside and outside government. • Government: Ministry of Finance; Ministry for Women / Equality; other Government departments • Civil Society groups: holding government to account. • Parliament: scrutinising budgets; questions.

  9. Gender Budgeting in Parliament • Cross-national variation in parliamentary roles and capacities regarding the budgetary process. • Constraints in gender budgeting due to: party discipline; legal frameworks; weak committee system; time. • But: trend towards growing role of parliaments in budgetary process (IPU 2004).

  10. Facilitating Gender Budgeting in Parliament • Boost the representation of women in Parliament. • Reform legal frameworks to give parliament a meaningful role in budgetary process. • Improve gender budgeting research and know-how. In-house and through links with non-parliamentary experts. • Questions to ministers e.g. relating to the gender breakdown of expenditure figures.

  11. Facilitating Gender Budgeting in Parliament • Boost women’s representation on parliamentary committees that deal with budget scrutiny. Positive action? Quotas? • Require parliamentary scrutiny bodies to take evidence from women’s organisations and women service users. • Develop toolkits and questions for parliamentary scrutiny bodies to consider gender perspective.

  12. Case Study: Gender Budgeting in the UK • Elections May 2010 led to change of government from Labour Party to Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition. • Emergency Budget June 2010 set direction of economic policy: to reduce public deficit through rapid cuts in public spending rather than by raising income through taxation. • Gender Budget Analysis of economic policy produced by MPs in Parliament and organisations such as WBG.

  13. Gender Budgeting Actors in the UK • HM Treasury (Ministry of Finance) • Since 2010 weak record of gender budgeting despite legal obligation. • Since September 2012 no female members of government in Treasury team. • UK Women’s Budget Group • Since 1989 an independent organisation made up of academics, members of NGOs and trade unions: www.wbg.org.uk; • Detailed analysis of budgets, spending reviews, policy reforms.

  14. Gender Budgeting Actors in the UK • Parliamentarians 145/650 women = 22.3% • Individual MPs, e.g. Yvette Cooper, Kate Green. • Committees • Treasury: 2/13 women (15.3%); male chair (Andrew Tyrie) • Public Accounts: 4/14 women (28.5%); female chair (Margaret Hodge) • Work and Pensions: 7/11 women (63.6%); female chair (Anne Begg).

  15. Gender Budgeting in the UK • Gender Budgeting analysis by MPs and WBG reveals that: • Austerity policies are being paid for predominantly by women • Certain groups of women – lone parents and single pensioners - are particularly harshly affected • Progress made towards gender equality is being threatened.

  16. 1/ UK Budgetary Decisions • Gender audit of Budget and Spending Reviews commissioned by Labour MP Yvette Cooper, carried out by House of Commons library. • Analysis of the changes to main personal tax and benefit measures announced in the Budget. • For each tax or benefit change it looks at: • the total amount cut or raised • the number of men and women that pay it • and works out approximately how much of the revenue comes from men and how much from women (or is given back to men or women).

  17. 1/ UK Budgetary Decisions • Finding: • In June 2010 Budget, of the £9bn net revenue to be raised by the financial year 2014-15, £6.4bn will be from women, in contrast with £2.6bn from men.  71% from women • http://www.yvettecooper.com/women-bear-brunt-of-budget-cuts

  18. 1/ UK Budgetary Decisions • Yvette Cooper / House of Commons Library repeated the analysis for subsequent economic decisions to calculate combined effect of: • June 2010 Budget + Comprehensive Spending Review 2010 + 2011 Budget + 2011 Autumn Statement + 2012 Budget. • Finding: £11.1bn will be from women in contrast with £3.8bn from men  74% from women

  19. 2/ Comprehensive Spending Review 2010 • CSR in October 2010 set out cuts to public spending across government departments. • Public expenditure incidence analysis conducted by the UK Women’s Budget Group with Landman Economics. • Uses household data on service use to model the effects of spending on several areas, most importantly: • Health • Education • Social Care • Social Housing • Transport • http://wbg.org.uk/RRB_Reports_4_1653541019.pdf

  20. Effects of spending cuts by family type: as % of net income, all services

  21. Effects of spending cuts by family type: as % of net income, all services

  22. 3/ Indirect Taxation • Value Added Tax (VAT) raised to 20% but tax on fuel (petrol and diesel) kept stable. • Analysis of the gendered impact of measures regarding indirect taxation commissioned for Women’s Budget Group, by Jerome De Henau and Cristina Santos. • http://wbg.org.uk/pdfs/Indirect_tax_Budget_2011_final_report_June_20.pdf

  23. Indirect Tax Increases • VAT increased from 17.5% to 20% in the June 2010 Budget, with effect from 4 January 2011. • Estimated to raise £12,100 million in 2011/12 fiscal year. Who pays? Figures: Impact of rise in VAT, by household composition and type: increase in cash amount paid by households and percentage points change incidence on household income • Lone mothers, pensioner couples and couples with children pay the most as a proportion of their income.

  24. Indirect Tax Giveaways • In March 2011 Budget the fuel duty escalator was abolished and main fuel duty rate was cut by 1p / litre. • A major tax giveaway, estimated to cost the Government £1,900 million in 2011/12. Who benefits? Figures: Impact of change in fuel duty, by household composition and type, on weekly cash payments: gains from 1p cut in duty and combined gains from cut in duty and abolition of fuel duty escalator. • Single female pensioners and lone mothers benefit the least

  25. The Importance of Gender Budgeting • Gender budgeting essential for establishing a clear picture of the gendered impact of public expenditure and raising public money. • Gender budgeting can promote gender equality and more efficient economic decision making. • Evidence that gender budgeting can lead to more equitable policy outcomes.

  26. The Importance of Gender Budgeting • UK example: what can happen when a Government pursues austerity policies without gender budgeting. • Harsh impact on women, particularly lone parents and single female pensioners. • MPs’ and WBG analysis essential for holding government to account and providing evidence for other gender equality advocates.

  27. Some References • Bellamy (2002) ‘Gender Budgeting’ Council of Europe. • Costa, Sawer and Sharp (2012) ‘Women Acting for Women’ International Feminist Journal of Politics • Elson (1998) ‘Integrating Gender Issues into National Budgetary Policies and Procedures’ Journal of International Development. • Elson (2004) ‘Engendering Government Budgets in the Context of Globalization’ International Feminist Journal of Politics. • Himmelweit (2002) ‘Making Visible the Hidden Economy’ Feminist Economics. • IPU (2004) ‘Parliament, the Budget and Gender’ http://www.ipu.org/PDF/publications/budget_en.pdf • WBG (2005) ‘Women’s Budget Group response to the Hansard Society Project on Financial Scrutiny’ wbg.org.uk/documents/Hansard_financialscrutinyproject_response09.05.pdf

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