An Introduction to Gender Budgeting and the

Experience of the UK Women’s Budget Group

Swedish Ministry of FinanceStockholm, Sweden

October 8, 20049-12pm

UK Women’s Budget Group

• About the the WBG• Working with Government

What is gender budgeting?

• Not a separate budget for women• Analysing any form of public

expenditure, or method of raising public money, from a gender perspective

• A tool for testing a government’s gender mainstreaming commitments

Why do gender budgeting?

• Policy affects women and men differently due to the existing pattern of gender inequalities

• Evaluate the impact on the unpaid economy as well as paid economy

Aims of gender budgeting

• To integrate a gender analysis into economic policy

• To promote greater accountability for government’s commitment to gender equality

• To change budgets and policies

Benefits of gender budgeting

• Reducing socio-economic gender inequalities

• Improving policy efficiency• Internal benefits for governments

Policy areas covered:

• Public spending and revenue• National budget• Gender machinery of government

How to do gender budgeting

• Evolving concept and practice• Auditing revenue and expenditure• Toolkits• Stages in the budget cycle• Gender budget statements

UK Examples

Case Study - New Deal for the Unemployed• Flagship government scheme• 57% to young unemployed; 23% long term

unemployed; 8% to lone parents; 12% other N.D.s

BUT• N.D. Young People - 72% men and 28% women• N.D. Long Term Unemployed - 84% men and

16% women• N.D. for Lone 95% women

Transport

• Men are predominant users of private transport (e.g. cars)

• Women more reliant on public transport

• Women and men have different patterns of transport use

Gender analysis of the budget

Questions explored Requirements1. Making gender visible Who are the recipients? Data disaggregated by sex2. Auditing revenue andexpenditure

How is spending/revenuedistributed betweenwomen and men?

Expenditure and revenuestatistics disaggregated by sex

3. Gender impactassessment

What are implications inthe short and long term forthe gender distribution of:- resources (money andtime)?- paid and unpaid work?

Is provision adequate tothe needs of women andmen?

How does policy affectgender norms and roles?

Data on the unpaid, caringeconomy (i.e. a satelliteaccount incorporating time-usedata)

Micro-analytic model ofincome distribution,incorporating model ofeconomic (e.g. labour supply)and other (e.g. fertility)behaviour sensitive to genderdifferentials

Sensitivity to gendersegregation, cultural practicesand gender norms and theimpact that policy has onsupporting or reconstructingthese.

4. Gendermainstreaming

How is gender taken intoaccount in policyformulation, design andimplementation?

What priorities are givento reducing genderinequality?

Cooperation across governmentagencies and across the policyprocess

Awareness of the scope ofgender issues and ability tosearch out more hidden aspectsof gender inequality

Tools to assess the aims andpriorities attached to policy

5. Benchmarking Are specific targets forgender equality being met?

Awareness of complexity ofgender inequalities whensetting targets

Ability to locate the policy andother influences on particularsocial phenomena

Gender Analysis of Expenditure Project

• Pilot project to run for 6 months from Spring 2003

• Joint HM Treasury, Women & Equality Unit leadership of project with WBG involvement

How did we do it?• Pilot involving 2 government

department’s:• Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) • Department for Trade and Industry (DTI)

• A brief high-level gender-disaggregated expenditure analysis for each department

• A detailed gender disaggregated expenditure analysis for up to 2 specific programmes

Why did HM Treasury do it?

• Economic efficiency• Service delivery• Improved policy-making• Customer focus• Gender mainstreaming

Lessons

• Time• Commitment• Data• Joint working with high level

support • Targets