Gender Responsive Budgeting

GENDER responsive budgeting

Textbook for Universities

Gender responsive budgeting

Textbook for Universities

Title: Gender Responsive Budgeting, Textbook for Universities Authors: Prof. Azra Hadžiahmetović, Lead Author Prof. Tatjana Đuric-Kuzmanović Prof. Elizabeth M. Klatzer Dr. Marija Risteska Publisher: Publishing & Booktrading Company „UNIVERSITY PRESS – MAGISTRAT EDITIONS“ Sarajevo For Publisher: Dragan S. Marković, Managing Director Reviewers: Prof. Rhonda Sharp Prof. Mirjana Dokmanović Coordination and Technical Assistance: Maja Bosnić, National GRB Coordinator for BiH, UN Women Technical assistance: Ermira Lubani, Regional GRB Manager, UN Women Jovana Bazerkovska, National GRB Coordinator for Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Rezart Xhelo, National GRB Coordinator for Albania Translation: Senada Kreso Ivona Kristic Sanja Onešćuk-Tahirović Proofreading: Christopher Hughes Nirmala Ajanović Graphic design: Bojan Mustur Printing company: Amosgraf Print run: 200 November 2013 The production of this publication was supported through the Regional Project “Promoting Gender Responsive Policies in South East Europe” (2011-2013) implemented by United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women(UN Women) and financially supported by Austrian Development Agency (ADA). Views given in this publication represent opinion of authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of UN Women, ADA, United Nations or any of its other agencies.

Gender responsive budgeting Textbook for Universities

Sarajevo, 2013

UNIVERSITY PRESS Izdanja Magistrat

Foreword Academia in Bosnia and Herzegovina has made a major breakthrough in mainstreaming gender at scholarly level. These steps of the Academia inspired the prepration of the first regional gender responsive budgeting textbook for universities in South East Europe in collaboration with UN Women, which I am happy to present.

UN Women has been providing technical and financial support to gender responsive budgeting initiatives worldwide for many years. This textbook was produced under the UN Women regional programme “Promoting Gender responsive policies in South-East Europe� implemented in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia with financial support of the Austrian Development Agency and UN Women.

While the global initiatives supported by UN Women produced significant number of publications and manuals to facilitate the application of gender responsive budgeting among civil society organizations and governmental institutions, very few of these have been targeting academic institutions and their engagement with this subject.

This textbook, a pioneer among academic publications on gender responsive budgeting in the region, brings together a unique combination of knowledge and experience of four distinguished university professors and experts from five different countries.

It provides comprehensive overview of gender responsive budgeting: from the basic concepts of budget and planning, to gender responsive budgeting methodologies and global examples of implementation. The textbook is expected to not only serve as a key material for studying gender responsive budgeting in gender studies university programs, but to also be used by professors and students in other fields as well as by experts and practitioners who aim to apply gender responsive budgeting in their work.

It is my hope that the textbook will have a significant impact on how gender responsive budgeting is introduced, studied and researched in academic institutions in the region and, that it will contribute to sustainability of existing efforts to apply gender responsive budgeting in practice.

Petra Burcikova Officer in Charge, Central and South-East Europe, UN Women

ReviewS of the GRB Textbook for Universities The authors have collectively produced a wide-ranging manuscript on the topic of gender responsive budgeting and I congratulate them on their efforts.

The manuscript brings together a substantial body of theory and practice on gender responsive budgeting from across the world. The manuscript appropriately positions the practices and strategies of GRB in the broader context of developing a gender sensitive approach to macroeconomic policy and public finances. Importantly the authors recognize that developing a gender responsive approach to budgeting entails developing sound analyses with a gender perspective and strategic actions on the part of the different groups engaged in changing budgets and policies to promote gender equality.

The publication of a textbook on gender responsive budgeting is timely as the literature and practice of GRB is now substantial but to my knowledge there is no university level textbook comprehensively covering the topic. In the first instance students at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Sarajevo will benefit from the text in the Masters in Gender Studies Program. The inclusion of examples of GRB initiatives in South East Europe in addition to the implementation of new initiatives in the region will increase the relevance of the text for the Masters Program.

The material in the text would be useful in GRB training by international organisations, governments and civil society groups. The use of teaching and learning devices such as concept and case study ‘boxes’, diagrams and comparative tables would assist in making the text attractive for use in training workshops. Given the expansion of GRB initiatives worldwide there is a continuing need to build expertise in the field and quality teaching and learning materials are crucial in achieving this objective. The publishers and authors might consider putting together a training or student learning pack based on the text.

Beyond gender studies programs selective parts of the text could have broader appeal to economics, public policy and administration and politics programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels that seek to engage with gender perspectives in policies and budgets particularly in the English-speaking world. Such teaching and learning however desirable remains relatively limited in university courses beyond gender studies.

Prepared by: Rhonda Sharp Adjunct Professor Hawke Research Institute University of South Australia

The publication “Gender Budgeting” is the first textbook on this subject in the South East European (SEE) region aimed at facilitating the process of introducing a specific course on gender budgeting at universities in the respective countries. Its authors have fully met the high expectations they faced when preparing this comprehensive publication.

Indubitably, it will become mandatory reading for students, researchers and all others who strive to deepen their knowledge in this field as well as for women’s rights advocates. The textbook significantly and valuably enriches existing resources in the field of gender studies and feminist economics in the languages of the countries in the region.

The main quality of this publication is that it may be used as a multifunctional tool on both a theoretical and a practical level. It can be utilised as a teaching tool, an advocacy tool for enhancing gender equality policy, as a practical tool for mainstreaming gender into policies at various level, as a tool for changing the paradigm of development and introducing a rights based approach to development, as a tool to bring the human and gender perspective to classical economics and as a tool for raising public awareness on the link between gender equality and policies and their level of enjoyment of basic human rights.

This publication will also help to sharpen the tool of advocacy for women’s groups and feminist economists in SEE and thus support their efforts to challenge mainstream gender blind economics that is based on an incomplete understanding of how economies work.

The publication consists of four parts followed by conclusions and recommendations.

The first part is intended to introduce and raise understanding on the global macroeconomic context and basic concepts, functions and methods of budget as a reflection of policy. The next part describes the links between gender in/equality and economy, the legal and political preconditions for achieving gender equality, international and European standards in the field and gender sensitive indicators as tools for measuring gender inequality. The importance of understanding “social reproduction” and mainstreaming gender into the macro-economy is clearly discussed and presented.

The main body of this publication relates to a detailed explanation of the theoretical framework and concepts of gender responsive budgeting, including its history and development (Part Two) and the gender responsive budget analysis, approaches, instruments and methods (Part Three). The starting point is that, “Gender responsive budget formulation actually refers to the drafting of budgets with a ‘human face’ for women and girls, men and boys; translating gender sensitive policies into budget lines and categories and linking particular policies with resources needed for their implementation and eliminating the gap between the policy and the provision of resources”.

Therefore, this process “underlines the responsibility of the state for pledges it committed to in terms of implementation of gender equality improvement policy and in terms of economic reforms acceleration”.

Consequently, the specific roles of different stakeholders at both the national and local level, in both the government and non-governmental sectors, involved in the process of gender budgeting have been elaborated.

The ‘value-added’ section provides an overview and a comparative analysis of the various gender responsive budgeting initiatives implemented in countries within the European Union, in SEE and selected global examples. Case studies

provide an insight into the best examples of implementing gender budgeting initiatives around the globe, specifically focused on Europe and the SEE region.

It also provides a synthesised analysis of the key approaches and achievements as well as the challenges that lie ahead for the implementation of gender budgeting initiatives. Notably, they have contributed to improved statistics and the use of gender disaggregated data for policy analysis and budgeting, improved the budget decision making process and gender policy implementation. However, most gender budgeting initiatives are focused on gender budget analysis without promoting budget change as a means of achieving the gender goals.

Therefore, the authors conclude that one gender budgeting model “is not the only strategy and that the same model cannot be applied forever in one country; evolution is as much needed as adaptation to the economic and political system of the country�. This is particularly applicable under the current context of a rapidly changing economic and political climate. This observation is, at the same time, a call, motivation and a challenge for Master and doctoral students of gender studies and feminist economics to respond and to use these innovative tools for shaping progressive development and an economy with a “human face�.

Prepared by: Dr. Mirjana Dokmanovic Faculty of European Legal and Political Studies Serbia

Table of Contents PART ONE / UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT

14

I BUDGET AS A MIRROR OF POLICY

15

1. The Main Pillars of Economic Management

15

2. Economic Policy and Budget

17

3. Basic Concepts and Issues of Budgeting

20

4. Budgetary Classifications and Budgeting Methods

23

5. Main Functions of the Budget

27

6. Budgeting Process

32

II GENDER IN / EQUALITY AND ECONOMY

36

1. Basic Concepts of Gender and Gender Mainstreaming

36

2. Principles and the Importance of Achieving Gender Equality

41

3. Measuring Gender Inequalities: Gender Sensitive Indicators

45

4. Legal and Political Preconditions for Gender Equality

50

III GENDER AND ECONOMIC POLICY

61

1. Gender and Economy: Mainstreaming the Gender Perspective in the Macro-economy

61

2. Understanding Sectors of Economy from a Gender Perspective

64

3. Importance of Understanding ‘Social Reproduction’

68

4. Gender Macro-economy

70

5. Gender and the Key Challenges for the Global Economy

77

REFERENCE: PART ONE

84

PART TWO / GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGETING

88

1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND CONCEPTS

89

1.1. Gender Aware Public Finance

90

1.2. ‘Women’s’ and Gender Responsive Budgets

91

1.3. What is and what is not GRB?

92

1.4. Gender Negative, Gender Neutral and Gender Sensitive Budgets

93

1.5. Reasons and Objectives for GR Budgeting

98

1.6. The History and Development of GR Budgeting

99

1.7. Principles and Prerequisites of GR Budgeting

102

1.8. Design of the Strategy and Selection of Priorities for GR Budgeting

104

2. BUDGETING FOR GENDER: PROMOTION OF GENDER EQUALITY THROUGH BUDGET

106

2.1. Macroeconomic Environment for Taxation and Public Spending

106

2.2. Performance Oriented Budget (POB) and its Gender related Implications

110

2.3. Programme Budgeting and Gender Budgeting

113

2.4. Analytical and Technical Instruments of GR Budgeting

114

2.5. Assessment of the Capacity for GR Budgeting

117

3. GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGETING IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EU

120

3.1. Mid-term Financial Framework from the Perspective of Gender Equality

121

3.2. EU Budgetary Process and EC Recommendations

122

3.3. Repercussions of EU Fiscal Rules on National Budgetary Policies

125

3.4. Gender Balance and Cohesion

126

4. THE ROLE OF DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDERS IN THE PROCESS OF GENDER BUDGETING

128

4.1. Government and Public Administration

128

4.2. Civil Society and NGOs

130

4.3. Parliament

131

4.4. International Organisations and Agencies

131

4.5. Researchers

132

4.6. The Media

132

5. DATA REQUIREMENTS FOR GRB AND GENDER INDICATORS

133

5.1. Gender Sensitive Indicators and adding Equality as a Performance Indicator

134

REFERENCE: PART TWO

138

PART THREE / GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGET ANALYSIS AND APPROACHES

146

1. FRAMEWORK FOR LINKING BUDGETING WITH GENDER EQUALITY

147

1.1. The Levels of Public Finance Analysis from a Gender Perspective

147

1.2. Categories for analysing the impact of public finance on gender equality

148

1.3. Functional Framework for Relating Budget to Gender Equality

149

1.4. Gender Budget Analysis and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

150

1.5. Integrating GRB into the different Stages of the Budget Process

151

2. INSTRUMENTS AND METHODS FOR ANALYSING BUDGETS, POLICIES AND PROCESSES

157

2.1. Overview of Tools and Approaches

157

2.2. Presentation of the Main Tools and Instruments for Gender Budget Analysis

159

2.2.1. Gender Aware Public Policy Appraisal

159

2.2.2. Gender Disaggregated Incidence Analysis of Public Expenditure

163

2.2.3. Gender Aware Beneficiary Assessment

167

2.2.4. Gender Disaggregated Analysis of the Impact of Public Expenditure on Time Use

170

2.2.5. Analysis of Public Revenue: Gender Disaggregated Revenue Incidence Analysis

172

2.3.6. Costing of Policies and Programmes of High Relevance to Women and Girls

177

2.3.7. Other Tools used in Gender Responsive Budget Work

181

3. APPROACHES FOR INTEGRATING GRB INTO BUDGETARY PROCESSES

183

3.1. Gender Responsive Call Circulars or Budget Guidelines

183

3.2. Gender Aware Budget Statements and Budget Reports

186

3.3. Gender Aware Medium Term Financial Framework

192

3.4. Gender Responsive Participatory Budgeting

194

4. FROM GENDER SENSITIVE ANALYSIS TO GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGETING

197

REFERENCES: PART THREE

200

PART FOUR / IMPLEMENTATION OF GENDER SENSITIVE BUDGETING INITIATIVES

204

1. EXPERIENCES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GRB

206

Global Case Studies

206

1.1. Australia

206

1.2. Canada

208

1.3. South Africa

211

European Case Studies

214

1.4. Austria

214

1.5. Belgium

217

1.6. France

219

1.7. Spain

220

1.8. United Kingdom

223

South East Europe Case Studies

225

1.9. Macedonia

225

1.10. Albania

228

1.11. Serbia

231

1.12. Bosnia and Herzegovina

234

2. LESSONS LEARNED

238

2.1. Comparative Analysis of GRB Approaches used in the Case Study Countries

238

2.1.1. Awareness raising

238

2.1.1.2. Capacity Building

239

2.1.1.3. Broad based Partnerships

239

2.1.1.4. Methodological Tools used

240

2.1.1.5. Level of GRB Intervention (Central, Regional and Local)

240

2.2. Comparative Analysis of Achievements

240

2.2.1. Improved Statistics

240

2.2.2. Improved Budget Decision Making Process

241

2.2.3. Improved Policy Implementation

241

2.3. Comparative Analysis of the Challenges and Limitations of GRB in the Case Study Countries 241 2.3.1. GRB is more than Allocations Specifically Targeted at Women

242

2.3.2. Importance of the Wider Economic Context

242

2.3.3. Importance of Politics

242

2.3.4. The importance of Revenue and Expenditure Analysis

243

3. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

243

REFERENCE: PART FOUR

246

Authors

256

PART ONE

UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT

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I BUDGET AS A MIRROR OF POLICY 1. The Main Pillars of Economic Management The history of economics has been accompanied by a discussion on the role of the market and the state as the two main frameworks for social interaction, the mechanisms of coordination for commercial entities, regulators of economic activity and the means of communication. The market is a truly powerful instrument for the allocation of resources and, in particular, an accepted mechanism that can provide answers to the key economic questions of what, how and for whom to produce goods and services. Thus, it is no surprise that economists are mostly inclined towards the market as a developed framework for harmonising economic activity by means of price and supply and demand. Of course in order for market forces to be able to do this in the most efficient way the conditions for perfect competition are a requirement, yet this is an ideal as opposed to a real life situation.

The economic reality remains far from the ideal world of perfect competition and therefore these days nobody questions the responsibility and necessity of the state taking an active part in the economy. This is due to the numerous and unacceptable economic, social and societal factors of an economy operating solely on the basis of market principles. Today the state is a key economic stakeholder, regulator of the economic system and corrector of market operations; the success or lack of success of an economic operation is measured in terms of the split responsibility between the market and the state.

Nevertheless, this does not imply that full consensus on the role of the state and the scope for its intervention within the economy has been achieved as this has been a central issue and cause of theoretical and political confrontation for centuries. We should remind ourselves that the whole of the 19th century was marked by the philosophy of Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’ and ‘Laissez-faire’. According to Smith the state should interfere as little as possible in the economy and surrender its operation to market forces that are capable of ensuring an environment where individual economic decisions made for one’s own benefit also produce beneficial effects for society as a whole. In the late 19th century a re-examination of this approach resulted in powerful arguments that pointed out the shortcomings of a market economy, particularly the consequences of market imperfections. Attention was focused on issues of efficiency, externality, public goods and the unacceptable level of inequality in the distribution of income and expenditure.

The major economic crisis of the 1920s and 1930s also gave rise to new questions related to macro-economic inadequacies of market mechanisms. These crises, associated with a drastic decline in economic activity, high unemployment, recession and inflation, showed that economies cannot operate exclusively on market principles and that it is necessary for the state to play a more active role in stabilising the economy. The theoretical basis for this ‘new’ role of the state in managing the economy and its business cycles was provided by J.M. Keynes, who fully understood both the advantages and disadvantages of market and non-market (state) mechanisms. Thanks to him, economists today have at their disposal a wide range of mechanisms for monitoring and managing business cycles.

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At the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century the failure of government to rectify market imperfections together with the financial, debt and humanitarian crises once again triggered a re-examination of the role of the state and its ability to respond to the challenges related to economic stability and crisis. The increased role of the state was manifested through an increased share of state expenditure in terms of GDP and further regulation of the economy.

Within economic theory the dilemma of whether to have only market or state is seen as false. Today the state plays a key role through simultaneously restraining and correcting the imperfections of the market mechanisms, which sometimes includes completely replacing it.

Thus, the main economic function of the state is focused on the following: • improved economic efficacy and competitiveness; • re-distribution of income and a reduction in inequality; and • economic stability through the promotion of conditions to encourage increased economic growth, reduced unemployment and inflation and an improved position of the economy in the international sphere.

The state performs its main function using the tools of taxation, public spending and borrowing or grants (namely fiscal policy), regulation and through monetary, income and foreign trade policy using different combinations to achieve the best possible correction of market mechanisms. In order to carry out its economic function the state has to develop a clear understanding of the problem by: a) assessing possible solutions, dependent on whether or not the market anomalies need to be corrected and if the state might offer a better solution than the market; and b) selecting different options and combinations of policy measures.

How the states should decide on, for example, taxes, spending, grants, regulatory and other policies is best described through the theory of public choice, which was established by J. Schumpeter in his work ‘Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy’. The point Schumpeter makes is that, “Public choice is a process whereby individual wishes are combined into common decisions” (see Samuelson, 2000, p.283). This means that reaching decisions on taxes and spending should include what taxation system to use, what type and amount of tax to impose, what method of tax collection to adopt, the total level of public expenditure, its structure and the criteria to be used to allocate funds to various items of expenditure.

Within the context of public choice, the key question is why and how society should arrive at its decision in favour of the state (with its collective interests and objectives) in an economy that is made up of individual actors (with their individual interests). In other words, how are social preferences identified and used as prerequisites for decision making?

While striving to find an answer to this question we should consider the welfare economy or welfare state, which focuses on the criteria of social choice i.e., as a criteria for evaluating the validity of public action. As a framework, particularly for public finance, a welfare

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economy addresses the social desirability of alternative economic states. It also explains the role of the state in creating the necessary conditions for the optimal organisation of the economy and avoiding the negative effects of the market whilst maximising the general welfare; this means that it takes responsibility for the material, social and economic security of individuals. The fundamental question that arises here is how to ensure compliance with the two basic postulates of welfare, namely efficiency and equity, through the market, which works in the interests of individuals, or the state, which aims to represent the collective interests. It is beyond question that the market, through its nature, ensures the more efficient allocation of resources. Yet it is also certain that if the market is imperfect the state should become involved to encourage efficiency.

On the other hand, the market is often shaped by the categories of heritage according to class, race, sex, etc. and therefore under conditions that allow for perfect competition these might lead to politically and ethically unacceptable inequalities. Acceptability is, of course, assessed on the basis of a number of criteria that justify state intervention. Furthermore, the very notion of inequality may be interpreted differently with definitions ranging from equal opportunity (possibilities at the start) to the equalisation of needs through a reallocation of income and benefits. Within this context it is worth mentioning Aristotle’s ‘Principles of Justice’ wherein horizontal justice means that individuals in equal positions should be treated equally and vertical justice means that individuals in different positions are treated differently. Viewed economically, inequality in the allocation of income and benefits may be justified if, for example, it concerns unequal rights and differences in productivity contributions, opportunities and needs. Such differences could, for example, determine the direction of policies focused on the provision of equal start opportunities, if it relates to different abilities or the allocation of grants in the case of different needs.

In summation, it is worth remembering the importance of social preferences as the basis for a more active role on the part of the state and the fundamental postulates of welfare economics as the “logics of economic policy” (see Caffe, 1966, p.86).

2. Economic Policy and Budget Two interdependent yet rarely conforming approaches are possible when identifying social preferences.

The first is the positivist approach to identifying social preferences within a given period.

This approach reflects the state’s involvement in the economy, such as the effects of public spending on economic and social conditions or the adequacy of the existing taxation system.

The second is the normative approach, which is based a certain premises or value judgments concerning what constitutes the ‘collective’ or ‘general’ (public) interest (good); it explains how and according to which criteria the state should become involved. For example, what should be the size of the public sector and how and according to what criteria should tax money be collected and allocated to various expenditure items, grants, etc?

The term ‘public good’ (service) relates to meeting the common needs of a certain group or the entire population. Economists make a distinction between ‘pure’ public good (e.g., military or police), ‘quasi’ public good (e.g., motorways), and ‘merit’ public goods (e.g.,

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interventions in consumer choice such as compulsory education, the prohibition of alcohol or drugs). The state is responsible for determining the suitable allocation of resources for the public good to ensuring their satisfactory provision. Not all of these goods have the character of serving the public good or services (e.g., education in the private sector) but they all have the characteristics that make them a matter of public interest.

Another important issue that requires economic and ethical consideration is the reallocation of income to address equality/inequality. The three key questions below are of critical importance. a) How is inequality measured? b) What is the theoretical and political basis that justifies the reallocation? c) Which instruments or policies can be used to facilitate the reallocation?

The term policy (public) relates to the principles used to govern an activity aimed at achieving goals (preferences). Therefore, economic policy should be a system of economic measures and activities used by the government to direct economic activity towards meeting set goals. This could stimulate or hinder, be appropriate or not in terms of serving the interests of society as a whole and/or group (individual) interests; it depends on the level of development of the society in question, the organisational model and structure of the economy and the key stakeholders involved in economic policy.

Public policy can also be considered as a scientific discipline and in this respect can be viewed as a means of examining the role of the state in the economy. It can be used to study public economic activity from various perspectives, for example, considering the different economic viewpoints, social preferences and alternative measures together with their effect.

Therefore, both as a policy and a scientific discipline, it deals with public economic operation. The history of economic policy is long and rich ranging from the Far East to ancient Greece and Rome, mercantilism, physiocratism, classicism and ‘Laissez-faire’ philosophy to contemporary Keynesian and neo-classical concepts. Across this broad range of applications the key question remains the same: What can and should the state do in the economy?

Some see the state as necessary while others see it as a critical stakeholder. Whereas one might assign it the role of tax collector necessary for financing key expenditure another may consider taxes and public spending to be key tools for stabilising the economy and providing the conditions needed for economic growth.

Yet in spite of disagreement on the concepts of economic policy few disagree about the objectives of economic policy. Naturally, it should be kept in mind that the conditions of life in a society influence the formulation of economic policy objectives so that they reflect the social preferences. They are measured in terms of economic variables, such as, income and employment, and as such must be specific measurable and feasible. The fact that the objectives may be independent complementary or conflicting should also be considered as this highlights the pluralism and multi-dimensional character of economic policy. Kirschen (1964) classified economic objectives into short-term or conjunctural (full employment, stabile prices, balanced balance of payments), long-term (economic growth, better resource allocation, re-distribution of income, satisfaction of collective needs and regulation) and auxiliary. They may be economic, social, and/or political but together they represent a set

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of principles and tasks used to govern the economic policy holders. Various economic policy instruments are used to achieve objectives and these instruments may also be classified in different ways. So, for example, Tinbergen (1956) distinguishes between quantitative (changed value of existing instruments), qualitative (introduction of a new or termination of an existing instrument) and reform instruments (change of economic system). Instruments may be direct or indirect, linear or selective, mandatory or indicative but they also differ depending on whether they only internally or externally influence economic trends. By the method of their operation, they may be automatic (integrated into the economic system) or discretionary stabilisers (measures taken on an ‘as needed’ basis).

In its attempts to achieve its objectives economic policy uses the following instruments: • monetary policy (managing money and the banking system); • fiscal or budgetary policy (taxation, public spending and borrowings); • income and pricing policies; • external economic policies (foreign trade, foreign currency, customs and balance of payments); and • direct control.

It is particularly important to emphasise the need for internal coordination of economic policy instruments. This stems from the fact that different instruments can affect various objectives and therefore the use of one instrument may cause various effects for several objectives. When developing economic policy concepts one also has to take into account the time dimension for its use and the effects of economic policy instruments. In addition, the inter-dependence that exemplifies today’s economies accentuates the necessity for international coordination and harmonisation of economic policy instruments.

All of this points to the necessity of having a comprehensive overview of the objectives and instruments of economic policy that testifies to its consistency. Economic policy is particularly important for the purposes of evaluating its efficiency, which is measured by the reality of its objectives, harmonisation of its objectives and instruments, the coordination of the instruments and timely response.

Activities related to the collection, allocation and spending of the financial resources of the state for the purpose of meeting the common needs of the society are referred to as public finances. Public finances also play an active role in regulating economic flows. So the main function of, for example, taxes or public spending are not just related to public finance but also have the role of economic policy instruments that affect, amongst others, spending, prices, incomes, investment and redistribution. In this way the financial flows of public finance are integrated into the overall economic flow. Contemporary public financing is characterised by the possibility of economic and social interventions intended for having compensatory and corrective effects; this forms the socioeconomic dimension of public finance.

The most important component of public finance is fiscal policy or the use of taxes and government expenditure for the purpose of mitigating business cycles and contributing towards

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increased growth and lower unemployment and inflation. This is why it is so important to view fiscal policy as part of overall economic policy, particularly for the previously mentioned reason of the inter-dependence of objectives and the need to coordinate economic policy instruments. Its multidimensional importance suggests the necessity to carefully choose the fiscal policy measures that form the overall economic policy effective and purposeful. The effects of the financial system and public finance are assessed from the point of view of the effect that tax revenue and government expenditure have on the key economic aggregates: the effect on demand, effect on liquidity, effect on substitution and the effect on redistribution. The automatic stabilisers of fiscal policy work spontaneously as shock absorbers as a consequence of cyclic changes and relate to automatic changes to the revenue from taxes (e.g., progressive taxation or expansion is associated with higher taxation whereas recession is associated with lower taxes) and transfer payments. Its programmes and measures affect fluctuations in the economy without government intervention. Discretionary fiscal policies include public works, capital programmes, the introduction of new and changes to existing taxes, etc. Yet neither of the two types of fiscal policy are without limitations, being limited in terms of their reach, stabilisation effect and time delays.

One should keep in mind that these public finance functions must be realised simultaneously and within the same budget development process that links public revenue to public expenditure.

3. Basic Concepts and Issues of Budgeting The budget is the most important instrument used to translate government policies into programmes and services provided to citizens. At the same time, it is a mechanism for selecting policy priorities, resource allocation and a tool used by the state to intervene in the economy and direct resource flows. As the main document for the financing of public functions the budget contains a plan covering revenue and expenditure for government programmes for a given period.

Although its deepest roots extend as far back as antique Greece and ancient Rome ‘buget’ appeared for the first time as a financial instrument in the fifteenth century. The word itself originates from the Latin word ‘bulga’ (French ‘buge’ and ‘bougette’, English ‘budget’) which means leather bag; however, it was used to describe a public finance instrument for the first time in France in 1806, as a term for the state budget.

Different positions on the role of the state in the economy were accompanied by various concepts of the role of the budget. Advocates of a minimalist role for the state considered the budget as an instrument of clearance that should be assigned as small a role as possible. On the contrary, those who argued that the state should play a critical role in the stabilisation of the economy and the provision of the conditions for economic growth and full employment saw the budget as a key policy instrument. It should be mentioned here that the budget is the most important tool for achieving goals related to the redistribution of income and the provision of justice and equality (social aspect of the budget).

The budget relates directly to overall economic trends and its revenues and expenditures directly correspond to trends in production, income and investment, including some

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external (international) influences such as external negative shocks like crises. In addition, taxes and government programmes have different effects on redistribution as they are less dependent on the total budget than on the structure of public revenue and government spending programmes.

The budgetary system of a country comprises regulations, institutions and relations concerning budget financing. The budgetary system is most commonly governed by the principles that discern the scope, structure, authorities and procedures for public finance which in turn reflects the political and economic institutional structure of the country as well as the role of the budget in achieving policy goals. The profile of the budgetary system is determined by the level of centralisation/decentralisation of budget rights as well as the choice of budgetary singularity (financing public spending through the budget) or pluralism (other public funds and or capital budgets used to finance public spending, additional to the budget). This is where the various concepts of the scope of budget come from: a central budget or budget of central government (revenue and expenditure of the higher level of government), consolidated budget (one that includes local authorities) and a quasi-fiscal budget.

When developing and executing a budget or budget systems use appropriate rules and principles. While the scope and method of their implementation is determined by the political, economic and social particularities of a given country, financial theory and practice recognises the budgetary principles outlined below.

1. Principle of budgetary clarity: clear overview of public revenue and expenditure, grouped or specified according to certain criteria - type and source of revenue, beneficiaries and type of expenditure.

2. Principle of budgetary comprehensiveness: all revenue and expenditure of a state are shown in the budget.

3. Principle of budgetary unity: all public revenue and expenditure shown in a single budgetary document.

4. Principle of budgetary accuracy: realistic forecasts for revenue and expenditure.

5. Principle of budgetary classification: public revenue and public expenditure in the budget shown in a clear and systematic way following adopted classification – qualitative (example, a beneficiary of public expenditure), quantitative (example, level of expenditure on individual beneficiaries) and time-related (certain period during which beneficiaries have at their disposal a certain budgetary income).

6. Principle of budgetary balance: public revenue and expenditure in balance.

7. Principle of budgetary publicity: adoption, execution and control of the budget are publically available.

8. Principle of budgetary periodicity (one-year): the budget is adopted for a specific period, most commonly one year.

9. Principle of prior approval: the budget must be approved before any expenditure is made.

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In order to understand the components of a budget a simple accounting overview of a balanced budget is presented below.

Budget = Revenue (current, capital) - Expenditure (government expenditure, government investment, current transfers, interest, and transfers to the capital account).

Public revenue is generated from various sources. Typically, state revenue includes taxes, contributions, fees, customs duties and excise taxes, revenue of public companies, public loans and monetary emission funds. The most important source of revenue, namely the taxes, is also the key instrument of economic policy used to achieve efficiency and equality. The wide range of possibilities for taxation (share of taxes in public revenue, the tax structure or tax burden per capita) and its effect underlines the importance of choosing the optimum taxation system. Taxes are classified as direct (income tax, corporate income tax, property tax) and indirect (sales tax, value added tax). Direct taxes are paid by organisations or individuals to the imposing entity and unlike indirect taxes cannot be shifted to another individual or entity. In order to analyse the effects of redistribution taxes are divided into proportional (tax rate fixed, as the tax basis changes), progressive (tax rates increase faster than the tax base) and regressive (tax rates increase slower than the tax base).

On the other hand, public expenditure constitutes state expenditure required to meet public needs and serve the public interest (financing government functions, education, science, health, social insurance, culture and sport). The size depends on the scope of the functions that the state performs for society and corresponds directly to various concepts on the role of the state. The modern understanding is focused on their economic and social importance and so the structure of public expenditure depends on political, economic and social goals and priorities.

When identifying the scope of the need and structure of public expenditure one particularly important factor is the distribution of income and benefits in a society. As a result of the imperative to achieve justice and equality larger disparities and emphasised inequalities create pressure to increase grants and public expenditure for redistribution. Although there is a general trend of increased public expenditure it should be said that this requirement is not the only explanation for such a trend.

If the total amount of expenditure equals the public revenue then the budget is balanced.

Surplus revenue that exceeds public spending is called a budget surplus, while a budget characterised by excess expenditure over total revenue is known as a budget deficit.

For a long time a balanced budget has been a sign of ‘healthy’ public finance; however, increasing demand for government spending on the one hand and limited ability to increase revenue, particularly by increasing taxes, on the other has turned budget surplus and budget deficit into economic policy tools. Priority is given to economic and social stability, efficacy of budgetary activities irrespective of maintaining budget balance. So budget surplus has a deflationary character and is used as part of anti-inflation policy (restricting budgetary spending, and restrictive budgetary policy). In this way the effect of public spending ‘overheating’ the economy can be corrected. A budget surplus can also be the result of increased budgetary revenue. We should mention in particular the effect of automatic stabilisers: an automatic increase in tax revenue resulting from an expansion of economic activity. The efficacy of budget surplus as a policy instrument certainly depends on the use of the surplus.

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If the ‘surplus’ is used to increase public spending then the anti-inflationary effect of budget surplus is annulled. However, if for example it is used for the repayment of debt then the budgetary surplus becomes an important economic policy tool.

A budget deficit can have many causes including unrealistic planning and forecasting of public revenue and expenditure, increased demand for public spending or reduced public revenue. Public borrowing, monetary emissions, fiscal (tax) pressure and international borrowing are instruments commonly used to cover the deficit. Depending on the given conditions in the economy a policy of deficit financing is used when priority is given to economic balance and stability over budgetary stability. A deliberate increase in public spending is quite often used as a compensatory measure to support economic activity.

It is of particular importance to distinguish a budget deficit from a public debt. Public debt describes the situation and is a reflection of cumulative budgetary deficits. Public debt may be used to cover a budget deficit and as an economic policy instrument. One example is that of government borrowing in the national financial market through buying or selling government securities, which at the same time is an important monetary policy tool. Government foreign debt (international borrowing) is an integral part of public debt and is used to cover budget deficits and as a means to encourage economic activity and structural adjustment. It is important to take the latter into account when assessing the acceptability of foreign debt.

The fiscal capacity of a country to regularly pay (service) its debt liabilities arising from its consolidated public debt is also important.

How does public debt reflect on the economy? If, for example, the state borrows from national commercial entities (public loans) this has an advantage over the funds of monetary emissions that can have inflationary effects. Benefits are also on the side of internal public debt over the external one, because funds of, for example, public loans or monetary emissions remain in the country. However, its critical disadvantage is the effects that arise from the inter-dependence of various economic variables ‘squeeze out’ on the investment (the crowding out effect). International borrowing (external debt) is an important source of funds needed to cover public debt; however, the out-flow of funds from the country used for servicing the external debt and the potential for over-indebtedness can create a particular debt ‘burden’ the negative effects of which can result in significant restrictions for financing government programmes and projects.

All of this implies the necessity of public debt management. The level, composition and capacity to service public debt are key indicators used to judge the success of an economy in meeting its economic and social goals. However, one of main dilemmas of public financing policy within the context of increasing demands on the state is the question of whether to increase taxes or borrow more.

4. Budgetary Classifications and Budgeting Methods Budgetary classifications include economic classifications for public revenue and expenditure and organisational, functional, programme oriented classifications according to the sources of financing. National and international sources of finance as well as public debt liabilities are an integral part of such classifications. Typically, we can distinguish the following:

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• economic classification of revenue that is done on the basis of the institutional framework that determines the sources of public revenue; • economic classification of expenditure that shows different goods and services and grant payments; • organisational classification that gives an overview of budgetary spending according to the beneficiaries; • functional classification that shows expenditure according to its functional purpose for specific areas; • programme oriented classification that is done according to the programmes of budget fund users; and • classification according to the sources of financing that sorts budgetary revenue and expenditure in accordance with the realisation of such funds.

The increasing role of the state in economic life and growing demands placed on public spending have imposed the necessity for a higher level of rationality for public spending on the one hand and achieving higher efficiency in meeting public needs on the other. How to reconcile the requirement for rationality and efficacy in budgeting has been the motive behind various approaches.

The method for planning public expenditure typically begins from the one-year period for which the budget has been adopted; this is the first restricting factor when it comes to public finance planning. The principle of a one-year budget limits the use of important elements that influence both public revenue and public expenditure spanning a period that is longer than one year. In terms of the current understanding of economy, such a short period leads to irrational spending of public funds and inadequate planning of the taxation system. This traditional approach towards budgeting typically starts from the proposals submitted by various budget users wherein under conditions of limited resources and increased demand their interests are preferred over the collective (public) interest. It is typically linked to the budget user and not to the purpose of their operation. Therefore, it is not a realistic basis for allocating resources to goals identified upfront. In addition, this traditional approach, for example, fails to take into account the positive effects of public debt (encouraging economic growth) on future increases in public revenue. Therefore, there is an apparent imbalance in the present day use of finance for the purpose of achieving future balance at a higher level of economic activity.

It is therefore no surprise that there is a move towards the following budgetary reforms: 1. mid-term (multi-annual) financial framework; 2. results-focused budgeting; and 3. increased efficacy of government programmes resulting from cost-benefit analysis.

One of the methods that were developed as an attempt to comply with the three aforesaid requirements of budgetary reforms was budgetary planning and programming (PPB system).

PPB is a complete methodological procedure for planning and evaluating the rationality of

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budgetary expenditure. This method was first used in the USA in 1965, based on experience of its use within defence. The PPB system is a modified variant of programme budgeting that bases budgetary expenditure on programmes as well as on the organisational units participating in their implementation.

The characteristics of programme budgeting are as follows: • budgetary expenditure linked to the programmes being financed; • programmes are evaluated independently from the organisational units participating in their implementation; • programmes are viewed over a number of time periods; and • use of cost-benefit analysis in programme evaluation.

Another variant of programme budgeting is budgeting by outcomes. This method links the available resources to their impacts. Thus, the focus of programmes is on effective budgeting and programmes are measured according to defined indicators over time. One advantage of this budgeting method is that it strengthens responsibility for the budgeting process.

Budgeting procedure for programme budgeting is done through the following phases: 1. identify programmes goals, categories and sub-categories; 2. identify alternative policies to programme implementation; 3. cost-benefit analysis conducted for each alternative; 4. identify measures for comparing the various alternatives; and 5. selection of the optimal alternative for programme implementation.

One variant of programme budgeting is the performance of budgeting using performance indicators. Key issue concern the choice of performance (criteria of efficacy, effectiveness or results) or the measures of performance. So, for example, a successful programme for measuring performance provides an answer to the two questions shown below.

1. Performance programming – for example: a. number of health services provided; b. how efficient is the use of health resources; and c. how effectively were the health services provided.

2. Budgetary effectiveness of the services (purpose of the service, effects of the service, has it prevented a problem, was the service adequate and what was the user satisfaction).

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When designing performances one starts from the services that are to be measured and the performance measures, what is a prerequisite for adoption of the new or improving effectiveness of the existing decisions.

In addition to programme-based budgeting (by effect) we should also mention incremental budgeting where each budget item may be changed for an amount (percentage) that has been determined in advanced, based on expected changes in the economy. Each budgetary user is given an increase on the previous year’s budget dependent on macro-economic indicators such as the expected GDP growth rate, inflation, etc. It can be linear, progressive or regressive, but the main shortcoming of this method of budgeting is that it does not allow for the effective distribution of public revenue.

The third budgeting method is the Zero-Base-Budgeting or ZBB. This method begins with the assumption that public expenditure items have never existed (starts from ‘zero’) and excludes the automatic repetition of requests for the transfer of financial programmes from one budgetary period to another. The ZBB procedure includes the following: 1. identification of goals, priorities and programmes; 2. identification of various elements of the programme (needs assessment); 3. cost-benefit analysis of alternative possibilities to programme implementation; 4. determination of the ranking list of programmes; and 5. financing programmes on the list from top to bottom.

And finally, we should mention the Sunset Legislation method that has clearly specified durations for financing specific public expenditure programmes. The accent is placed on limited duration programmes which make this budgeting method directly focused on efficacy of budget expenditure, strengthening responsibility and encouraging the efficacy of government.

In addition to the budget, which is the binding document, another budgetary process has recently been introduced into budgeting practice – the mid-term budgetary framework – to serve as instrument of orientation.

The below are the two main reasons for adopting this approach.

1. Financial: mid-term plan establishes a framework for financing programmes that span a longer period.

2. Economic: planned government programmes and their effects are closely related to overall economic trends and provide an insight for the evaluation of the possible effects of the financial activities of the state on key economic performances. As such, they serve as a good basis for forecasting economic trends.

The mid-term financial framework provides the possibility to harmonise the need for public revenue (to be used for financing public expenditure) with economic trends and thus diminishes the risk of short-term conjunctures. Each year the forecasting is harmonised with economic developments; at the present time this is the key framework plan for the adoption of the budget.

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5. Main Functions of the Budget In our prior considerations we have repeatedly mentioned the multiple importance of budget, such as economic, social, political, developmental and stabilisation. Yet we should also keep in mind that the role of the budget is directly related to those goals that it is intended to achieve by means of its key components: taxes and public spending. This will help us to understand the various aspects and functions of the budget and its importance not only as the critical instrument of public finance and economic policy but also as a legal, political, social and control mechanism for society.

The financial aspect of budget is defined according to its function, which is an accounting statement of the financing of public needs and the collection of public revenue to be used for such financing. Therefore, this implies the identification of the sources of its funds intended for financing public needs as well as the users to whom the funds would be allocated. This balances public needs with the possibilities to finance them, which means that there must be some sort of prioritisation for finance.

The economic aspect of the budgetary function relates to the role of the budget as an economic policy instrument. Budget and economic trends are closely linked and suggest the following: • budget shares the fate of overall economic development; • budget influences overall economic development; and • budget is used for the purpose of improving economic activity.

Diminishing economic activity, income and employment reflects on budgetary revenue and the key source of budgetary revenue that of taxation, which can be used to influence production, income, spending, employment and prices. Public spending is part of overall spending and exerts a significant influence over key economic performance and is therefore an important determinant of GDP. So, for example, budgetary spending allocated to finance, amongst other things, infrastructure, grant payments and public procurement encourages economic activity, production and employment and reflects on price relations and international economic relations. By performing its economic function the budget, as an instrument, is directly related to other economic policies such as monetary policy (by means of monetary emissions for financing the budget deficit) and balance of payment policy (by means of foreign debt, purchases abroad). It is one in a set of tools for anti-inflationary and anti-cyclic policies.

The social aspect of the budgetary function is manifested in its redistribution role. For example, taxes and grant payments are an important instrument for the (re)distribution of income to achieve greater justice, equality and a more balanced and even form of development. The redistribution of income, amelioration of differences, special purpose programmes, subsidies, incentives etc. are all part of the main function of the budget and used for reallocation between various groups of the population, sectors or regions.

The planning aspect of the budgetary function follows from the definition of budget as planned revenues that will be used for financing future public expenditures. Focused on the future period (one year) or financial plan (mid-term financial framework) it contains

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elements of prognosis and forecast for public revenue and public expenditure as well as overall economic trends.

The legal aspect of the budgetary function is a reflection of its specific weight as a legal document, law, with all the legal consequences as such. The mutual regulation of legal relations, defining the respective roles of various institutions, budgetary procedure, rules, links to other laws (for example, those regulating taxes, public sector salaries and public procurement), its binding character over parliament for the process of adoption and control and the government in the process of budget preparation or execution gives the budget a role of particular importance. A whole developed system and special branch of law – budgetary law – testifies to this fact.

The political aspect of the budgetary function stems from the fact that it is adopted by the highest legislative body – the parliament – and this says that the budget is a political document that by its nature includes political goals. In addition, the system of representative democracy implies the involvement of a broad range of interested participants within the budgetary process, which contributes to political weight of the budget. As a political document the budget represents the policy of the state, the policy of the ruling political majority, with identified priorities and political consequences of political choices. In complex budgetary systems the relationship between various levels of government is also reflected through budgetary relations. Procedures for changing (adjusting) a budget and supervision of its execution give additional political character to the functions of the budget.

In order to better understand the key economic functions of the budget we feel it is particularly important to understand why the budget is needed in the first place. Firstly, the limited amount of resources (public revenue) on the one hand and increasing demand and expectations for public expenditure on other has made this issue a common one for all countries.

The fact that available resources are limited (public revenue) has lead to the development of a whole taxation mechanism. Despite the widely accepted position is that no tax is good, taxes are considered necessary. Continual pressure to increase revenue (taxes) has made the states of today ‘tax’ states and as D. Bennet observed taxes increase so much that the government will soon drive itself away from the market. A separate set of issues are the demands to strengthen competition, which creates pressure to reduce the tax burden. All this imposes the necessity for careful planning of public revenue, public expenditure and the selection of priorities within the rational and effective use of budget funds.

Secondly, the expansion of tax coverage and the development of taxation systems combined with increasing public revenue have made taxes an integral part of the considerations as to how tax payers’ money is to be spent. What are the expectations for individual investments made today in terms of higher future spending of public goods and services? Such demands for transparency in public finance are the key for the adoption of government decisions on the allocation of resources by means of the budget.

And finally, the effects of the taxation system, public spending, budgetary deficit/surplus and public debt on the economy have made budgets a necessary instrument of directing the overall economic trends in a country.

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This explains the now generally accepted position of Neumark on three key roles of the budget: • instrument of cyclical (anti-cyclical) policy; • instrument of compensatory policy (preferring economic balance over budgetary balance); and • instrument of stabilisation policy with a focus on determining public spending independently from conjunctures in public revenue and with special emphasis on the role of taxes. It is worth remembering the contribution towards the elaboration of this role of the budget provided by M. Friedman.

Three main functions of public finance are linked to the name of R. Musgrave: 1. Allocation 2. Distribution 3. Stabilisation.

Allocation as a budgetary function is primarily linked to imperfections in market operations and the necessary intervention of the state. Namely, by the nature of its operation the market is best at allocating resources according to their effectiveness and usefulness. Certainly, under the assumption of perfect conditions the market can do this in the best possible way. However, due to the lack of such almost ideal conditions for the market mechanism to operate and the growing need and expectation of the provision of adequate public goods and services the role of the state and its intervention by use of budgetary instruments has become a necessity. The budget reflects the choice and source of funds for meeting public needs as well as the purpose and effectiveness of spending public funds. Having in mind that not all public needs are met by the public sector, the budget is also used to select the needs that should rationally be met by public funds and those that are better provided for by the public sector. In this way the budget makes the optimal allocation of funds for the provision of public and private goods and services used to meet the common needs. Therefore, the state makes allocations to the public and private sectors and influences the configuration of economic flows and distribution relations to society by means of the budget. The budget is also a reflection of the allocation for individual purposes within the public sector (structure of public revenue and public spending).

The distributive (redistributive) function of the budget can be seen through its effect on the distribution (redistribution) of total income for the purpose of providing better education and or health. The distribution of income is done independently from the state; however, the social character of the state obliges it to bring relations in distribution within a socially acceptable framework by use of redistribution. Differences between members of communities, groups (irrespective of the nature of their differences) and inter sector and intra-regional differences on the one hand and the demands for justice and equality on the other lay the basis for this, what many would agree, most important function of the state.

By means of the budget taxes and grants redistribute income between various groups and individuals in society. Differences in income, ability and skills can be reduced through progressive taxation, tax incentives and tax exemptions. This kind of ‘reallocation’ of taxation

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requires a selection in order to maximise the social role of the state and welfare society.

However, performing this function does not go without a number of, for economists, very important questions: • What are the various redistribution effects of direct and indirect taxation?

• What is the optimal taxation system for maximising welfare in terms of equality and effectiveness?

• How to distribute the burden on tax payers in a way that ensures equality?

• Whether individuals (groups) should be organised differently with the aim of ensuring equality of income?

• How to comply with the principle of justice in taxation and the general tax obligation of an even distribution of the tax burden?

• How to deal with the distorting effect of tax on efficacy?

Alternative and complementary instruments for the redistributive budgetary function are grants to individuals and or population groups with the aim to ensure the implementation of the human right that every individual should enjoy some minimum standard. Grants may be: • cash transfers (monetary payments); • in kind (goods or services such as healthcare, education, the provision of food); or • vouchers for specific goods or services (such as food and medical services).

The stabilising function of the budget stems from various concepts of budget. The classic concept, as we have already seen, places particular importance on budgetary balance whereas the modern understanding moves away from this narrower concept and gives preference to balance in the economy as a whole (stabile growth, full employment, stabile prices and a balanced balance of payments) over balancing the budget. With the aim of stabilising the economy and society as a whole intervention through economic policy, of which public revenue and expenditure are integral parts, emphasises the importance of the budgetary contribution in terms of general stabilisation. In this sense, we wish to reiterate the fact that public revenue, particularly taxes, influences the provision of funds for public spending, including grants and salaries of public sector employees. As public expenditure is not covered exclusively by public revenue but also from public loans, monetary emissions and international borrowing it is of great importance to keep in mind the aforementioned effects that public debt has on economic stability. Budget is therefore an important element of stabilisation for economic aggregates: production, employment, pricing and foreign economic relations. Together with other policies and macro-economic instruments, the budget is used to encourage economic growth. So, for example, various types of support (subsidies, grants and taxation policy) can encourage specific activities such as agriculture, building infrastructure, maintaining low prices for individual products and or services etc. The state does this by means of the budget if the market does not produce optimal results or for reasons of strategic importance for individual industries, branches, products or services.

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Indirectly, the budget may influence the general liquidity of the economy by means of the effects of budgetary deficit and budgetary surplus. The role of the budget is particularly important for providing the conditions for sustainable development by exercising influence over all three of the components of sustainability: economic, social and environmental. So, for example, the redistributive function of primary allocation provides for, amongst others, free primary education, healthcare, tax benefits for certain activities or groups of population, exemption from taxes for specific products or services, financing social programmes, the organisation of public works and taxation and financing in the function of environmental sustainability. By applying public finance instruments by means of the budget the state may encourage the development of underdeveloped regions in order to secure the stability of the overall development of society, its sustainability and evenness.

The stabilising function of the budget is seen as part of state anti-cyclical policy comprising a set of activities aimed at mitigating business cycles and ensuring economic stability.

Monetary measures (in terms of money and loans) are not enough, which further underlines the particular importance of financial measures applied by means of the budget in line with fiscal policy. Restrictive fiscal policy (increased taxes and reduced expenditure) and budgetary surplus are integral parts of anti-inflationary policy. Under conditions of recession the budget uses public revenue and public expenditure to influence the harmonisation of key macro-economic aggregates: reducing taxes (encouraging business activity), increasing transfers (poverty amelioration) and the organisation of public works (encouraging employment).

For the purposes of analysis, three analytical budgetary categories are of particular importance: • actual budget reflects actual revenue and actual expenditure (real balance, budgetary surplus or budgetary deficit); • structural budget takes note of what would be public revenue and public expenditure if the economy worked with fully development potential; and • cyclic budget is the difference between the actual and structural budgets and is a measure of the effects of the business cycles (expansion or recession) on budget.

Expansive fiscal policy and the use of budgetary deficit as a policy instrument, accumulating deficit and the growth of public debt, imposes the necessity for fiscal consolidation with demand in order to adjust state spending to meet the revenue. Due to the unpopularity of tax increases the main demands of fiscal consolidation are focused on the side of revenue wherein revenue is increased without a corresponding increase in taxation (reducing tax evasion, terminating tax incentives and tax exemptions and reducing corruption).

Consolidation on the side of public expenditure is aimed at its reduction, which opens the previously identified issue of prioritisation (what of government financed programmes will have to be cancelled or reduced and to what extent?). There is also the issue of balancing the demand for fiscal consolidation on the one hand with the three key functions performed by the budget on the other.

It is worth mentioning that the state performs all three functions (allocating, distributing and stabilising) at the same time and within the same budgetary process. Having in mind

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the importance of each of them there is the necessity to coordinate budgetary measures, including the selection of priority operations and the timeliness for response, and this give special specific weight to the budget.

6. Budgeting Process In order to understand the entire budgeting process it is necessary to first understand the budgetary cycle, which includes a set of procedures, actions, activities related to the preparation, adoption, execution and control of the budget. Budgeting cycles also follow the budgetary calendar concerning the time schedule for activities at different stages of budgeting. So, for example, one year preparations are made for budgets for the following year.

Although the budget is typically adopted for only one calendar year, the budgetary cycle and budgetary calendar also include activities and procedures that extend over a longer period.

Therefore, in the same budget year activities related to three budgets: the year before, the current year and the next budget. The regulations of each country describe the details of the budgetary calendar, procedures and the responsibilities of individual institutions involved in the budgeting process.

A. Budget Preparation The right to budgetary initiative is regulated by national legislation and is typically entrusted to the executive bodies of government responsible for the area of public finance, namely the ministries of finances. However, in some countries the right to budgetary initiative lays with the parliament (France), congress (USA) and other bodies of executive power (Italy, Greece and Denmark). Yet, irrespective of the right to budgetary initiative, preparation of the budget is done by the ministries of finance.

Due to the nature of budget, its size, role and the function it performs, the budget preparation process requires cooperation among various sectors to define the procedures and deadlines for the submission of proposals and financial plans of the budget users. The first important task within the process is the careful selection of the budget revenue and budget expenditure planning methodology.

Economic theory and practice knows three methods: • method of direct evaluation of budget revenue and expenditure (the basis for this assessment is the revenue and expenditure from the previous budgetary year adjusted to take into account the expected changes in the year for which the budget is being prepared; • method of automatic assessment (based on data from previous budgetary years); and • normative method (which begins with the selection of measures (performances) that are commonly used for state bodies; revenue and expenditure are planned on the basis of the choices made).

These three methods directly correspond to the previously considered budgeting methods.

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Planning of revenue and expenditure and the preparation of the draft budget are done through the following stages: • formulating the goals that need to be achieved by the budget, in particular taking into consideration the overall economic trends (economic growth rates, unemployment, inflation, status of the balance of payments, amount of public debt and the share of debt in GDP); • preparing the proposal for the financial plan of the budget users (pre-calculation of expenditure on the basis of clearly determined elements); • considering and harmonising the proposals for the financial plans of individual users within the context of the expected scope of revenue; • drafting the budget containing elements of the revenue and expenditure plan, balance of revenue and balance of expenditure as well as the normative part; and • considering the draft budget and adopting the government budget proposal.

B. Budget Adoption The budget adoption procedure is defined by national legislation and varies from one country to another depending on the internal organisation of the state, the parliamentary system and the authorities of different institutions (budget law). However, what all of them have in common is involvement in the representative body for the budget procedure and government policy. Parliamentary discussion and the role of parliamentary bodies in the process of adoption of the budget and possible changes and amendments to proposals are done in accordance with the legislative procedure. This is of specific weight as budget discussions are typically focused on government policies and involve ‘games with the government’. The adopted budget, which may differ from the government proposal, is published in an official publication, which is standard for the publication of laws and in line with the principle of publicity and transparency. It contains a general and special part that provide an overview of the overall revenue and expenditure, reserves, liabilities (general part) and a detailed overview of the revenue by source, users of the budget funds, the purpose of use of the funds etc (special part).

In the event that the budget is not adopted before the beginning of the budgetary year provisional financing is applied; this is usually based on twelve provisional monthly amounts.

The basis for the provisional financing is determined may be the previous year’s budget or a proposed budget.

It should be mentioned that possible changes and amendments to the budget (adjustment) are done according to the same procedure through which the budget is adopted.

C. Budget Execution Budget execution includes all actions concerning the collection of budget revenue, payments, budget accounting and budget reporting. Budget execution is done through precisely determined procedures and prescribed actions that are related to:

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• the disposal of certain amounts of funds intended for satisfying public needs; • creating budget liabilities exclusively on the basis of approved amounts and for the purposes contained in the adopted budget; and • approval of payments.

In budget execution the prescribed rules of budget accounting and budget reporting must be complied with. The final budget account contains a report on budget execution submitted by the government to the parliament in the prescribed form. It contains a detail presentation of the realisation: revenue collected and expenditure made compared to the planned (preliminary) revenue and expenditure contained in the adopted budget.

D. Budget Control The increasing share of budget in the total spending, size and importance of public revenue and expenditure and huge government spending and investment all point to the special importance of budget control at all stages of budget procedures. We need to keep in mind that states collect most of their budgetary revenue based of their fiscal sovereignty and use it to finance budgetary expenditure. In order to of ensure that public revenue is collected from the sources and in the manner provided for under the Law and that it is spent in the amounts and for the purposes prescribed in the adopted budget it is necessary to control financial operations. This includes a number of aspects which we mention below: • Political, administrative and judicial supervision: Political supervision is done by parliament when adopting and executing the budget on the basis of special reports and final budget execution accounts. Administrative supervision is performed by the responsible state administrative bodies and includes control of the legality of spending budget funds.

Judicial supervision is conducted through proceedings that are similar to usual court proceedings or by a specially formed financial court audit.

• Control of the legality of the budget proceedings (budget preparation, adoption and execution): the responsibilities of various institutions, established amounts and purposed funds, prescribed deadlines.

• Internal and external supervision (audit): control by the budget users and control by other bodies or institutions (budget inspection or independent audit agency).

• Prior control (aimed at preventing irregularities in spending and the evaluation of institutional capacities) and ex-post control (disclosure of irregularities or illegalities).

The previous considerations concerning the budgeting process and procedures related to the preparation, adoption, execution and control of the budget point to a pluralistic character of budgetary policy, which is reflected in the fact that several participants influence it.

The various phases of the budget decision making process involve many participants who seek to have an influence. In this sense budgets are political with groups ranging from large to small business, the media, politicians, trade unions, anti-poverty advocates, environmentalists and women’s groups all of which in varying ways and degrees succeed in influencing government budgets. Their number and political weight in the decision making system vary from one country to the next and depend on, amongst others, the internal organisation,

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parliamentary system and development level of the parliamentary democracy, relations between the legislative and executive powers, level of economic development, size of the public sector, level of development of civil society and their role in formulating public policy.

Among the key participants in the budgeting processes parliament has the key role as they adopted legislative framework for the adoption of decisions that concern the budget and public finance. Thus, the preferences of voters are reflected by means of the parliament and political parties, since not all voters share the same preferences. By this means the forces that take important decisions concerning revenue and public spending (political parties, executive power and parliament) thus becomes the voters’ choice. Therefore, voters, political parties, the parliament and the government are the key subjects in the budgeting process.

Important political influence may include narrower interest groups focused on the realisation of their (group) goals. The scope of their influence is determined by the level of their organisation, its financial power, media support, the electoral potential of the interest group and the position they have with regard to other holders of political power etc.

Recently the involvement of civil society organisations in the process of formulating and adopting government decisions has been on the increase. This is a means to try and ensure that policies reflect the priorities of the broader societal community. The process of monitoring and following government policy has become an important instrument for civil society organisations through their function as active participants in the process of policy development and implementation. There are more and more special organisations that only follow issues related to the budget and this is considered to be an important instrument for the improvement of transparency, accountability and the effectiveness of the government and budget related policies.

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II GENDER IN / EQUALITY AND ECONOMY 1. Basic Concepts of Gender and Gender Mainstreaming At first glance the issue of equality (justice) and its understanding within the context of the prior considerations may seem simple; however, if we focus our attention on the economic aspects of this issue equality can be defined as the complete equalisation of members of the broader community within the process of the production and consumption of goods and services. This implies equal participation in the production of material social wealth and/or equal rights for all members of the community in terms of benefitting from this wealth. Economic theory has two common approaches to this issue. The first economic equality can mean the principle of equal opportunity to participate in the process of creating wealth, regardless of the differences that may ensue as a result of that process. The second approach follows the principle of the distribution (redistribution) of wealth and focuses on the needs and equality in terms of enjoying in the welfare, irrespective of any differences that are related to participation in the process of wealth creation. These two different approaches to the issue of economic equality are also the basis for different approaches to the fundamental issues of growth and the development patterns, models and profiles of economic policy. Different economic doctrines permeated by various cultures and ideologies emphasise one or the other approach, with nuances ranging between the two extreme points for understanding equality. Here we should mention the successful example of a synthesis of understanding this issue and Sen’s theory of justice, wherein the production of social wealth and the resulting achievements by the various participants is linked to the rights and freedoms of individuals (A. Sen, 1980). Sen later called this synthesis a “possibility of operation”, emphasising freedom in terms of choice of operation mirrored against what a person is or may be and what that person does or may do (see A. Sen, 2000). Therefore, it is about free access to opportunity or the freedom to make one’s own choice. Sen mentions five sources of differences (see Sen 2000 Pp. 70-73): • individual differences (age and gender); • different needs that follow from different natural environments; • different “social climate” (related to security, “social capital”); • differences in terms of relationships (e.g., needs in rich and poor communities, urban and rural); and • differences in the distribution of income within the family.

Using this approach Sen draws attention to the necessity to shift the focus of analysis of economic inequality, particularly the need to change the common method of understanding the categories of growth and development and wealth and poverty.

Economic inequalities are often related to the distribution of wealth: between countries (wealth and differences) and within the same community (individuals and groups). They are the basis for understanding economic history, various economic systems and different individual abilities (particularities). Global inequalities are illustrated by the concentration

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of wealth (poverty); income gaps between countries and regions generally diminish while the inequalities within countries generally increase.

Without going further into a detail elaboration of its causes we will restrict our attention to several important aspects of economic inequality.

S. Kuznetz has established the link between development patterns (development stages) and economic inequalities, explaining that countries at a low level of development have rather harmonised distribution. The more developed a country becomes the greater the increase in economic inequalities, but only up to a certain point after which the income redistribution mechanisms reduce these gaps. Global inequalities were the subject of attention and explained from the perspective of neo-liberal (pro-market) approaches, trade liberalisation, wealth concentration, non-market rents, poor mobility factors, inflation and the influence of the financial sector on inequality, technological changes, different social preferences etc. However, regardless of the focus of the research, the main causes of economic inequalities in contemporary societies relate to the labour market, its imperfections and the lack of flexibility of its operation and strong need for intervention. Such inequalities are explained by the discrepancies between the offer and demand for labour, differences in salaries, differences in opportunities and the acquisition of education and skills.

The very approach to education and ‘educational distribution’ additionally contribute towards inequality, particularly those related to other non-economic factors (social, cultural, tradition and customs). So, for example, gender equality within education or the education structure may lead to lower economic growth and the reproduction of both inequality and poverty (poverty trap). Differences in the approach to employment, differences in employment by sector and differences in wages as a result of gender inequality are important factors of economic inequality. At the same time, they are related to the wider aspects of inequality and discrimination and extend beyond the narrow framework of market analysis and evaluation.

Since in the present time it is particularly important to adequately recognise the economic, social and political participation of women as a key aspect of ‘development as freedom’ (see Sen 2000 p.203) we will retain our attention on this issue, but without any ambition to even superfluously mention all of the other important aspects required for a better understanding of this issue. The reason for this is the complexity of causes of the different positions of men and women in society that may be explained by biological differences, myths, religions, cultures that determine human behaviour, socialisation, stereotypes, the different operations of market mechanisms and the various forms of discrimination. However, irrespective of the cause, differences and inequalities are originally related to acquisition, preservation and distribution of power and the roles of men and women in a society. As a response to the manifest inequalities of this type, feminism occurred in the past as both a movement and way of thinking. Feminism has two directions for action: giving women the power to vote in elections and equality of women in terms of wages. Contrary to this approach towards the inequalities and demands related to the position of women, a new approach through policy to equality relates to both genders and explains sexual differences not only in the biological sense but also through the historic, social, economic, political, philosophical, legal, cultural and other forms of identity. Gender policy is now an integral part of the approach towards issues in all developmental areas and segments of social life, economy and policy.

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Gender is a concept, strategy and approach and gender is also a philosophy that permeates a way of thinking about the critical issues of the present time, living, values and understanding of what is and what should be.

Different approaches to gender institutionalisation stemmed from different understanding of the term. Mention should also be made of the confusion in understanding the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ (biological and social sex). Biological sex is something people are born with, does not change over time and does not differ in terms of location, while gender refers to the norms, rules and practices that transpose the biological differences between men and women in a broader social context. It represents the socially established roles, positions, responsibilities, relations and expectations of men and women which due to social, cultural and historical reasons are discriminatory on the basis of being of one biological sex. As a concept gender refers to social conditions, meaning that it may change over time and location: from one country to the next.

Gender is therefore also an issue of the cultural construction of men and women and their social, cultural and historical identities. Gender is also an issue of democracy that has two implications: rights and gender-democratic content. In this context, one should also mention the contribution of the feminist theory of democracy and the transformative theory oriented towards changing traditional democratic practices (male dominated) (see Klatzer Mader 2008 p.6).

Gender is also a “useful category in historical analysis” (Scott 1999). Thus, feminist historians have applied various approaches to gender (descriptive and causal). To put the sign of equality between gender and the terms related to women they explained ‘women’s world’ as part of the ‘men’s world’, using gender to describe social relations (that include sex but are not determined by it) and understanding it as a ‘cultural construction’. Social historians believed that gender included both structural and ideological relations between the sexes.

Although most of them used a functionalistic approach some used the theory of historical change, framed in general and universal terms. Gender first appeared as an analytical category in the late 20th century; J.W. Scott states that it represents an integral link between the following two approaches: 1. gender is a part of social relations based on sexual differences; and 2. gender is the primary method for emphasising relations of power.

Scott states that changes in social relations correspond to changes in the balance of power; however, the direction of such changes is not one-way (see Scott 1999 p.42).

Within the context of such an understanding of the term one should remember the integral part of the conceptual framework of gender. The key concept of feminist theory was in particular oriented towards the philosophical, political, historical and legal aspects of gender/ sexual equality. Typically, this is understood as the equality of all people irrespective of their sex/gender and at the same time including the right to equality (equal opportunity) and the right to be different (recognising the specific potential and needs of men and women). In the literature, the term ‘gender equality’ is placed in relation to equal rights and is oriented towards the promotion of the full and even participation of men and women in society.

Although equality and equal rights are sometimes deemed the same, equal rights concern

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the legal equality of men and women (equal rights) and are therefore a prerequisite for achieving equality: the involvement of men and women in all aspects of life and society. The need to develop legal mechanisms to legislate for gender equality stemmed from various forms of gender discrimination that favoured one sex (gender) over another or placed one sex (gender) in an inferior position compared to the other. The term ‘gender discrimination’ often relates to the discrimination of women and this was the reason for conducting a series of activities aimed at regulating women’s rights as human rights on both the national and international plane. Giving universal character to human rights and the engagement of the UN resulted in the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Unfortunately, in spite of all the obligations that stem from this convention, various forms of discrimination and violations of fundamental human rights are currently implemented or tolerated by the states. Here the most widespread form of the violation of the human rights of women should be mentioned: violence against women, as an example of gender violence that is a result of the favoured position of one sex over the other.

Various forms of gender inequality and unequal rights are based to a good part on the stereotyping of gender by assigning various roles and responsibilities to men and women based on prejudice (gender prejudices mostly favour men). For this reason it is particularly important to build gender awareness and an understanding of the various roles of men and women and their mutual relations in the context of power, status, needs etc. It is also a prerequisite for the identification of such problems and the development of a particular kind of sensitivity to understand both the issues and the necessity to resolving them.

A critical assessment of the question of how social, economic and political developments affect men and women is the basis of gender analysis. It unifies the various responsibilities and expectations that a society has and allocates to men and women, their practical needs (basic and material needs of men and women) and strategic gender needs (related to the necessity to change the situation of marginalised groups) with the aim of achieving gender equality. Analysis typically emphasises some gender issues as the basis for (re)prioritisation of policies in the function of achieving equality. Such policies may be gender-blind and fail to recognise differences in the various situations, needs, feelings and interests of men and women. They can be gender neutral if they treat men and women as members of a group and automatically favour the needs of the dominant group. However, if they do take into consideration the issues that stem from the socially-construed differences then programmes and policies can show a high level of gender responsibility, which is a prerequisite for the selection of the most appropriate measures. Experience to date suggests that policies that take into account the different effects on men and women tend to be more effective.

The conceptualisation of gender went from the original acceptance of a gender institutionalisation strategy into development programmes and organisations (term-wise: ‘gender strengthening’, ‘empowerment’, ‘integration of women into development’, ‘women and development’ and ‘doing gender’). Integration of gender issues into economic growth objectives, human rights, human development and the way they are treated resulted in the absence of the corresponding effects on gender equality. Equality policies that were characteristic of the seventies in the 20th century were replaced by the establishment of institutional bodies and a system of measures to promote the status of women. Numerous programmes and projects were about the ‘empowerment’ of women but were more focused

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on entrepreneurship than on the challenges related to the balance of power. The individualistic focus of sorts corresponded to the faith in market forces and liberal democracy. Such an approach contributed to the ghettoisation of women with various results, but was certainly unsuccessful in terms of achieving the main goal that of equality. As a result gender lost analytical power and became depoliticised.

The strategy of the ‘new’ approach – gender mainstreaming – was first mentioned in 1985 in Nairobi at the Third UN Conference on Women, on the occasion of the discussion on the role of women in the development process. This encouraged the development of a strategy that was presented at the following Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing 1995.

Adopted in the form of a Platform for Action the gender mainstreaming strategy became an invitation to governments and international organisations and institutions to, “…promote active and recognisable policy from the aspect of gender mainstreaming within the framework of their policies and programmes by analysing their effect on women and men prior to making any decision” (see COE 2005 p.7).

What is gender mainstreaming? Most explanations make reference to the UN ECOSOC definition according to which gender mainstreaming is the, “process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in any area and at all levels…. The ultimate goal of mainstreaming is to achieve gender equality.” In European literature most commonly used is the definition by M. Verloo, Chair of the Council of Europe Group of Experts for Gender Mainstreaming, who said in her report in 1998 that, “Gender mainstreaming is the (re)organisation, improvement, development and evaluation of policy processes so that a gender equality perspective is incorporated in all policies at all levels and at all stages by the actors normally involved in policy-making”.

Gender mainstreaming is seen as a conceptual framework, methodology and presentation of good practice. As such, it is a sort of ‘rebranding’ of feminism in contemporary times, including a gender perspective in main social developments and in social, economic, political, cultural, legal systems with the aim of transforming the social and institutional structure towards gender equality. The very notion of equality becomes a part of the ‘new’ ideology, strategy and policy.

Today almost 20 years after the implementation of this strategy, which has been the basis for thousands of plans, other strategies and initiatives have been adopted. Therefore the conclusion can be drawn that gender mainstreaming is a project of unexpected power and unbelievable energy. Still, regardless of all the challenges whether political, economic, religious, fundamentalist, economic crisis and austerity measures, prejudice etc., it remains the main strategy for achieving gender equality.

Naturally, there is the necessity to conceptualise gender mainstreaming in the context of open issues that in most part relate to the following: • required re-positioning of gender equality and mainstreaming towards establishing firmer links between the two frameworks; • alternative possibilities in the process of the transformation of gender equality policy (equal opportunity or equal treatment models, ‘trilogy’ of equal treatment models, women’s perspective and the gender perspective);

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• gender mainstreaming in the context of other forms of social inequalities; • gender mainstreaming that relies on expertise or more democratic process; and • implications of the transnational nature of gender mainstreaming.

Those and other issues are an integral part of the current debate on mainstreaming that, among other things, points to a firm link between gender mainstreaming and the theory of state policy and democracy.

2. Principles and the Importance of Achieving Gender Equality Inequalities and differences, including those that are gender-based, are a central part of the social and political theory of state and democracy. Programmes and policies that are based on inequality and therefore perpetuate such inequalities question the credibility of the fundamental principles on which modern countries rely. One should keep in mind the power and universality of human rights and the principle of gender equality as one of fundamental principles of human rights, which at the same time is the foundation of social justice and democracy. It includes the active participation of all actors in all phases of the processes of equality policy and places a special emphasis on the political, economic and social role of women whose positional change would become the key to understanding the corresponding social and economic needs. The active participation of women in politics, economy and other fields of life is also a prerequisite for democracy as well as equality and the progress of society as a whole. Gender equality is also a human right and a principle that must be recognised implemented and promoted as such. This means the elimination of both direct and indirect forms of inequality as well as the construction of an economic, political, legal and broader social environment with equal rights and opportunities.

Along with participation and standardisation of particular importance is the strategic focus on strengthening the protection of human rights (civil, political, economic, social and cultural). Therefore, the promotion of gender equality, while recognising the right to be different, imposes itself as the fundamental principle of equality.

Gender equality means equal opportunities for all to contribute towards increasing social welfare and equal rights so that all can enjoy the benefits of social welfare. Gender equality as such is based on: • equal rights, access to justice and equality before the Law; • protection from all forms of sexual discrimination; • equal rights, opportunities and access to resources; • equal opportunities in terms of economic independence; • equal wages for the same work or work of the same value; • equality in sharing responsibility for family and household; • equal participation in decision making processes;

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• elimination of gender stereotyping and prejudice that serve as the basis for gender inequality; and • dignity, integrity and freedom from gender based violence.

At the same time, this means equal responsibility for removing other forms of inequality that contribute to an imbalance and vulnerability in society.

What is the reality of the present day?

Although men and women throughout the world have important roles in society their respective positions makes them different. Particular emphasis should be placed on the unfavourable position of women within society as a reflection of their social position and the role they play. It is an illustration of illogical development that with any change in societal conditions in terms of economic growth and human development inequalities also increase to the detriment of the position and role of women in terms of income, education and employment; as stated by the UNDP, “historically reverse situations happen”. In the area of human rights we are witnessing two opposing trends: de jure implementation of the principle of equality, while de facto we see various forms of gender based discrimination, exclusion and denial to access and the use of development resources for women. This discriminatory waste of 50% of available human resources has its price, both economic and the wider social price.

Having recognised the importance of this aspect of gender inequality through its approach of ‘Smart Economics’ the World Bank considers gender equality as being of essential and instrumental value and a potential engine of growth and factor for the simultaneous implementation of economic efficacy and equality policies. Through this approach and in their report (see Harcourt, 2012) the World Bank has done away with the earlier dogma that economic growth automatically leads to gender equality and speeds up change in that direction. Good social policy and institutions and ‘corrective’ policies aimed at reducing gender inequality have changed the very approach to this issue; according to an analysis of various determinants and consequences of gender discrimination and inequality, women are now seen an instrument for growth.

The interdependence of gender equality and growth was also the subject of special attention in some earlier approaches. Just as an illustration, we should mention that one-third of the millennium development goals concern gender equality and the economic empowerment of women, while implementation of the remaining development goals is linked to achieving the goals of gender equality. Three levels of equality where equal opportunities and access to resources are realised have been identified through: a) control of economy (land and ownership); b) control of resources (salaries, access to loans and employment); and c) decision making system.

How realistic would it be to expect these goals to be met by 2015 is answered by the UN statistics: women perform 67% of all work in the world while earning 10% of the world income; women own 1% of the world’s wealth and less than 5% own land.

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In some sub-Saharan African countries women are still not allowed to inherit land.

The fact that poverty has a ‘woman’s face’ is shown by the fact that of the 1.3 billion poor people in the world 70% are women.

What has the research to date shown? a) Gender equality has positive effects on economic growth. b) Dollar and Gotti have established the opposite relation: economic growth also has a positive effect on gender equality. c) Gender inequality in education, health, employment is only partially dependent on per capita income.

The fact is that gender equality policy is also an issue of developmental effectiveness and not, as the World Bank says, “just an issue of political correctness and kindness to women”, while presenting evidence that “if men and women are relatively equal economies grow faster, poor people become less poor and the welfare of men, women and children increases”.

However, gender equality is not something that develops on its own; it is both a condition of development and prerequisite for economic and social welfare. In addition, social development encourages transformations and yet experience has shown that positive change is not automatic unless certain issues are placed in the context of equal opportunity. This drives to the conclusion that gender equality issues will not be resolved on their own.

It is particularly important to emphasise that the issue of gender equality is not a problem related exclusively to women. Gender norms, stereotypes, prejudices, perceptions in terms of the role of men in society make them an integral part of the picture of gender equality.

Sharing responsibility for family and household and balancing professional and family life enables women to become integrated into the labour market and to use human resources in a more effective way.

The gender division of labour and distribution of resources, responsibilities and authority is determined by different rules and valuation systems according to market or state. It should be said that many activities done by women are still not valued as part of the overall economic activity. The ‘invisible’ work of women at home as well as unpaid work and work in the informal sector are only part of the explanation for the weaker economic position of women in terms of their economic independence and self-standing. Gender hierarchy within employment places more women in reproductive activities, unpaid work and informal or lower paid jobs in the formal sector. For example, it has been estimated that in the EU women also perform 80% of housework when they are employed and that they spend twice as much time taking care of the children as men. The non-inclusion of the value of the work we are talking about in the calculation of national wealth has been estimated by the UNDP at around 11 trillion USD at the global level. It is estimated that in most countries the value of unpaid work is equivalent to around 50% of GDP. Such illustrations are not just a matter of rights but also of the effectiveness of the economic system as a whole.

Another aspect of analysis for gender inequality is the situation in the labour market. EU estimates cite 62.5% of women as being employed and 31.4% of women employed in

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occasional or temporary jobs, four times more than men. So women are four times more likely to lose their job and income. Women are paid 17.5% less than men for the same work or work of the same value (qualifications) and yet the educational structure shows that 60% of people with higher education are women (Pascale 2012). The reasons for such inequality are to be found in the jobs hierarchy, the education structure and the characteristics of work, lower mobility etc., with a gender prefix-gender structure of labour in practice and acceptance of gender roles in ideology (Balmori 2003). All this contributes to greater inequality in terms of economic opportunities, inequality in economic independence and the low economic status of women. Let us remember that the nature of engagement and the unequal system of payment also contributes to economic inefficiency and inefficacy in the distribution of overall resources.

Existing inequalities related to access to and the use of resources restricts the ability of women to take part in making critical decisions. In spite of the fact that 60% of people with higher education in the EU are women only one-third of them are employed in managerial structures. Company boards include only 20% women (50% in the USA). ‘Pyramidal equality’ is a feature of the political decision making system: the higher the level of participation and decision making the lower is the number of women. As an illustration, only 19 countries in the world have female presidents or prime ministers. Women head only three governments in the EU, while in the government structure there are three times as many men as women; only one-fourth of ministerial positions are occupied by women. Hungary, for example, does not have a single woman in a ministerial position. All central banks in all of the countries in the EU are headed by men.

In terms of legislative power women participate on average with 19.8% (24.6% in the EU, 22.6% in the USA, 20.5% in other European countries, 18.3% in Asia, 13.5% in the Arab countries and 12.9 in the Pacific region).

Why is gender equality in the decision making system so important? This is an issue of efficient resource management, while the participation of women in politics is an indicator of openness, the democratic character and development of institutions. Gender equality affirms the principle of civil equality and undoubtedly contributes to the stability of society as a whole.

The fact that the optimal distribution of labour, ownership and other resources is determined by gender equality is illustrated by the significant deviation that we face when considering mutual inter-relations amongst the levels of development and gender disproportion. We should keep in mind that the development of an institutional environment and social courses are largely determined by the patriarchal organisation of the family, prejudice, stereotypes and different perceptions of the roles of men and women in society. In developed societies this may serve as an explanation for the emphasised disproportion and inequality on the one hand and the level of development on the other. In poor societies the continuation of gender inequality makes a significant contribution to the perpetuation of poverty and the vicious cycle of poverty.

The results of research have shown the economic cost of inequality. So, for example, it is estimated that countries in Asia and the Pacific used to lose 42-47 billion USD per year because women had limited access to employment and an additional 16-30 billion USD annually due to gender disproportion in education. By quantifying effects of gender

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inequality, D. Abu-Ghaida and S. Klasen arrived at the conclusion that this resulted in a 0.10.3% reduction in the annual income growth rate (Abu-Khaida and Klasen 2004). Empirical research has shown that investment in the education of women and girls can have multiple effects on productivity efficiency and sustainable growth (Budlander, Elson, Hewitt and Mukhopadhyay 2002).

Do we need to be reminded that by definition development is improved welfare for all members of a social community? This alone should suggest the necessity to increase the more adequate involvement of women in all economic and social trends. Alternatively development potential can continue to be undermined and in the long run this will result in a slowing of growth.

3. Measuring Gender Inequalities: Gender Sensitive Indicators Measuring gender differences is an especially important and challenging issue. It is an indicator of the inter-relationship between gender and key economic and social indicators, a measure that tells in what way and how gender inequality corresponds to the relevant economic and social variables, provides a basis for monitoring change in the economy, signal for economic policy designers and a useful indicator for international comparison. Its measurement implies the quantification of gender inequality and its presentation in the form of an index number. This process also identifies a series of shortcomings that stem largely from the very nature of gender inequality and which are difficult to encompass within the usual procedures for this type of analysis. Thus special attention should be paid to the issue of measuring gender inequality and the development of a broad range of gender sensitive indicators in order to best describe the issue, monitor the related trends and signal those areas where policy change should be mandated.

In economic analysis gender inequality indicators for education, health and the labour market and their relation to key economic indicators linked to the level of development are of particular importance. So, for example, education inequality measures the share of boys and girls in primary and secondary education and or shows the relative indicators for the total population of that age included in education. Placing that number in relation to the level of development of the country may then, for example, suggest that inequalities do exist or that they are higher in countries with a lower level of economic development and increase the higher we look in terms of education.

Gender inequality indicators related to healthcare and measured according to, for example, life expectancy show that gender inequalities correspond to basic biological norms.

For example, the gender gap, which is a consequence of biological reasons and manifested as women living longer than men, shows deviations in the less developed countries. The reduced gender gap as measured by this indicator is the result of higher pregnancy and childbirth related to the mortality of women or the higher mortality of girl children. Pointing out this problem Sen used the construction of ‘missing women’ (Sen 1989) placing this quantitative deviation in the gender gap in relation to the number of human lives lost as a result of gender inequality.

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The labour market is another specific area of economic analysis. Monitoring gender sensitive indicators that are related to this area leads to the conclusion that in spite of the higher education of women, longer life and increased share of women in the labour force gender inequalities are present. Women are faced with limited access to production opportunities, there is segregation in professions, discrimination in terms of payment for the same work or work of equal value and a larger share of women are engaged in unpaid work and informal employment.

Economic analysis pays special attention to the issues of poverty. Although this problem is not only restricted on women gender dimension in poverty is very important. So, for example, the gender distribution in the population for poverty in 2010 showed that 45% of the poor were men (with a 49% share of the total population) and that 55 % of the poor were women (51% of the total population of world). Gender inequalities were also apparent in the indicator for poverty rates viewed according to sex: 14% for men and 16.2% for women. This quantitative dimension analysis of gender in poverty and desegregation of statistical data by gender is an important indicator but is insufficient for the overall research and measuring of poverty. A gender responsive analysis of poverty includes some research into the causes of poverty, the role of cultural norms, stereotypes, gender processes in education, health, the labour market, the distribution of work and income within the household etc. All of these important conceptual and methodological questions accompany a quantitative analysis of poverty and suggest the necessity to mandatorily incorporate gender analysis into development strategies, policies and practices aimed at poverty reduction.

Quantification of gender inequality is closely linked to the measures of development. The main sources of data are censuses, systems of national accounts, household surveys and living standard surveys. A useful guide for the collection of gender sensitive statistics was developed by B. Hedman, F. Perucci and P. Sundsrom in 1996 and T. Beck in 1999 (Stotsky 2006). So the key areas related to gender sensitive indicators are population statistics, demographic features, labour force characteristics, indicators of education, health and access to production opportunities, credit, social security and other budget support programmes aimed at guaranteeing human rights. The disaggregation of data, measurement of gender inequalities and development of appropriate indices are the basis for analysis, policies and measuring the level of achieved progress.

The measures of development refer to the concept of human development that implies an environment where an individual may develop all of his/her potential and have the possibility of choice. True wealth is people and while economic growth is important it is not a goal in itself but rather a means of achieving human development. The Pakistani economist Mahbub ul HaqIn developed the Human Development Index (HDI) in 1990 in search of a single indicator for human development, “equally as simplified as the GDP per capita, but one that is not insensitive to the broader aspects of human life�. Following his idea, the UNDP construed HDI as a measure of human development and has included it as a key indicator of development measured not only by economic progress but also by improved human welfare since 1995.

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Perfected and modified since 2010, HDI includes the following three dimensions of human development: 1. long and healthy life (with indicators of life expectancy at birth); 2. education (measured as the average duration of schooling and expected years of schooling); and 3. decent standard of life (measured by the size of gross-national income (GNI) per capita as purchase power parity and expressed in USD).

Sub indices of these three dimensions of human development are the Income Index (measure of standard of life) and the Welfare Index (related to health and education), while HDI as a deviation from classic income development measures is an important indicator of welfare in human development.

Since 2010 the Inequality Adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) has been in use as a measure of the average level of development that takes into consideration gender inequalities in all three dimensions of human development. This indicator is an index of ‘real’ human development and differs from the HDI (index of “potential” human development) due to the inclusion of the ‘cost’ of gender inequality.

The question of the gender sensitive dimension of human development has been open since the earliest beginning of the new approach towards development. H. Akder proposed in 1994 that the HDI be calculated separately for men and women, while in 1995 the UNDP introduced two separate indicators focused on measuring gender inequality based on the theoretical postulates of S. Anand and A. Sen. The first indicator, the Gender Related Development Index (GDI), points out the distribution of developmental influence for the different sexes in all three HDI components. This ‘gender sensitive expansion of HDI’ of a sort drew attention to the existing gender gaps in terms of the expected age, education and standard of life. Through the use of the specific construction Equally Distributed Equivalent Achievement (EDEA) the GDI not only captured the breadth of the gender gap in three dimensions of human development but also the cost of such a gap.

The second indicator is the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). The GEM index was formulated as a measure of the ability of men and women to participate in economic and political life and decision making processes. Three main indicators were used to quantify this indicator: income per capita, gender share in a classification of professions (administrative, managerial, professional and technical occupations) and the proportion of seats in the national parliament.

It should be mentioned that both of these indices (GDI and GEM) were a supplement to the HDI and as such could not be used as independent measures of gender inequality and therefore their use was accompanied by a critical analysis. The most serious conceptual problem was considered to be the ‘equal weight’ of the sub-indices (components) with the dominant role of income components and emphasis of the gender gap in terms of income. These indices also counted on relative gender inequality being in accordance with the absolute level of human development, without specific measures for gender inequality within the country

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(for example, between urban and rural areas) or within the sector structure (formal and informal sector). Another shortcoming was that they ignored the importance of different distributions of work and income within the household, which is important for understanding the nature and measure of gender inequality in society as a whole. Criticism aimed at the GDI and GEM indices included demands for alternative measures that would include important links between the economic and social factors of gender inequality, development of alternative indices (for example, the Relative Status of Women Index – DRSW) resulted in the said changes to the HDI from 2010 (IHDI) and the development of newer gender inequality indicators.

The Gender Inequality Index (GII) was introduced in 2010 as a composite indicator of loss of welfare in one country as a result of inequality. This index replaced the GDI and GEM and represented an important step forward compared to the previously used measures for gender inequality in human development. It allows for the monitoring progress in a country towards gender equality and stresses the responsibility of government towards gender equality.

Gender Inequality Index (GII) includes the three dimensions listed below.

1. Reproductive health – measured by two indicators: a. pregnancy and childbirth related mortality (MMR) and b. adolescent fertility rate (AFR).

2. Empowerment – measured by two indicators: a. gender distribution of parliamentary seats (data of the inter-parliamentary union) and b. level of secondary and higher education (UNESCO and Barro-Lee data).

3. Economic activity – measured according to the share of the sexes in the labour force (ILO database).

The value of this index ranges between 0 and 1, where 0 signifies full equality and 1 signifies 100% inequality. The world average for the Gender Inequality Index in 2011 was 0.429, which means that human development loses 42.9% of its potential due to gender inequality.

According to the UNDP, the best placed countries by this indicator are Sweden (0.049) and the Netherlands (0.052) and the worst are Yemen (0.769) and Chad (0.735).

The gender dimension of poverty is, as we have already mentioned, a particularly important issue in the analysis of poverty and in measuring poverty. Let us look back at the most frequently used indicators for measuring inequality in income distribution: the GINI coefficient (index, ratio) that measures statistical dispersion in the population. It was developed by an Italian statistician and sociologist Corrado Gini and this indicator has found its implementation in research into inequality in economy, sociology, agriculture and other disciplines.

The decomposite GINI coefficient by gender shows gender inequalities in the distribution of income. In addition, separate use of the GINI coefficients in different areas of research may become indicators of the different positions of specific population groups (including

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gender). So, for example, the GINI coefficient for education estimates inequalities in education, the GINI coefficient for opportunities (which is based on Sen’s idea) calculates inequalities not in terms of the distribution of income but for the expansion of the possibility of choice, while the GINI coefficient for mobility (or Shorrock’s Immobility Index) estimates short-term and long- term household income and calculates whether the inequality in distribution is of an occasional or permanent character and to what extent the country or region allows people’s mobility.

Along with the quantification of human development and development of the HDI, another index the Human Poverty Index (HPI) has been in use since 1997. As an addition to HDI, HPI contains the same three dimensions: long and healthy life, education and standard of life, with focus on measuring and interpreting the reduced quality of human development. This index is calculated separately for developing countries (HPI-1) and highly developed OECD countries (HPI-2). In addition to these is the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MDI) that is increasingly used to measure ‘deprivation’ in education, health services and the standard of living within a household. The dimension of education and health are measured using two indicators each, while the dimension of the standard of living (income poverty) is measured using six indicators. A general determinant of poverty still in use is the percentage of the population living with less than 1.25 USD per day.

At the end we should mention the increasingly used indicator of the World Economic Forum the Global Gender Gap Index (GGI). This index was introduced for the first time in 2006 and is an important framework for quantifying the magnitudes and scope of gender based disparities. It includes four sub-indices that measure: 1. economic participation and opportunities; 2. education; 3. health; and 4. political empowerment.

Therefore, this index calculates the gender gap in terms of access to opportunities within the national economy viewed by regions and income groups, irrespective of the level of development in the country. In this way it is possible to identify gender in/equality in the distribution of resources, irrespective of the available resources. According to a 2012 report (Hausmann, Tyson and Zahidi 2012) the best values of this index were registered in Island (0.8640), Finland (0.8451) and Norway (0.8403), while the worst rankings were for Yemen (0.5054), Pakistan (0.5473) and Chad (0.5694).

We should once again mention that in spite of the excessive attention that analysts pay to the quantification of gender inequality, particularly in recent times, and continuous improvement and identification of alternative measures none of the said quantitative indicators are without shortcomings. Let us remember that the key problem lays in the very nature of understanding gender inequality and that, unfortunately, it cannot be fully quantified. This is why there is a need for renewed emphasis on the importance of understanding the complex nature of the problem.

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4. Legal and Political Preconditions for Gender Equality A. International Standards The fundamental basis for recognising the dignity freedom and equality of all people was established through the UN Charter: it’s founding treaty in 1945. Equality between men and women, as an integral part of the Charter, served as the basis for further development and advancement of international human rights standards. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) in its content assigned very important character of universality to gender equality; practical implementation of the rights of women and stronger engagement of the UN started from 1975 with the proclamation “Decade of Women” (1976-1985). Further recognition and protection of women’s rights was the subject of new activities in the form of the adoption of a number of conventions and declarations.

Of particular importance was the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1979, which is considered an international charter of human rights. Its universal character, comprehensiveness and legally binding character gave particular specific weight to gender equality and equal rights. Its content and mechanisms of mandatory periodic reporting to the Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination has established measures taken for the purpose of implementing its provisions and made the Convention a sort of a guide for states to establish criteria and develop mechanisms for gender equality. Two particularly important aspects of the Convention need to be mentioned here: firstly, gender equality has become an obligation of the states and secondly the states are obliged to take measures aimed at: a) incorporating gender equality into the internal legal system (by eliminating discrimination from the current legal provisions and adopting new ones); b) establishing an institutional framework for the purpose of providing effective protection for women against discrimination; and c) removing discriminatory practices.

An important role in terms of the issues of gender equality and equal rights was played by the UN when they initiated and organised numerous gatherings and conferences with the purpose of implementing the fundamental provisions of the Charter, Universal Declaration and the adopted conventions on the rights of women. Remember the importance of the Third World Conference on Women (Nairobi 1984) and the World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna 1993) where it was emphasised that human rights of women are an integral and inseparable part of human rights. Then there was the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993) and particularly the Fourth World Conference on women (Beijing 1995) and the adopted Platform for Action in terms of equal rights. The purpose of this Platform was to speed up implementation of the, “Forward-looking strategies for the advancement of women” adopted in Nairobi, in 1985. Governments and other entities have been invited to promote and integrate gender equality into the main political streams and into all policies and programmes. Removing discrimination, ensuring the full enjoyment of all human rights, the economic independence of women and full access to economic resources are only some of activities to be implemented and for which the Platform states the need to mobilise resources at the national and international level. It further supports

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the provision of new additional resources for developing countries, obligations pertaining to equal rights and the equal participation of women in defining policies, strengthening mechanisms for giving responsibility to women etc. By treating equality as a human rights issue and condition of social justice the Platform emphasises the issue of equal power and responsibility that need to be established at home, at work, in the state and in the international community.

An elaboration of the Platform and the adopted conclusions of the Economic Social Council (ECOSOC - 1997) underlined that the said activities do not simply mean adding a “women’s component” to the existing activities. On the contrary, gender equality is positioned in the centre of decision making, mid-term plans, budgetary programmes, institutional structures and procedures, what it may indicate is the need to re-prioritise in order to ensure open participation in the development of equal rights from development to all. Along with these principles and more specific directives that have followed from the Communication by the UN Secretary General the Final Document of the 23rd special session of the UN General Assembly (2000) should be mentioned. The Document was adopted five years after Beijing and calls upon governments to establish a different society where gender perspective are incorporated into the formulation, development, adoption and execution of policies (including budgetary ones), establish the allocation of budgetary funds in the function of gender equality and economic empowerment of women and develop the necessary methodological and analytical instruments for the supervision and evaluation of political programmes.

Two years later at the International Conference on Financing for Development (2002) further steps were made by emphasising the need to apply a holistic approach to finance for development, including gender sensitive development. Based on the consensus achieved (the Monterrey Consensus) and recommendations an estimate of the funds needed by underdeveloped countries to implement goal number 3 of the Millennium Development Goals was made. The estimate concerned the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women was set at 8.6 billion USD in 2006 and 23.8 billion USD in 2015 (see ECOSOC 2007 p.5).

UN activities encouraged other organisations to engage more in the field of gender equality.

At its 60th Assembly held in 2007, the World Health Organisation (WHO) adopted a resolution on the integration of gender analysis and procedures into its work. The strategy pointed in four directions: building WHO capacities to conduct gender analysis and planning, gender mainstreaming in WHO management, the use of gender data and gender analysis and the establishment of a responsibility system. The Assembly undertook to strengthen the gender component of the presentation of data, development of norms and standards, tools and guidelines for creating policies and implementing programmes (WHO 2007).

Although numerous anti-discriminatory policies of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) have been noted since 1919, the period of the ‘new approach’ and development of tools in the world of labour has been particularly intensified since 2003: ranging from the definition and measurement of discrimination in the field of its work to improving labour legislation and choice of social partners (ILO 2007) to closing the gender gap in the system of payment for work of the same value (Cornish 2007).

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Activities of the UN – Economic Commission for Europe – in providing various forms of support to budget formulation in the context of the ‘new approach’ to gender integration, particularly in Eastern European Countries, also deserve to be mentioned.

Special attention goes to the engagement of institutions of global economy, in spite of reservations and various approaches to their activities, lack of understanding of the role of gender in macro-economic policies and the occasional engagement that is different from the one under the UN Framework, multilateral and bilateral organisations.

The World Bank (WB) began its gender related activities through the provision of budget support in the Republic of South African and Tanzania. With the later inclusion of gender equality in the Public Expenditures Review (PER) and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) the WB has gradually developed a methodology that was launched through the gender action plan ‘Smart Economics’ under the slogan “Gender equality is smart economy”.

The 2012 report shows that the WB has assigned top priority engagement to the issue of gender. More than two years of research in 12 countries resulted in a database and an analysis and evaluation of the effects of WB activities on policy development and women’s lives.

By emphasising gender equality as a critical developmental goal the WB has, through this new approach of theirs, not only underlined the necessity of economic efficacy but the use of ‘corrective’ policies focused on the elimination of existing gender gaps: in human capital, access to economic opportunities, income, participation in decision making and restricting the perpetuation of gender inequality (Harcourt 2012).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) paid special attention to gender budgeting in its first successful implementation of the ‘women budget’ in Australia. The IMF launched a document on gender budgeting in 2003 (Sarraff 2003) that provided a significant contribution to the synthesis of the research done to date on the concepts, definition, analytical and other technical instruments of gender responsive budgeting (GRB) and the role of multilateral organisations in its promotion.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) and its operations were for long time under the dominant approach that the liberalisation of trade and trade agreements were the axis of development and macro-economic policy. However, over time, with the increased need to reform trade policies the necessity to adopt a gender sensitive approach towards poverty reduction and overall social development gained in importance. Williams offers a number of important recommendations: • every country should develop a framework for the incorporation of gender into trade capacities and Aid for Trade programmes; • diagnostic studies should include gender analysis, with special regard to the needs of small and medium size enterprises owned by women as well as those sectors that will be affected by changed trade policies; • trade negotiations should incorporate a gender framework for every area of negotiation; and • trade reforms and implementation of trade agreements that have a negative effect on gender equality require the automatic introduction of gender-sensitive compensatory measures (Williams 2007).

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B. European Standards The first consideration of the issue of gender equality in the EU can be found in the founding Roman Treaty (1957) that talks about, “equal payment for equal work, with no genderbased discrimination”. The 1974 Directive expanded on those provisions to include equal payment for work of equal value. Since then, more detailed regulation on gender equality began through the adoption of the Directive on equal treatment in employment (1976), social insurance (1978, 1986 and 1996) and self-employment (1986). Of particular importance were the adoption of Action Plan III on equal opportunities (1991-1996) and the activities of the European Commission on the preparation of the Beijing Conference and the Platform. This was also the time of EU Extension and new countries with experiences in activities and policies in terms of gender equality were joining the EU. Especially important was the pro-active role played by the European Parliament during this period that resulted in the establishment of the Equal Opportunity Group of Commissionaires. Together with the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality of the European Parliament the European Commission in 1995 adopted the political framework for integrating gender into the public policies of the Community.

The Maastricht review of the Treaty of Rome and the expansion of the authority of the European Parliament contributed to important activities of the European Commission, which in 1996 had already adopted the document titled ‘Incorporation of Equal Opportunities for Women and Men into all Community Policies and Actions’.

In Amsterdam the following third revision of the Treaty of Rome took a significant step in terms of broadening the competencies of EU institutions. Responsibilities for gender equality were introduced into the Treaty itself providing a legal basis to combat against discrimination in five areas: racial, ethnic, religion, age and gender orientation. The Treaty strengthened the existing provisions on equal payment for equal work and work of the same value, and equal treatment at work but it also introduced some new provisions on gender equality in all directions of EU policy. Therefore, with the establishment of a legal basis for gender equality Amsterdam also established a political framework for gender mainstreaming that became a compulsory strategy with goals related to gender equality, the elimination of inequality in employment strategies, the elimination of gender based discrimination, gender equality in the labour market and equal treatment at work, equal payment for work and the adoption of special measures for less represented gender in continued professional activities. Special provisions of the Treaty allowed the states to retain various forms of positive discrimination, while specific weight for this commitment was achieved by introducing a system of co-decision making (by the European Parliament and the European Commission) on future gender equality related activities.

Since the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty all EU member countries as well as the candidates for membership are under the obligation to develop national strategies for implementation of the aforesaid goals, which, as we can see, is mostly directed towards the public sector. In 2000 the European Commission adopted two directives about equal treatment in employment and access to goods and services (Racial Equality Directive and the Framework Directive with three guidelines directed against gender discrimination).In addition, the Framework Strategy of the Community on Gender Equality was also adopted (2001-2005).

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It should be said that the commitment to gender mainstreaming in the EU had positive effects on the below sector strategies: • European employment strategy • Social inclusion • Research and Development Policy • Design of structural funds • Cooperation and development policies • External relations (EP, 2002).

The importance that the EU assigned at the time to the development of the gender mainstreaming strategy as a macro-economic framework was a topic of a gathering in 2001 where the need for gender sensitive budgeting was mentioned for the first time. Soon after that, together with the OECD, Nordic Council, UNIFEM and others, a conference titled ‘Gender Sensitive Budgeting and a Global Vision to Strengthen Economic and Financial Governance’ was held and initiated an open debate on public finance from the gender perspective at the EU level. Engagement of experts for the methodological preparation, drafting instructions, identification of the necessary institutional framework for implementation resulting from the EU commitment to engage in this direction resulted in a series of recommendations to the European Commission. Gender budgeting was defined as the, “implementation of gender mainstreaming in the budgeting processes”. Emphasis was on the need to: a) include gender mainstreaming in all stages of the budgeting process; and b) promotion of gender equality in the reorganisation of budgetary revenue and items of budgetary spending.

These activities resulted in the discussion and adoption of the Resolution of the European Parliament on Gender Budgeting: Creation of Public Budgets from the Gender Perspective (European Parliament 2002).

European gender equality legislation was supplemented in 2004 by two more directives: one on the equal treatment of men and women and in 2006 through the Recast Directive that unified the previously adopted directives on equality, self-employment of women, healthcare for pregnant women and the regulation of part-time work.

Adoption of the EU strategy Europe 2020 has provided an additional impetus for activities related to the inclusion of gender equality into EU policies. Communication between the European Commission, European Parliament, Council of Europe, the Economic Social Committee and the Committee for Regions resulted in the adoption of the ‘Strategy for the Equality of Men and Women (2010-2015)’. This strategy is focused on the following areas: • economic independence; • equal payment;

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• decision making; • dignity, integrity and the elimination of gender based violence; • gender equality in foreign relations; and • horizontal issues (COM, 2010).

The European Parliament prepared a draft report in 2012 on the elimination of gender stereotyping in the EU (EP, 2012); the most important part of the activities were directed towards an analysis of the prepared multi-annual financial framework for 2014-2020 from the gender equality perspective. By applying the developed methodology of gender budgeting, analysis of the proposed Multi-Annual Financial Framework included the following five areas relevant to gender policy: • economic independence; • education and training; • health/welfare and environment; and • fundamental rights.

This study, which was done for the needs of the Committee for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, showed that it is possible to apply the gender budgeting methodology to EU budgets and procedures, which will probably serve as the basis for determining future budget frameworks.

In summary let us look back at the previously mentioned activities of the Council of Europe concerning the definition of the gender mainstreaming strategy from 1996 when the Gender Mainstreaming Expert Group was formed and its final report issued in the same year: Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe from 1998, Conference of the Council of Europe in Athens in 1999, the final report of the Gender Budgeting Expert Group from 2005 that offered a definition of gender budgeting and guidelines for its implementation featuring some examples of good practice (COE 2004) and the very useful Gender Budgeting Handbook (COE 2009) that contains practical instruction on how to implement gender budgeting at various levels as well as the role of civil society in the process.

C. National Legislative and Political Preconditions The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) together with its adopted amendments from 1995 and Optional Protocol from 1999 is the basis for defining countries’ obligations. International human rights standards are also an obligation of society in terms of their implementation; the obligations from the Convention, whether incorporated into national constitutions and laws or not, have the same obligatory character. The second obligation under the Convention concerns states taking measures towards abolishing discriminatory provisions and practices.

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CEDAW identifies the following obligations of the states: • incorporate the principle of equality of men and women in their national constitutions or appropriate laws and to ensure practical implementation of such a principle through legislative or other measures; • adopt appropriate legislative and other measures (including sanctions) to prohibit all forms of discrimination against women; • introduce legal measures for the protection of women’s rights on an equal basis with men and to ensure the effective protection of women from discrimination through the responsible courts; • refrain from discriminatory procedures and practices and make sure that public bodies and institution act in accordance with this obligation; • take all necessary measures to rectify discrimination against women; • take all suitable measures to change or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that discriminate against women; • abolish internal penalties that discriminate against women; • take all appropriate measures to ensure the full development and advancement of women, guarantee the realisation and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal standing with men; and • adoption of special temporary measures for the purpose of equality are not to be considered discrimination, but must not result in uneven and different measures.

The states are obliged to take appropriate and special measures in the areas of: • eliminating gender stereotypes; • combating trafficking in women; • abolishing discrimination in political and public life; • presentation on the international plane; • education; • employment; • health; • economic and social benefits and special policies for women in rural areas; • equality before the Law and in civil matters; and • elimination of gender based violence.

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Based on such obligations states make an assessment of the existing situation, identify indicators for monitoring the effects of policies in the said areas and determine means and mechanisms for monitoring. Therefore, the obligations of the states are oriented towards achieving results and the measures (irrespective of their ‘cost price’) must be quantified and visible in the budget. So the budget appears as an unavoidable and powerful tool for the realisation of the state’s obligations in relation to the achievement of gender equality.

Another important foundation for gender mainstreaming at the national level is the Study compiled by the Supervisory Committee for Equality of Men and Women (CDEG) of the Council of Europe. The study on national mechanisms, activity plans and the integration of the gender aspect into public policies aided EU member states to adopt their strategies and was also used as the basis for designing the engagement of international organisations (UNDP, Nordic Council…). This gender mainstreaming strategy also implies fulfilment of the preconditions identified by the Council of Europe in 1998 (COE 2009) that relate to: • political will; • additional resources; • gender sensitive analysis and statistics; • capacities of civil servants; and • infrastructure needed for implementation of the concept.

I wish to reiterate the particular importance of achieving the highest possible level of representation for women within decision making positions. It is the main prerequisite for meeting the preconditions and also the most important determinant for the success of policies and meeting the states’ obligation to ensure gender equality.

D. Multilateral and Bilateral Donors, Civil Society Organisations and Gender Equality Important contributions to the promotion of and support for the development of institutions within the function of gender equality have and continue to be provided by many multilateral organisations. A United Nations has played a role of particular importance within this process through the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). We should remember the UNDP’s engagement in developmental issues where the main purpose of development, namely to broaden the people’s choice, was emphasised. This three component concept (equal opportunities, sustainability for future generation and the empowerment of people through development) of the UNDP resulted in three known principles for the integration of the gender perspective into development (human development): • equality; • women as bearers and beneficiaries of change; and • wider possibility of choice for both men and women.

Having played a particularly prominent role in the issue of human development since 1995 the UNDP has been the initiator and organiser of many conferences that have resulted in

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the full consent that, “Gender equality is equally critical for development and development is critical for gender.”

By the nature of its engagement UNIFEM provides numerous means of support for activities aimed at the promotion of gender equality and the improvement of the position of women.

Its support for monitoring the fulfilment of the obligations of the states stemming from the CEDAW Convention, particularly those that are oriented towards the higher participation of women in the decision making process, are at the focus of UNIFEM’s activities throughout the world. Of particular importance was the joint conference that was held in Brussels in 2001 (at which the most relevant organisations that deal with this issue participated) and the important role that UNIFEM played in developing the concept recommendations to achieve gender quality. UNIFEM also started a set of activities related to budgetary analysis providing support (education, training courses and technical equipment) to governments and civil society organisations in order for them to apply the techniques of gender budgeting, conduct budget analyses from the gender perspective, analyse budgetary revenues and items of budgetary spending etc.

The Commonwealth Secretariat takes an important role in the process of developing concepts and techniques for budgeting within the gender context and as one of most active organisations often partners with UNIFEM. Ensuring the same rights for men and women in all aspects of their lives was the commitment expressed by the Commonwealth in 1995 through the ‘Commonwealth Plan of Action on Gender and Development’ (Budlender and Hewitt 2003). A modest summary of the contribution made by the Commonwealth Secretariat includes, amongst others, numerous examples of its support for understanding the importance of gender issues, the role of the budget in the process of realising gender equality, the development and dissemination of budgeting within this context and the first pilot project that used the new methods after Beijing.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published the ‘Guidelines for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in Development Cooperation’ immediately after Beijing (1998). Promotion of gender mainstreaming and its implementation by the OECD member countries in this process reflected the prior perception of this organisation that sustainable development must reflect the needs of both men and women.

Through joint programmes of the EOCD/DAC and OECD/PUMA this organisation has set certain standards for the activities of their member countries and developed techniques for the dissemination of costs. So, for example, OECD members have used the ‘gender equality policy marker’ to report on activities aimed at gender equality and the economic empowerment of women. Although not without challenges, particularly in terms of the development of methodologies, the use of a single methodology for all countries irrespective of their different characteristics and status and differences in sector coverage, these OECD activities pointed out the necessity to change policies. For example, in the period 2001-2005 only one-fourth of the 20 billion in bilateral aid was allocated to activities aimed at achieving gender equality. Of this amount two-thirds were allocated to the social sector and only onethird for the promotion of gender equality in the sectors of agriculture, infrastructure and finances (see ECOSOC 2008 p.10).

Numerous activities have been undertaken by bilateral organisations in the promotion of gender equality and improving the environment for the development of adequate policies

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and methods in this function, particularly in the less developed countries. We should mention the following: • Canadian International Centre for Research and Development (IDRC); • Swedish International Development Organisation (SIDA); • Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation ( SDC); • German organisation for technical cooperation (GTZ); and • UK Department for International Development (DFID).

Special attention and various forms of support are being provided through bilateral arrangements also by the governments of Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway. These types of arrangement are mostly focused on civil society and non-governmental organisations which have had different experiences in their work to date.

There is increasing interest amongst civil society which is paying more attention to government budgets, particularly since the early nineties of the 20th century. The processes of democratisation, decentralisation, the development of public spending management and the engagement of international financial institutions and their support to independent budgetary work has made a strong contribution to this. Although mostly focused on issues related to poverty reduction, some of them have been involved in the preparation and formulation of alternative budgets. The expansion of various independent budgetary groups and their engagement has been met with different comments; often it is said that the activities of governments aimed at issues relating to gender equality are directly related to public pressure. The Australian experience is often cited as an illustration of the successful involvement of civil society organisations in the elimination of government restrictions and administration. Yet in spite of the recognition of the important role they play in gender equality issues the engagement of civil society also has its own limitations and challenges, particularly in less developed countries: • Independent budgetary groups are mostly focused on criticising current government spending programmes.

• Their capacities for independent budgetary analysis outside of the public sector are limited.

• Financial dependence on donors brings into question the sustainability of their programmes.

• In some countries reservations and resistance to the relationship between the government and non-governmental sector exists and this makes access to information and their engagement in achieving the necessary changes more difficult.

• Often donor initiatives are accompanied by training related methods, the engagement of experts and consultants (particularly foreign ones) and this can what create reservations and open the issue of the purposefulness of this type of initiative.

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Discussions on this and similar open issues are largely related to the ongoing debate on the necessity to include all relevant subjects when formulating and implementing key policies, including those with a gender prefix. As we have already mentioned, civil society organisations have a particularly important role.

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III GENDER AND ECONOMIC POLICY 1. Gender and Economy: Mainstreaming the Gender Perspective in the Macro-economy Understanding the interrelationship between gender and economy is an extremely complex issue. Generally, it concerns the interrelations between economy and inequality, where gender inequality has a particularly important role and outweighs other forms of inequality.

There are several reasons for treating gender equality and economy in this way. They may be condensed in the economic quantification of the cost of gender inequality in the context of productivity, efficacy and economic prosperity on the one hand and the importance of economic policy in the context of improving the welfare of all members of the community and society as a whole on the other.

To illustrate this first position we will mention the findings presented in the OECD publication ‘Does Gender Equality Spur Growth’, which states “in the long-run gender equality strengthens economic development”. The latter based on an analysis of the birth rate and access to gender equality in various countries. The balance of the democratic structure and developed positions on gender equality show a high level of correlation, which is a key assumption for long-term development and its sustainability. The fact that gender inequality inhibits growth potential and other macroeconomic variables is also shown in a World Bank survey and its conclusion that, “preventing the accumulation of human capital at home and in the labour market, systematic deprivation of women or men’s access to resources, public services or production activities, gender discrimination reduces the economic capacities for growth and increasing the standard of living” (World Bank 2001 p.11).

The other position on the importance of economic policy for improving social welfare is closely related to the fundamental determinants of the concept of development, its goals and the design of development policies and choice of priorities. In this sense, it is well worth reiterating the importance of the effects of economic policy and the responsibility of its creators in relation to gender inequality.

Two key frameworks for understanding the integration of gender and the macro-economy impose themselves: • various positions concerning growth, development and inequalities; and • institutional explanation of gender inequality.

That fact that the terms ‘growth’ and ‘development’ are not synonyms is shown by their definitions. The term ‘growth’ relates to increased material welfare measured as increased income, whereas the term ‘development’ relates to a process (combination of social, economic and institutional processes) aimed at satisfying human needs, increased standard of living and broader possibilities of choice. The UN approach to the notion of development is based on the Aristotelian idea of ‘contributing to the Human good’ and aimed at extending the possibility of choice.

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It is focused on three main components: equal opportunities, the inter-generational sustainability of such opportunities and the empowerment of people to participate in development process and enjoy the benefits of development.

From such different approaches followed some additional interpretation that measures of growth (income) may not be the goal but the means for development and that high growth (income) may lead to a low level of human development and emphasised inequality in distribution. So, for example, gender inequality in terms of payments or total revenue lead to economic inefficiency and this undermines social stability and solidarity, while extreme inequality is unjust (see Todaro 2006 p.195).

Therefore, the key thing here is the character of growth: how it has been achieved, who and how much contributes to this growth, what are the sector priorities, what are the concepts, what are the policies, how the growth effects are to be distributed and such like. It determines the way in which growth reflects on the welfare of all members of a community. The ‘growth’ approach has extreme inequalities (including gender inequalities) and emphasises the issue of poverty and gender coloured poverty with a female face. Let us recall the illustrations showing the feminisation of poverty which is produced and reproduced within the framework of social norms. Gender appears as the basic organisational relationship in the transformation of growth into development. Macro-economic models and growth focused economic policies may contribute to increasing the gap and inequality in the same way as government re-distributing programmes may contribute to the reproduction of inequality.

This is why it is so important to integrate gender into development policies and programmes and, in particular, to include women in the main economic flows.

An institutional explanation of gender inequality is closely related to norms, customs and values and due to a lack of understanding of inequalities the central role is given to the family. More precisely, key institutions like the market, state and family are gendered. In addition to this, the institutional environment is determined, amongst others, by the role of the market, state and civil society. It manifests unequal roles and access to resources, the labour market, payments, use of public services etc. And imposes and generates additional restrictions that in most part are a reflection of how gender is understood within the family.

Therefore, specific restrictions within the family and ‘copied’ restrictions within key actors of gender issues – market and the State.

One more area of importance for understanding the produced inequalities is the structure of the institutions of the market or state in a society. It points to various approaches to inequality. Classic liberalism considered equality important only before the Law, irrespective of the inequalities in the market (in terms of access to opportunities and the distribution of benefits) which are even desirable. Marxism pretended towards a society of equal needs where economic equality is a condition for political equality and stability. Meritocracy places individual ability at the forefront in a society where individuals are positioned in line with what they ‘deserve’ based on their different abilities. Critics of this approach of ‘pure’ meritocracy and the approach of social justice favouring individual ability require corrections through redistribution. The neoclassical liberal doctrine emphasises market forces with nuanced requirements for reform and differences in distribution (social liberals) or preference towards freedom. M. Friedman, for example, believes that a society that prefers equality over freedom will gain nothing, yet the society that prefers freedom over equality will have both.

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Debates on freedom and equality also exist in the context of the role of the market and the state in the economy. Classic and neo-classical liberal doctrines favour the free operation of the market with a minimal role for the state that extends only to ensuring an enabling environment for the operation of market mechanisms focused on economic growth. On the other hand, Keynesian and neo-Keynesian interpretation considers the role of the state as a necessary corrective mechanism for the market in the function of ensuring the stability of the economy. The state is therefore the ‘shock absorber’ for market fluctuations in the economy. However, none of the two approaches to the interpretation of economic elements has succeeded in providing an adequate answer to the issue of gender inequality. Keynesians admittedly favour public investment but only as an incentive to growth and employment, while the creation of new public services and the social protection system is assigned to the function of encouraging the private sector. The state is therefore necessary in terms of correcting market irregularities, but not the social ones rooted in family and transposed to the institutions of the market and the state.

What does a superficial glance at the various approaches to these issues tell us?

Understanding growth, development, economic inequalities (wealth and poverty) has been changed and transformed but while the understanding of gender inequalities, particularly in this context, has changed it has done so at a much slower pace. There are multiple reasons for this that range from the fact that economic inequalities (e.g., poverty) are treated from the humanitarian and structural point of view, while gender inequalities have been placed more in the context of policy (including the economic policy profile). However, identification of the links between income inequality and gender inequality, which is as far as the process of transformation of the approach to growth and development has reached, shows the necessity of include a gender dimension in macro-economic tools. In order to illustrate this let us look back at the sort history of the policies of growth and development and the strategies targeted at poverty within the context of treating gender issues.

The period from after the World War II up until the early seventies of the 20th century was marked by development strategies that were focused on economic growth, industrial growth and a growth in investment in physical capital. The labour force and human capital were in the function of achieving economic growth, while gender issues were almost completely left out. The oil shocks, economic crises and recessions of the seventies and eighties caused lower growth in the developed countries and increased borrowing in the less developed economies. The issues of budgetary and balance-of-payments deficits were stressed as priorities and this led to programmes of structural adjustment focused on stimulating the market, reducing state spending and the liberalisation of the economy. Although this had its ‘social’ price it was the first time that a connection had been established between gender and development. Admittedly, gender issues were placed more in the context of economic inequality and poverty where women were recognised as economic subjects (but only through an analysis of the effects that the development policies had on women) and as clients of welfare. The absence of adequate treatment of the role of women in economy, in spite of special programmes for women, resulted in a widening of the gender gap in productivity and worsened the position of women; however, it also represented an important step towards establishing the link between gender and poverty and gender and macro-economic policy.

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The nineties of the 20th century were marked by a change in policy by the World Bank with regard to its approach to the issues of poverty and emphasising the importance of human capital. The UNDP Human Development Report, creation of new development indicators and in particular the reports within the context of the Beijing Platform began to change the approach to gender and underline the role and responsibilities of government in ensuring equal opportunities, access to resources for development and equal benefits from development. The OECD platform that offered a strategy for the 21st century in 1996 through the International Development Goals (ITD) included gender equality and this was the first time that gender had been included in a policy agenda. The subsequent transformation of the ITD into Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the incorporation of gender into activities aimed at poverty reduction brought a number of important changes, but also some new arguments for the qualification of the still inadequate treatment of gender issues.

So, for example, the appropriate role for government was seen only as a regulator, while in terms of its obligations government was only expected to ensure the critical mass of the economic infrastructure. Gender was only treated as a development goal (MDG) and only in the context of the social sector (education, reproductive health, pregnancy and the childbirth related mortality of women, HIV infection, etc). As an illustration of this transformation in the treatment of gender we should mention the programmes of Women in Development (WID). WID focused on special intervention programmes for women based on an equal rights approach and transformed them into Gender and Development (GAD) programmes focused on ensuring the transformation of unequal gender relations that marginalised women in particular.

This current economic crisis and emphasised issue of debt (budget deficit) has reopened the issue of the treatment of gender within the context of the necessary adjustments (fiscal consolidation aimed at reduced spending), but also some new approaches that recognise “gender as smart economics”. This may signify the final departure from the dominance of neo-liberal macro-economic mainstreaming that is characterised by gender blindness and the opening of new development opportunities for gender mainstreaming. If so, it may bring the final recognition that gender relations (the division of labour, employment, income and welfare) have important macro-economic implications. However, this does not mean that other models can also remain gender blind.

2. Understanding Sectors of Economy from a Gender Perspective For the purpose of better understanding sectors from a gender perspective we should remember the universally accepted terms and definition of the System of National Accounts.

The International Statistical Standard (SNA) was adopted and recommended to all UN members and international organisations as a standard guide and framework for economic statistics. National accounts comprise a “comprehensive record of complex economic activities”.

Official SNA statistics group sectors of the economy on the basis of their main functions and behaviour. Overall, economy is made up of five sectors with a separate non-resident sector that covers transactions between a country and abroad.

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The five sectors (institutional units) of the economy are listed below.

1. Household sector: is a key sector that provides land, labour and capital for various production factor markets. At the same time, this sector is the basis for demand for goods and services. Household members may have the role of providers of goods and services, and within the household they take decisions on the allocation of income spending or saving.

2. Business sector: employs factors of production (land, labour and capital) and produces goods and services.

3. Financial sector: carries out financial mediation activities.

4. Government sector (public sector): a. designs the regulatory and legal framework; and b. provides public goods and services (education, health and social care).

5. Non-profit sector: provides services to households and relates mostly to the work of non-governmental organisations.

In SNA methodology production is treated as a physical process that targets market or other institutional units (sectors). In response to the necessity to include the part of production that is used to meet own needs (e.g., agricultural production) SNA recognises that although such activities are productive (in the economic sense) for the reasons of clear market and non-market use they include the value of goods produced for one’s own needs but exclude the value of services for own needs.

At the first glance such qualifications and concepts of this universally applied statistical standard may seem gender neutral; however, even a brief look will reveal a number of important conclusions that deny this qualification of neutrality.

The household sector provides services for the production of goods and services (productive activities), while the production is done in other sectors. Thus, it provides human resources (labour force) that are treated as a “non-productive factor of production” (like, for example, natural resources). What is missing in this approach is a consideration of the social human resources and reproductive side of such activities. This includes childbearing and raising, reproductive activities on a daily basis (cooking, cleaning and maintaining the household), care of the elderly members of the household as well as ill and or incapacitated members who need care. Before they become ‘available’ for market factor production people first have to be born, brought up in accordance with specific norms and values, and acquire certain skills. From the point of view of SNA, all these activities are ‘invisible’. They only become ‘visible’ and included in the calculation of national accounts when productive and market oriented activities are provided in the public or private sector. What characterises this kind of work, particularly in less developed countries, is that most of them take place in the household. Therefore, in addition to being ‘invisible’ in the official statistics this work is also unpaid. It is done in accordance with different norms, customs and gender perceptions and mostly by women.

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Therefore, in a simplified structure, the key sectors for understanding gender and gender inequality are: • households with reproductive activities; • public sector with productive activities; and • private sector with productive activities.

How are these three sectors treated in SNA? The production of goods and services is ascribed to both the public and private sectors (that employ members of household), while the household sector is the basis for the demand and consumption of such goods and services. SNA treats households as consumers, because household members make decisions on the allocation of their income (spend or save). As a key organisational form of economic activity they are not treated as the “creators of value”.

Therefore, this three sector (in the narrower sense) structure is cut down to a two sector structure of productive work (public and private sectors) and treated as paid economic activity. The reproductive sector is understood as part of the role of women in society and is not considered as ‘work’ because it is not paid. So, from the point of view of SNA, only those sectors in the paid economy are treated as productive work.

The kind of gender blindness that we are talking about in this approach is testified to by the neglect of the different positions and responsibilities of men and women in the economy.

The paid economy, which is the only one that counts under conventional economic analysis, depends equally on the unpaid economy as overall economic activity is determined by both the paid and unpaid economy. The unpaid economy is to a large extent oriented towards women, while the paid economy is orientated to men: in accordance with the gender hierarchy of professions.

Let us see what it looks like in a modified gender pyramid structure.

Figure 1: Gender pyramid structure

Formal sector

Informal sector

Production for one’s own needs Reproductive sector and sector of care Source: Kabeer 2003 p.28.

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The formal sector of the economy (visible and paid economy) only comprises one part of overall economic activity. Within the formal sector there is a gender hierarchy of professions and payments with its accompanying rules. Typically, fewer women are employed in the formal sector compared to men: Where women are employed they tend to work in less productive sectors in positions where the work is less valued with lower wages and therefore women have lower incomes than men. This ‘rule’ applies to countries regardless of their level of development; however, the issue of this gender gap structure is more pronounced in less developed countries, which is an additional factor contributing to the weaker position of women in society.

Since different professions are gender structured we can make the generalisation that the professions dominated by women are generally less paid compared to those dominated by men. So, for example, culinary services (where women’s skills are emphasised) or services in pre-school institutions (mostly a female profession) are less valued and lower paid than male oriented jobs such as mechanical or computer technicians or in the security forces.

This emphasised gender disproportion in the valuation of labour is independent from the specific weight and importance of certain kinds of work; an example being the importance of pre-primary education for society as a whole. D. Bundlender cites the example of the different valuation of education led according to the stereotypes for men and women. In South Africa fourth quarter of employed women were nurses, while in the total structure of employees in that profession 96% were men. On the other hand, 96% of engineers were men. Additional weight is given to this gender structure by different evaluations that highlight the imbalance in payment for equivalent qualifications to the benefit of men who receive at least double the range of payments (see Budlander 1991 p.20).

The informal sector is the part of the economy that includes engagement in some forms of economic activity without formal employment (temporary or occasional activities, unregistered jobs, various forms of self-employment, illegal employment and other activities contrary to the law). Typically, this sector is used to describe the nature of the activity, the method of performing such an activity and how it is captured by official statistics. What follows from the treatment of this sector relates to unregistered and hidden work, mostly as a result of the tax or regulatory burden: the mandatory payment of taxes and contributions, obligations that stem from the right to work etc. Estimates show a significant informal labour force; in less developed countries this work force can exceed 80%, while in medium developed countries it is around 40%. Another issue of concern from the perspective of gender analysis again relates to the pyramidal gender hierarchy and informal economies that comprise: • owners of land and capital; • occasional employment within the formal sector (small and medium size companies, and plantations); • workers in home-based business (mostly unpaid work); and • category of ‘separate’ labour (e.g., prostitution) (see Kabeer 2003 p.62).

Therefore, like the formal sector, the informal sector is structured in a way that is particularly unfavourable for women. In addition, women’s work in the informal sector adds weight

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to the weakened economic position of women and the perpetuation of poverty: less paid or unpaid work, employment and income insecurity, lack of social security (unpaid contributions for health and or pensions). We should also mention that 90% of work in the formal sector is paid compared to 50% in the informal sector. In addition, the structure of paid and unpaid work in the informal sector is accompanied by the pyramidal hierarchy and the corresponding negative effects on women.

If we look at the informal economy by sector it is clear that certain types of employment are more inclined towards transferring to the formal sector, one example being services.

Yet others such as the agricultural sector, which is an important source of employment in the informal economy, show the least perspective for transferring to the formal sector. A key role in the agricultural sector in less developed countries is played by women. Having analysed individual research into this topic E. Boserup arrived at the conclusion that 70-80% of agricultural work in Africa is done by women, 60-80% in Asia and 40% in Latin America.

We should keep in mind the fact that from the SNA position this type of work is ‘invisible’ and almost all production and profit resulting from agriculture is controlled by men; most government incentives for agriculture are therefore also directed towards men (see Todaro and Smith 2006 p.421).

Reproductive work and the care sector (care for children, family members, elderly persons and persons with disability) is a reflection of the gender distribution of responsibility for work in the family and the largest part falls on women. Thus, statistically invisible and unpaid work is determined by social norms and represents an additional area that is important for understanding gender.

3. Importance of Understanding ‘Social Reproduction’ We have already mentioned in several considerations the various relationships between the areas of economic activity, namely the sectors (household, public and private sectors), the paid and unpaid economy and the formal and informal economy. Each of these areas of economic activity produces some form of output that may be visible or invisible, measurable or immeasurable, paid or unpaid depending on the treatment assigned to it as originally determined by social norms and transposed into official policy. At the same time, all three sectors are mutually interdependent and marked by specific roles for men and women. However, we should remember that the social division of work, the hierarchy of professions and such like places men and women in different positions and assigns them different responsibilities.

The mutual interdependence of these three sectors is confirmed by the fact that the private sector, which produces goods and services intended for the market and is profit-oriented, cannot realise its output if, for example, the public sector fails to provide adequate infrastructure and households fail to provide labour. The public sector provides all other sectors with a physical and social infrastructure; however it is financed through revenue provided by the other two sectors and functions thanks to human resources provided by the household sector. It is not profit-oriented because its provides some of its output in the form of free services; however, in terms of payments to public sector employees and the functioning of public sector companies it tries to follow market criteria. Households ‘produce’ the labour force for the other two sectors and produce goods and services that are important for social

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reproduction and the future labour force. This sector is not profit-oriented and work in the sector is not paid and performed in accordance with social norms as opposed to market conditions. These particularities within the operation of the household sector have contributed to various perceptions of the importance of the production sector (private and public) for economic activity but neglected the reproductive role that the household sector contributes to overall economic and social activities. In economic analysis the fact that the quality of ‘output’ in the reproductive sector (human resources and social capital) results in better or worse output in the private and public sector has been almost completely neglected.

Although in recent times emphasis has been placed on recognition of the various contributions of men and women in the economy and important part of the work performed by women is still not seen in the framework of economic categories. Reproductive roles and care in the household comprises a part of overall economic activity and should be recognised as such because they are an important factor for the sustainability of the family and society as a whole. To be cared for and to care for others has made the care economy the most important issue of demographic renewal and quality of social development. Although men do have their roles and responsibilities (attempting to have as few obligations as possible), most activities in this sector of the economy of care rely on women. Women have the key role in this unpaid process of social reproduction, both on a daily and intergenerational basis. This special motivation of women to become engaged in the economy of care stems from the sense of responsibility that is determined by social norms, which assigns different responsibilities to men and women in both the paid and unpaid economy.

However, what raises specific concern is the perception that women’s time in the economy of care is always available and unlimited in terms of quantity and as such is still not adequately treated in terms of the economy. The issue of women’s contribution to the economy and estimates that women contribute most through their unpaid work has been the subject of engagement for many international gatherings and organisations. At the Third World Conference on Women held in Nairobi in 1985 it was stated that, among other things, measuring women’s unpaid work is a major challenge. The Beijing Platform went a step further by calling for national and international statistics to include women’s unpaid work into the calculation of national wealth. This was also a subject of interest to the UNDP wherein research from 1995 which came up with the estimate that women’s work (paid and unpaid) only in the developed countries accounted for 51% of overall economic activity. Since then, women’s contribution to the economy has gained further visibility. Labour statistics calculate 70% of women’s contribution to work (see Ironmonger, 1999), which is a good illustration of the quantitative dimension of the issue and importance of treating it adequately. We should add to this the previously mentioned estimate that the value of unpaid work amounts to around half of the value of measured social wealth (GDP).

Yet the qualitative dimension is also of particular importance for this issue. In order to illustrate this let us consider that the gender dimension of this problem depends directly on the structure of society. The position of women in the reproductive and production economy is determined by differences in social, economic and political resources that are for the most part influenced by the economic status of women. For example, in some communities it is still not acceptable for women to contribute to the household income. Poverty analysis shows a big difference between households headed by men and women, and that the poorest households are mostly headed by women: 20% of households in India and 40% of rural

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households in Kenya are headed by women (see Todaro and Smith 2006 p.213). In addition, there are important differences in access to services provided by government. For example, in Brazil households headed by men have a four times greater probability of gaining access to health services than those households headed by women (see Todaro and Smith 2006 p.316). These differences are also significant in terms of, amongst others, the relation between urban-rural areas, specific professions, access to public sector services and government support programmes.

All this points to the necessity of conducting a careful analysis of women in the economy (reproductive and productive, unpaid and paid, informal and formal) in order to understand the role of individual and social factors that contribute to the strong gender dimension of inequality, the disproportionate burden of poverty and, in particular, the role of policies (including the importance of economic policies). In this regard the question of balancing the unpaid and paid economy is underlined. The economy of care contributes to the production of human capital and individual socialisation, while the public and private sectors contribute to the production of goods and services and the social and economic infrastructure.

Therefore, both economies contribute to economic growth and welfare; however, gender disproportion and the treatment of women’s participation in the unpaid economy is the main obstacle to the increased contribution of women in the productive paid sector of the economy. A synergy of such arrangements would multiply the effects of increased family income on the quality of human resources and improve economic and other performances.

In response to the question of how to achieve a balance between the reproductive and production sectors we arrive at the key role of economic policy. The latter is tasked with recognising and attaching value to the contribution of women’s work in the economy (particularly by treating the economy of care), reduce waste and the impoverishment of human resources and loss of social welfare as well as to ensure a necessary balance between professional and family life.

4. Gender Macro-economy Any careful analysis of the various types of gaps in the gender context would lead us to conclude that the largest and the most serious gap is the one between rhetoric and practical experience. How else can one explain the fact that, even with a series of international and national efforts, engagements and almost total consensus on the necessary changes, women in the world today still account for two-thirds of illiterates, in less developed countries pregnancy and birth related mortality is still the leading cause of death for women of reproductive age, that women are underrepresented amongst the makers of political and business decisions and that most of the work done by women still remains invisible, unmeasured, unpaid and unequally valued.

In an attempt to answer the question of what is the key reason for such a large ‘gender gap’ we will focus our attention on the macro-economy. It too deals with models, interrelations of aggregate values (production, employment, level of prices and foreign economic relations) and deals with the terms spending, saving, investing, importing, exporting, it defines macro-economic policy (monetary, fiscal, income policies and foreign economic relations) and formulates macro-economic instruments related to money (loans, taxes, public spending, income, balance of payments and the exchange rate). Thus the defined macro-economy

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seems gender neutral, directed towards the operation of the economy as a whole and with equal reflections on all members of the society regardless of their sex, race, class and ethnic or religious background. When examining how this ‘gender neutrality’ appears we should remember the key criteria that the creators of economic policy use and the predominance of purely economic and market criteria in policy formulation. As a result of this approach, economists use quantitative variables such as growth rates, size of GDP, (un)employment rates, inflation/deflation, budgetary and balance of payments deficits, the size of the public debt, exchange rate etc. Macro-economic instruments are designed in accordance with the predominant economic criteria, which is explained through the very nature of the economic environment in which, independent of the ever stronger role of the state in the economy, economic interests focused on individual and market criteria prevail. Together with this there is inequality in the balance of power and its domination in the system of designing and making key economic and political decisions. This is a reason for certain kinds of gender blindness that unfortunately do not produce gender-neutral macro-economic effects. Even worse, knowing that gender inequalities reflect on key macro-economic performance this gender blindness perpetuates existing and generates new inequalities. This is part of the explanation of the wide ‘gender gap’ and at the same time it emphasises the need to put each segment of macro-economic analysis or policy formulation above ‘abstract’ models and/or theories and direct them towards concrete conditions and the interests and needs of all members of a community, paying special attention to socially caused differences. As we have said before, this implies the necessity to formulate gender aware macro-economy models, analyses and policy.

Let us begin with macro-economic modelling. Analysis of the conventional two sector model that includes the paid (quantified, measurable and visible) economy points to the necessity for: • adequate measuring of the total contribution of women to the macro-economy, including their work in the informal sector and unpaid economy. The SNA methodology, that has made certain progress in terms of quantifying part of the informal sector and incorporating it into the measuring of social wealth, still does not calculate the total contribution of women to the economy; • adequate treatment of the reproductive sector and the economy of care by macro-economic modelling; and • increasing the gender sensitivity of key macro-economic actors and adding quantified a ‘social’ framework to the classic quantitative variables of income, spending, savings, investments, exports and imports.

With the imperative of ‘formalising’ the informal economy and increasing gender sensitivity of the paid economy a key precondition for the necessary change also concerns macroeconomic modelling, which must incorporate and assign equal value to and quantify all activities that contribute to economic operation. At the same time this is a means to make the work of women visible, paid and recognised as an integral part of economic operation.

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Let us remind ourselves of the three key reasons for gender blindness in economic analysis (Elson and Cagatay 1999): a) institutions (including economic ones) reflect transposed traditional gender approaches and beliefs (stereotypes); b) current economic analysis includes only paid work, meaning that it excludes the largest part of the contribution of women’s work to the economy; and c) gender determined division of labour and distribution of resources have important economic implications.

The main reason for this lies in the insufficient and inadequate treatment of the category of the labour force. Although human capital and investments in human capital have been recognised as particularly important for economic growth, macro-economic models still do not include everything that affects the ‘variables’ of the labour force: ‘production’ of the labour force, the economy of care, fertility, healthcare, education, diet, distribution of the family budget, national income etc. The SNA methodology also recognises the household sector as the key (admittedly, only in definition), as it really is. As such, it must be part of the macro-economic model and in this way ‘enrich’ the understanding of everything that contributes to growth. Let us go back to our overview of the interdependence of the three sectors of economy. D. Elson has expanded the main macro-economic model of national output (based solely on paid economy – public and private sector) and included all three sectors. In this simplified and modified scheme the circular flow of economic activities in these three sectors can be illustrated as shown below.

Figure 2: Circular flow of economic activity ECONOMY UNPAID ECONOMY

+

PAID ECONOMY

Human capital and individual socialisation

HOUSEHOLDS

social and economic infastructure

PUBLIC SECTOR

social and economic infastructure

PRIVATE SECTOR

Consumer and investment goods

Source: Elson 1999 p.8.

Completed in this way, the circular flow of macroeconomic activity shows that: a) total economic activity is a result of the work of the three sectors; b) all three sector make their contribution to the economy; c) the three sector that are important for the operation of the economy are mutually interdependent;

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d) the ‘social role’ of the household sector is an integral part of overall economic activity; e) effects of economic policy do not depend solely on the paid sector of the economy; and f) ignoring the economic role of the reproductive sector (economy of care) by politics cannot produce the desired economic effects or contribute to better social welfare.

This also suggests the necessity for a macro-economic analysis that incorporates the link between the reproductive and production sectors of the economy and identification of gender inequalities in institutions and their mutual relations that do not reflect on key macroeconomic performance. Current economic policy is focused on the paid economy and does not take into consideration the unpaid economy and therefore its effectiveness is limited.

Designing economic policy must take into consideration the contributions of all three sectors of the economy, just as the effects of economic policy reflect on all segments of economic activity. The different economic positions of men and women in the three sectors suggest the necessity of conducting an analysis of the effects of economic policy on gender in both economies (paid and unpaid) and all three sectors (household, public and private sectors).

There are two critical reasons why this is needed: the argument of equality and argument of efficacy (see Himmelweit 2011 Pp. 49-70). An analysis of the effects of the ‘gender neutral’ measures of economic policy (direct and indirect) on gender equality is an opportunity to test the commitment to achieving this goal and prevent the reproduction of gender inequality in the future. At the same time, not taking into account the gender implications of economic policy would lead to the diminished effectiveness of such policies within the context of implementing its key goals.

Let us use the example of fiscal policy and its gender implications (although, all macroeconomic policies have their gender implications). An analysis of the effects of fiscal policy alone includes three levels: • macro level – what public revenue and public expenditure it aggregates compared to GDP and puts in relation to the key macro-economic aggregates of growth, employment, inflation and debt; • mezzo level – that focuses on the structure of public revenue (direct and indirect taxes, and contributions) and public expenditure (various finance programmes and transfers); and • micro level – that analyses the effects of different kinds of taxes or spending programmes on different categories of the population.

Let us stay for a while with the three levels of analysis and examine, for example, cumulative budgetary deficit and public debt that create the need for fiscal consolidation in the form of reduced public spending, a reduction in the financing of public services and curtails their availability and accessibility for people working in the unpaid economy. ‘Overturning’ the burden from the state to households will change the structure of women’s work and cause additional imbalance and inequality. The financial and organisational distortion or non-distorting effect of tax as well as the effect of substitution influences gender determined individual decisions related, for example, to employment, income, spending, savings or education. Indirect taxes (e.g., value added tax) affect different income groups and also

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have gender specific effects in the context of the different positions of households headed by women and those headed by men (Casale 2012). Even a superfluous look at our gender macro-economic model seen from the position of micro-analysis shows that, for example, direct taxes reflect more stronger on men (since they are more represented in the formal sector), while indirect taxes affect women more because of their role in the reproductive sector of the economy.

Gender analysis of programmes of government spending and grants is of particular importance. Let us take the example of programmes of social insurance and social assistance, which are considered by many to be the main task of the state. Providing the minimum conditions of care and standard of living, care of older the population, ill members of society, groups of the population with special needs and similar comprised one-third of budget expenditure in the USA in 1997. The number of beneficiaries of such programmes was ten times higher than in 1950; however, the total budget allocation for these items had only increased five times over the observed period (see Stiglitz 2008 p.361). What does this rough picture show from the gender perspective as part of the redistribution effect?

If we look at the basic services that every government is obliged to provide in sufficient quantity and quality there are obvious differences amongst countries as to what constitutes basic services: do they include education and healthcare and to what extent, does it include water supply, unemployment benefit and other areas that stem from the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and Freedoms. How does the government approach to the treatment of important services reflect on gender? Alternatively, how many and what kind of government care programmes (care of pre-school children, care of the elderly or those who are ill) are financed through the budget and how do they reflect on improved access of women to the labour market?

All of these are important issues when evaluating the gender effects of economic policy, which is important as part of the gendering of the economy. However, it remains very important to recognise the different positions and balance of power in a society that determine gender inequality.

Recognising the role of economic policy in gender issues, criticism of exclusively macro-economic mainstreaming and a growing understanding of the negative reflections of gender inequality on economic growth have made gender economy an imperative. Therefore, the genderisation of the macro-economic model, gender analysis and the gendering of economic policy are an integral part of economic considerations and for enriching the understanding of the contributions made by various participants in the economic processes and for directing economic policy towards implementation of the goal of achieving welfare for all members of a community, both as a whole and individually.

In this context, the key role is to be played by the budget. Let us remember that budget is both a mirror of economic policy and an instrument of economic policy. Support for the instrumentalisation of gender mainstreaming into the macro-economy, which, let us not forget, along with the set of prevailing ideas and directions for development (theories and assumption) also includes practice (decisions and activities). The budget is also an explanation for the necessary connection between human rights and the responsibility of the state to achieve measurable and visible results in their implementation (the state’s gender equality policy commitments). From the position of gender equality, budget is an instrument for ensuring resources for implementation of the strategy because “measures of gender

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equality that are not visible in budget are only half-measures” (see Elon 2006 p.3). It is at the same time the most important policy because it provides the necessary financial support for the implementation of other economic policies and makes possible budget allocations that are of particular importance to women.

Integrating gender into budget analysis is a particularly important issue as it enables an insight in the effects of macro-economic policy on gender. Macro-economic instruments may be designed in such a way as to reduce or increase gender inequality. To what extent gender policy would increase or decrease the cost of gender inequality is shown in the budget. In items of revenue or expenditure one can see the cost of the inefficiency of gender inequality, both direct and indirect. This allows for an insight into the responsibility of the creators of economic policy for its political commitment. It allows for an evaluation of the effects of government policies on gender, but also an evaluation of how gender issues reflect on the effectiveness of government policies.

When evaluating the direct effects of macro-economic policy on gender equality, stronger focus is placed on the spending side. Thus, gender budget analysis may show that an increase in social spending on education for women may result with an increase in overall economic productivity. Correspondingly, it might show that by reducing gender disproportion in education the government may be able to reduce losses related to GDP. The government could reduce inequality in the labour market, for example, by adopting special employment programmes. However, each of these policy option aimed at reducing gender inequality assumes adequate treatment of the economy of care, both in terms of overall economic activity and consideration of whether part of the care could possibly be provided by the state.

It is so important to integrate gender into the evaluation of the structure of spending. R. Sharp proposed a conceptual framework with three categories of spending: • spending specifically targeted at women (health and educational programmes and employment programmes); • spending targeted at equal opportunities (special training programmes and incentives); and • effect of budget spending programmes on gender (evaluation of the influence of different spending programmes on gender equality).

Gender mainstreaming in budget processes and policies means a sort of democratisation of the political process. This requires a transformation of the content and the existence of adequate an institutional framework. Key criteria for the democratisation of budget policy and budget processes in terms of transformation are presented below. The diagram is an engendered version of the budget cycle earlier presented.

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Figure 3: Key criteria for the democratisation of budget policy and budget processes

PRESENTATION IN THE POLITICAL PROCESS

BUDGET EVALUATION

- women's participation - control of public responsibility - gender responsive redistribution of resources

- Women's participation - Participatory parity - Active citizenship of women - Civil society and NGOs - Political leadership

DEFINING THE PROBLEM

Recognising gender differences Presentation of the differences Disclosing and considering gender differences

POLICY IMPLEMENTATION

- political leadership - responsibility of political institutions - transparency - gender responsive redistribution of resources

SETTING PRIORITIES IN THE BUDGETING PROCESS

POLICY DESSIGN

- women's participation - participatory representation parity - political leadership - quantitative political representation - functional

Source: Klatzer and Mader, 2008, p.17.

Thus, the basis for starting the transformation of the budgeting process is recognition of the differences, their presentation, disclosure and consideration. The role of the key inputs (participation of women, participatory parity, active citizenship of women and involvement of civil society and non-governmental organisations) combined with representation in political processes (results with appropriate policy output), the gender responsive redistribution of resources (money and power) and responsibility of political institutions and transparency of the political process (including control and responsibility).

The institutional framework for implementation of the gender action plan in the transformation of political processes is an issue of particular importance. It was a subject of attention of the Secretariat of the Commonwealth, which developed the Gender Management System (GMS) as a set of concepts and methodologies, mechanisms and processes aimed at ensuring analysis of gender inequalities, recommending strategic interventions and presenting the cost of such interventions. An integral part of the necessary GMS are suitable institutional arrangements (agency, management team for strategy coordination and implementation, network of focal points for promotion, establishment of appropriate parliamentary commissions and the role of civil society).

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Along with those necessary preconditions, also of critical importance is how to make organisations responsible for the transformation process. In this sense (having explicit reference to gender norms and power relations), we feel it is necessary to once again emphasise the necessary steps to be taken.

1. Identification of all factors that generate gender inequality.

2. Adoption of measures aimed at the elimination of the causes of gender inequality.

3. Ensuring the necessary conditions to allow the decision process to be guided by the principles of gender equality.

4. Implementation of gender fair practices (elimination of discriminatory and the promotion of affirmative gender practices).

With an adequate institutional framework and provision of the necessary preconditions, the transformation of budgeting processes and budgeting practices turns the budget into the main instrument of economic policy for achieving gender equality.

5. Gender and the Key Challenges for the Global Economy If we were to try to find a single basis to explain events from recent history related to gender then a careful analysis of the key gender related challenges would lead us to the prevalent concept of the development approach and macro-economic modelling that was formulated in the spirit of recommendations made by J. Williamson and called the Washington Consensus. Initiated by the debt crisis and proposing two possible solutions (stabilisation or the introduction of free market policies) the ten recommendations made by J. Williamson shall be viewed historically as an important part of the ‘new’ picture of the world. The original recommendations of the ‘new approach’ concerned: • fiscal discipline; • redirecting the priorities of public spending; • tax reform; • liberalisation of interest rates; • competitive foreign exchange; • liberalisation of trade; • liberalisation of the inflow of FDI, • privatisation; • deregulation; and • protection of intellectual property.

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Based on this overview of recommendations, financial institutions have designed the ‘reform package’ that focuses on macro-economic stabilisation, structural reform, (liberalisation, deregulation and privatisation) and a reduced role of the state in the economy.

Macro-economic stabilisation should be a framework for the development of the private sector, create the level of trust required to encourage investment and improve competitiveness and the welfare of the economy as a whole. This is where the demand for firm monetary and fiscal policy aimed at reduced demand comes from. It should lead to balanced balance of payments and price stability, which are the necessary conditions for sustainable economic growth. Structural reforms through the liberalisation of real and financial flows are necessary conditions for participation in international economic flows and are the best allocator of limited resources available for national development. Transformation of the ownership structure through privatisation improves the efficiency of companies and by reducing the burden on the budget reduces the budget deficit. Finally, as the state is inefficient and counterproductive in relation to the modern market economy its role in the economy should be brought to the smallest possible level.

These critical determinants of the ‘new’ development approach have influenced structural reform programmes, transition, globalisation and the crisis of today. In order to see whether this is far from being a gender neutral view, let us see what has happened over several decades.

In the nineties of the 20th century structural adjustment programmes and policies (SAPs) were the main framework for encouraging a market economy, the liberalisation of economic and market activities, FDI and, in particular, restrictions on government spending and government interventions in the economy. Demands to increase the competitiveness of the economy and strengthen the financial sector (particularly banking), liberalisation and privatisation resulted in structural reform programmes characterised by deregulation. Along with the numerous positive effects of such programmes we should certainly mention some important reservations when it comes to gender equality.

Firstly, the issue of trade liberalisation and economic globalisation under conditions of market imperfection and oligopolistic structures dominated by transnational companies posed additional demands on smaller companies where the issue of the efficiency of labour was stressed. In this context, the gender issue was particularly important in relation to the ability of men and women to respond to the changed structure of the demand for labour. The educational structure of women and emphasis on skills and employment in labour intensive industries was unable to provide sufficient flexibility and dynamics for female labour to respond to the demands of new development and this contributed to a retention and reproduction of gender inequality. In addition, the different effects of liberalisation within sectors were detrimental to the predominantly female production sectors as well as manufacturing.

The formalisation of part of the informal sector also led to the loss of a significant number of jobs and this changed the gender prefix to the detriment of female labour.

Secondly, requests to increase effectiveness through public sector privatisation brought into question the area of the safest and best paid jobs for women: particularly in public services.

Jobs losses, reduced household income, the lack of any significant foreign direct investment (FDI) and the creation of new jobs and a new ownership structure resulted in an uneven gender distribution of the burden of the ‘reform’ package. It is certain that not all measures

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of structural adjustment had the same effect in all countries, but in all countries they had the same gender characteristics.

Thirdly, strong demand for fiscal consolidation by reducing the tax burden, reducing the salaries of public sector employees, a reduction in budget deficits through reduced public spending added to the weight of this package from the point of view of gender equality.

Reduced budget revenue, lower employment in the public sector, lower wages, reduced spending on education, health and the redirection of part of public spending towards private spending, increasing costs and strict budget limitations were only part of a broad range of fiscal consolidation measures that had a significant influence on gender inequality. A high price for deregulation and structural adjustment was paid by women.

Along with such demands for structural adjustment, the process of transition that transformed the economic structure in Central and Eastern Europe in the nineties made the gender neutrality of the Washington Consensus additionally questionable. The deterioration of the position of women resulted from the transition of the values system and a redefinition of the position of women in particular along two channels. The first relates to the altered perception of men and women where traditional values have come back and imposed the patriarchal model of relations. The second relates to the strengthening of individualism over collectivism, as a result of the non-critical acceptance of western materialistic values.

This kind of market governed globalisation under the influence of the global system of power had different effects on countries depending on their starting position in those ‘new’ rules of the game. Certainly, it depended on whether the countries were the ‘creators’ or only implemented the new rules. These new rules were generally written by those who had most voting rights in the institutions of the global economy (only seven countries have almost half the voting rights in the IMF and WTO).

What has globalisation brought about? First, market guided globalisation and a globalised economy nationalised economic policy by leaving it up to governments to deal with the problems of increased poverty and inequality by means of public spending. Government became critical for all issues related to the promotion of equality and social needs. Therefore, globalisation has placed additional demands on government and public spending. It should be noted that structural reforms and transition have increased the number of people in extreme poverty.

So how could governments cope with these additional demands? With limited public revenue and increased demands on public spending governments were expected to keep the national budgets balanced and reduce public expenditure. Thus, neo-liberal demands again.

Yet now they focused on government policies aimed at increased responsibility of government for the key problems of inequality and poverty on the one hand and applied simultaneous pressure on government to reduce spending, budget deficits and public debt on the other. On top of this, the less developed countries and transition countries were faced with some additional challenges: • export – an offensive orientation towards development and the imperative to improve competitiveness imposed the necessity to reduce production costs and increase the level of exploitation of labour, particularly female labour;

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• requirements of competitiveness and attempts to attract FDI were accompanied by a reduction in taxation, the introduction of tax incentives and tax exemptions that resulted with lower public revenue and a narrowing of the possibilities for public intervention, which are particularly important for women; • trade liberalisation and a reduction or abolishment of customs duties and fees resulted in an additional diminishment of public revenue as they were important source of public finance in the less developed countries; • WTO rules on state aid and public procurement narrowed the government’s freedom to determine the structure of public expenditure and the possibility of public support to encourage economic activity; and • diminishing international developmental assistance in the form of grants and their ‘replacement’ through trade have placed additional limitations on the fiscal capacities of government.

The issue of inequality resulting from the structural adjustment programmes, transition and globalisation and added responsibility of government to deal with them on the one hand and the limited capacities of government with diminishing revenue and demands to reduce spending and balance the budget deficit on the other were all present when the global and national economies entered into crisis. Financial, economic and then debt crisis, particularly in the Eurozone, has slowly transformed into social crisis, placing special emphasis on gender inequalities and the risk that all efforts and progress to date in achieving the goal of gender equality shall be pushed aside. This crisis has been particularly effective in exposing the necessity to demystify gender issues. Austerity and saving programmes, as the new principles of public policy in the EU and USA and other countries, have hurt social rights, increased poverty and gender inequality. Budget cuts and austerity measures, reduced employment and salaries, pensions, social protection, increased taxes and attacks on labour legislation are only some of the measures that additionally deteriorate the position of women in society and highlight the previously ‘invisible’ gender inequalities and discrimination by uncovering the key feature of our social, economic and political reality: gender inequality.

What has the crisis revealed in the labour market?

The unfavourable position of women from before crisis, the pyramid structure of employment, the highest share of women in unpaid labour and in the informal sectors (with all the risks such a status entails) has revealed the vulnerabilities of women and their unequal status in terms of access to and position in the labour market. The first effects of the crisis were manifested in sectors with a greater presence of the male labour force (banks, automobile industry and construction). This was followed by measures of fiscal incentives designed to save banks and critical industries and then the second wave of crisis arrived, which has particularly affected the sectors of services, public services and trade: all of which have a significant share of female labour. At the same time, due to a strong fiscal imbalance, austerity requirements reduced public spending undermining social protection schemes; unfortunately this had a detrimental effect on the provision of necessary services that are particularly important for women. First and most importantly jobs losses mainly affected female jobs, mostly as result of:

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a) unfavourable structure of female labour in the labour market; b) reduced demand for public services resulting from the lower purchase capacity of beneficiaries; and c) drastic budget cuts in spending as a result of the necessity to achieve savings (see Doelen, 2013). it should be remembered that the most important part of formal employment for women in the EU relates to the public sector, which employs around 40% of all women. Within the public sector over 70% of employees were women (78.4% in the health sector and 71.5% in education). The first saving measures targeted public services: Greece, for example, has closed 25% of public sector jobs, while the United Kingdom has closed 20%. Particularly strongly affected were the sectors of education and health. Most hospitals were closed down in Bulgaria (in September 2009 alone 21 hospitals were closed), while in France a trend has been observed of closing down state and free of charge schools (Doelen 2013).

This bad situation was made even worse by the restructuring of jobs. Along with the loss of employment, reduced income and the increased cost of services most of the burden of saving was transferred to women and their additional unpaid work.

Another important characteristic of the labour market under crisis conditions was the formalisation of employment. As an example, almost one-third of women in Europe work only part time, in temporary or occasional jobs which is four times more than men.

In addition to the existing gap in salaries and wages for work of equal value, the crisis has brought an additional reduction in salaries for women. In Estonia, for example, the wage gap is up to 30%, whereas in France, as a result of the status of women in the labour market, women’s pensions are up to 40% lower than pensions paid to men.

Special attention should be paid to measures aimed at targeted savings through a reduction or termination of social benefit. With a hardening of the criteria for social benefit and reduced or abolished maternity leave benefit some countries have (in spite of their guarantee of equal rights for women) deprived women of the same status as men. For example, in Germany in 2010 of the 50% of employed women only 28% received unemployment benefit.

Deregulation has once again become a key feature, this time having a specific reflection on gender and the position of women in the labour market. This is shown, amongst others, through the lower employment of women, informalisation of existing employment, reduced salaries, increase in unpaid labour due to lower purchase power and reduced offer of public services, lower social security and loss of benefits, increased vulnerability of, for example, pregnant women in the labour market.

What has the crisis revealed in the domain of politics?

We should remember that this social crisis is the result of the operation of the dominant neoliberal and neo-classical economic model. This is why it is surprising that, in spite of experiences to date that shows that fiscal consolidation in crisis does not provide results in the social development component, current attempts to find a way out of crisis are characterised by moves of neo-classical and neo-liberal economic doctrine: the very thing that has lead into crisis.

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Austerity, savings, rigorous budgetary rules and fiscal pacts in the EU for example, with restrictions placed on national budget deficits to a maximum of 3% of GDP, structural budgetary deficits of no more than 0.5% of GDP, public debt to not exceed 60% of GDP and obligations of the countries to make these rules part of their national legislation together with the announced possible sanctions in the event of their violation, financial mechanisms used to cover financial difficulties, capitalisation of banks and the purchase of government bonds testify in favour of renewed illusory expectations that market mechanisms are in fact capable of resolving this problem.

The causes of this crisis, its manifestation and reflections on gender inequality have served to only show that protectionist policies are needed today more than ever. This crisis has displayed gender realities: inequality, the gender gap and the gender structured labour market. Ultimately, it has shown that the measures implemented in the name of savings are not really savings but a redistribution of the burden of the crisis to the detriment of the position of women, women in the labour market and gender equality in general. A demystification of public finance and in particular of budget underline the need to use budget allocations more carefully and, especially in the times ahead, gender budgeting. This is a shift of sorts towards long-term investment in social support as a modality for long-term growth.

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PART TWO

GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGETING

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1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND CONCEPTS Conventional economics (and especially its orthodox tradition) disregarded gender as an analytical category in the analysis and description of economic processes and the behaviour of economic stakeholders and their gender based relations. Gender (socially and culturally construed differences between men and women) has been ignored in conventional studies of economic structures and by empirical data and macroeconomic policy (see Harding, 1995, Pp.7-32). The gender blindness of conventional economics in fact reflects its gender bias and shows a predominantly male view of economy and society. It perceives female labour as abundant available and thus elastic, considers unpaid work as fully replaceable by market goods and services and neglects the economic and social consequences of caring.

Conventional conceptual frameworks used to shape macroeconomic policy remain gender blind as they systematically underestimate the contributions from non-market and nonmonetary activities, which are primarily based on the unpaid work of women (Elson, 2002, 1). Thus, conventional economic policies in general lack gender sensitive approaches to guide public policy towards the empowerment, namely the improvement of the economic and social status, of women.

A gender sensitive economic analysis identifies analyses and explains gender inequalities within the structured power relations between men and women within the economy. It defines gender related goals with regard to economic policy and develops the gender indicators necessary for a more realistic illustration of the effects of actual economic processes and relations and measuring progress in terms of realising economic and gender related goals. Gender aware approaches to process analysis within the economy recognise gender as an analytical category of twofold importance. On the one hand it predominantly shapes the access of men and women to resources and control over resources, while on the other it affects the nature of the processes being established and maintained in the market.A strong link between two parallel social goals (economic development and gender equality) has been widely explained and empirically confirmed. Ignoring gender disparities results in a high cost to human well-being, to potential in terms of the efficient and sustainable development of national economies and reduces the possibilities for poverty reduction (Dollar, Gatti, 1999; World Bank, 2001). Despite this relation being neither simple nor unquestionable (see Elson 2004 p.6), gender based economic analysis has begun to be incorporated into the dominant development models, strategies and policies around the world. Therefore, more theorists and empiricists (not only those from academia but also from international and national agencies, institutions and political organisations as well as civil society organisations) are using gender analysis as an integral and inseparable part of economic analysis.

Unlike orthodox theory and the neoliberal ideology based on this theory, which believes that the market automatically allocates and selects the most efficient development stakeholders and provides for economic growth, there are theoretical approaches, even if they do not deal directly with gender issues, that pay special attention to the very nature of economic growth, namely the way it is being realised, the stakeholders and actors participating in that process or having priority in it etc.

Such approaches start from the assumption that economic growth and a more balanced distribution of income are not necessarily mutually conflicting goals: the model of economic growth that includes speedy income growth targeted at poor population categories

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is possible. Thus, the New Theory of Growth starts from the presumptions that capital and labour (as a production factor) can be combined in such a way as to align with social goals.

Such an integrated socio-economic approach and the introduction of capital saving technology may increase productivity while at the same time avoiding sacrificing labour. The labour force within a highly organised and regulated labour market can be employed in a way that is, in the long-run observed in dynamic terms, efficient. Policy makers need to pay careful attention to all of the factors that provide incentives for knowledge creation in order to sustain growth (Cortright, 2001).

Therefore, long-term investments in education, health, infrastructure and access to the market are of strategic importance to society. These generally large scale public investments can bring significant benefits to the whole of society, namely they bring about positive externalities that should, as a consequence, increase public revenue.

The Economics of Labour and the New Economics of Households are also popular areas of study for feminist economic analysis. Conceptual baselines for these more recent gender sensitive approaches to a ‘real’ as opposed to abstract ‘mainstream’ economy are firstly that social institutions contain and transmit social biases and thus ‘free’ markets reflect and strengthen gender inequalities; secondly, that the cost of the maintenance and reproduction of the labour force remains ‘invisible’ within society for as long as the unpaid costs of reproductive labour are not included in economic activity; thirdly, that economic behaviour is also gendered because gender plays an important role in the division of labour, income wealth and productive inputs with significant macroeconomic consequences (see Çagatay 1998 and Cagatay, Elson and Grown 1995, 1827).

In other words, the feminist political economy underlines that all institutions and relations within the economy and society are gendered (Folbre, 1994) revealing the power relations between those who have and do not have political power. Therefore, feminist economists such as Elson Diane and Cagatay Nilufer advocate that the feminist economy, as a heterodox school of economic thought, should apply the ‘transformative approach’. It means that at the same time it contradicts the basic assumptions of the classical macroeconomic analysis and policy it should also develop them by incorporating the social reproduction variables and gender inequalities into them (see Elson and Cagatay 2000 Pp. 1347-1364; Elson 2004 p.6).1

1.1. Gender Aware Public Finance Gender aware public finance recognises the link between economic development and gender equality and analyses and elaborates a financial connection between economic development and gender equality as two parallel social objectives. Any increase in gender asymmetry of rights and responsibilities contributes to the allocative inefficiency of the labour market and increases long-term social costs, due to the market not operating freely. Real markets are tainted with gender bias and/or are being eliminated (see Palmer, 1995 and 1982-1983).

1

See charpter I about the importance of including unpaid work and care work as economic activities and why this is an important aspect of feminist work underlying GRB.

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Gender biased markets are reflected in the multiple ways to prevent equal access and participation in the market for all potential actors and thus affect women more than men (Ibid p.182). Women bear the individualised burden of procreation and social reproduction. The socialisation of maternity costs represents not only an economic but a major political and social issue, because the socialisation of procreation and breeding costs would provide women with more equal access to available economic opportunities. Furthermore, transaction costs in the market itself arising from the established level of business contacts, reputation, credibility and acceptance, are usually higher for those who, like women with small children, do not have regular and constant access to the market. In turn, higher transaction costs may also have a further adverse impact on the decrease in prices for goods and services of these already unprivileged market actors.

The key objective of engendering all public revenue and expenditure is to, by their more precise focusing, increase the allocative efficiency of resources, economic growth and improve gender equality. Basically, there are two possible approaches to gender aware public finance management (Palmer 1995 and 1981). One of the approaches focuses on a consideration of the different effects that economic policy has on men and women and on the necessary changes that need to take place in order for it to be more equally beneficial to both men and women. Another approach2 studies the implications gender relations and disparities have for macroeconomic analysis and on the selection of those options of economic policies that emphatically stimulate the achievement of the objective of efficient and sustainable growth.

In both cases it is the budgets that have the key role in promoting gender equality.

1.2. ‘Women’s’ and Gender Responsive Budgets Public financial management is a critical element in how governments raise and use resources to meet the public’s needs. The budget process and the budget within which key national priorities over the short and medium term are being set are central to public financial management. The budget is the government’s most significant political instrument, since the successful implementation of any policy, from encouraging economic growth, preventing gender based violence, to improving reproductive health assumes the allocation of an appropriate amount of funds.

The usual shortcomings of a budget are their gender neutral economic framework, the lack of socioeconomic and gender sensitive statistics and lack of transparency and public participation (The International Budget Process, 2002). A major problem of a standard budgeting process is that it is based on the prevailing economic opinion, which assumes the rational behaviour of individuals led by their own best interests without considering gender, class, age or ethnicity, and is exclusively market oriented and extends beyond specific historical geographic and social contexts. It is also assumed that the decisions made by such individuals are not affected by the ruling power relations.

Gender budgeting refers to analytical procedures and processes of disaggregating budget expenses and income to show their various impacts upon women and men. The objective of 2

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This approach is crucial when public finances need to be directed towards the realisation of a macroeconomic objective aimed at efficient fair and sustainable economic growth under the conditions of structural transformations of the economy and society.

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gender budgeting is to indicate points where the collection and distribution of public funds is unfair and/or inefficient. However, the result of such an indication is not to equally allocate all income and expenses among men and women, since they may have general, common and also different needs, but to equitably address the needs and priorities of women and men and to value their contributions to economic and social development equally.

Thus, GRB analyse should be followed by resulting changes.

Instead of ‘gender budgeting’ the terms ‘gender responsive’, ‘gender aware’ or ‘gender sensitive’ budgets and ‘women’s’ budgets may be used as synonyms. What is common to all of the above terms is that they all relate to government budgets that promote gender equality.

However, some of the terms may be misleading e.g., the term ‘women’s budget’ may make us believe that gender budgeting means developing separate budgets for women and men, girls and boys or seeing how much money is allocated for them in gender projects. Also it is not about how many women as compared to men are employed in public administration and what rank and salary levels they have, even though this could be a minor part of a GRB analysis.

An equal share of public funds of 50% for men and 50% for women does not necessarily involve their equal participation in, for example, healthcare, since male and female needs in various sectors differ. Therefore, the very equality between men and women indicates that the funds among them need to be allocated differently. An example being that women more frequently take on the role of caregiver within the family they use healthcare services more often than men, both for their own sake and for those whom they care for. At the same time, what is considered ‘good for women’ may in fact only be of use to certain women (e.g., removing import taxes for sanitary pads etc.), while most poor women will have other far more urgent needs (see Budlender 2006 p.13). Gender budgeting does not mean a separate budget for women and is not limited only to budget funds allocated to promote women’s issues, but involves the entire budget and its total revenue and expenditure.

1.3. What is and what is not GRB? Gender responsive budgeting represents the engendering of policies at all stages of the budgetary process and the restructuring of revenue and expenditure in order to take into account the needs and priorities of different groups of men and women. This takes into account the different roles they may play within the family, economy and society (2005, 11). It is always crucial to highlight that GRB applies not only to women and men but the intersectional dimension.

Gender responsive budgeting includes two main steps: gender based budget analysis and its implementation through budget reallocation (see Sharp, 2006). Gender based budget analysis includes the procedures of reviewing government policies and programmes, both in terms of expenditure and revenue, from the perspective of the impact they have on women and men, boys and girls (as well as on different groups of men and women – according to their ethnicity, age, income etc). Gender based budget analysis disaggregates expenditure and revenue against the different impact they have on women and men and thus observes the points where the collection and distribution of public money is unfair/unequal. Gender based budget analysis is followed by a relocation of resources within the budget in order

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to improve gender equality. This implies the implementation of appropriate strategies and activities that should lead to the budget promoting the empowerment of women and improving equality between men and women (see Sharp 2006; Quinn 2009 p.4).

Gender responsive budget formulation actually refers to the drafting of budgets with a ‘human face’ for women and girls and men and boys. It translates gender sensitive policies into budget lines and categories linked to particular policies with the resources required for their implementation and the elimination of the gap between policy and the provision of resources. Thus the gender responsive budgeting process underlines the responsibility of the state in terms of the pledges it committed to in relation to the implementation of gender equality, improved policy and the acceleration of economic reform.

“GRB is not - should not be - about ‘budgets for women and girls’. The aim of GRB is not to have special budget lines for women or gender. While such dedicated budget lines might make sense in a few instances, for example, funding of the Commission on Gender Equality, the primary aim must be to ensure that ‘mainstream’ budgets and the related policies and programmes take gender into account. If this is not done there is the danger that there will be small special allocations for women and gender while the main and much larger allocations continue to be biased on gender terms. Furthermore, special allocations make no sense in a large number of Government interventions. For example, with schooling (which is often the largest expenditure of any government) unless there are separate schools for boys and girls and separate budgets to pay male and female teachers, it is not clear how separate allocations would work” (see UNWOMEN 2012 p.8).

1.4. Gender Negative, Gender Neutral and Gender Sensitive Budgets Budget, like other economic and financial aggregates, creates an illusion of gender neutral instrument, because there is no mention of women and men. However, standard budgets are not gender neutral, but gender blind (see Elson 2004 Pp. 623-42; Elson 2002), as they do not recognize different needs and interests, especially of the vulnerable groups in society, including women as the largest one. Seemingly neutral measures that do not take into account gender-based differences that intersect with other categories such as age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, place of residence, etc., can often have a variety of negative outcomes for different groups. Ignoring the specific position of women and men, as well as the roles that the society assigns to them, may limit participation of a number of users and deepen the existing inequalities while creating policy, instead of impacting the reduce of disparities. Such gender blind budgets are also gender negative.

A. Concepts and Definitions Gender budgeting is a process of gender aware analysis of public finance and government budgets conducted through procedures for engendering the budget process that result in the formulation of gender sensitive (gender, gender aware or gender responsive) budgets (Sharp 2003). As defined by the Council of Europe, gender budgeting means a gender based assessment of budgets incorporating a gender perspective at all levels of the budgetary process and restructuring revenue and expenditure in order to promote gender equality (see Council of Europe 2005 p.12). In this respect, gender budget analysis should include an

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analysis of aggregate macro-economic strategies, all policies and the budget of all government agencies, total budget expenditure and revenue, and their structure and effectiveness.

However, when it comes to concrete GRB initiatives they mostly focus on specific expenditure/revenue. The Quinn definition talks about change via the restructuring of revenue and expenditure (see Quinn 2009 p.5).

Gender based budget analysis should take into account the care economy, both unpaid (done in the home and community) and paid (age care, childcare, the health sector etc.) performed mainly by women.3 Gender based analyses of economy confirm that women and girls are more and more often discriminated against than men, less paid for the same type and complexity of work they perform, overburdened with unpaid housework, often suffer physical and sexual violence and are more limited in their pursuit of development opportunities and social security in the market and in politics and society. It is necessary for gender budgeting initiatives to recognise the total contributions of men and women. Gender budgets seek to identify total expenditure and revenue and their consequences and effects experienced by women in relation to men (intersecting with other categories).

However, conventional public budgets normally only take into account the monetary economy and neglect the care economy and unpaid services, the majority of which are performed by women. Incorporating the care economy into traditional orthodox economic policies and budgeting would ensure more realistic widespread and adequate access to social security and the costs and benefits of economic and social growth (see Dokmanovic, Djuric and Kuzmanovic 2013 p.44). Gender budgeting involves the identification of the manner in which budgets affect those unprivileged and discriminated against on the basis of gender (or population groups suffering multiple discrimination on the basis of a range of grounds, such as the poor, the elderly and women in rural regions).

Gender responsive budgeting uses various instruments and techniques to analyse the impact that government revenue and expenditure have on women and girls, compared to boys and men, in various areas of their lives. It is about recognising and revaluing women’s contribution both to the market economy and the care economy, in the reproductive and household spheres that are invisible and undervalued, and under the pressure of macroeconomic spending ‘cuts’ in healthcare, education and social protection. It promotes the leadership of women in the public and productive spheres of politics, economy and society, in parliament, business, the media, culture, religious institutions, trade unions and civil society organisations; It supports their involvement in the process and recognises the needs of the poorest and disempowered, and builds capacity amongst women’s groups for accessing and decision-making on macroeconomic issues (see Blackden, Bhanu 1999 Pp. 64-65). Such a gender sensitive detailed and targeted analysis of total budget revenue and expenditure is a prerequisite for improving the efficiency of economic and public policies, but also an important presumption for challenging unequal power relations in society (see Taylor 2003 Pp. 65-84 and UN Resolution 16, Nov 2000, A/RES/S-23/3).

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One such study into mapping and measuring the care economy was done for Massachusetts (see Albelda, Duffy and Folbre 2009).

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B. Global Approach: Strategies, Links to other Development Initiatives, Sustainability, and Integration with Economic Policy Numerous international documents, global strategies and initiatives require, advocate for and encourage a budget engendering process in all states and at all levels. The link between budget engendering and the democratisation of society as well as the more efficient implementation of economic, development and social goals has been recognised. Following the adoption of the Beijing Platform gender mainstreaming became an official strategy of the political elite worldwide and engendered budgets an integral part and an assumption for the implementation of gender responsive policy. However, experience from many countries confirms that political will is a necessary precondition for applying gender equality objectives and gender budgeting. Ratification of international documents is only an assumption for the implementation of policies, programmes, measures and financial and other funds and resources in order to achieve visible and measurable outcomes.4 In practice, gender budgeting initiatives might start by limiting the scope of specific policy areas or measures in order to develop appropriate models and tools and to gain experience and expertise for large scale approaches (see Council of Europe Group of specialists 2005 p.11).

Gender budgeting contributes to the democratisation of relations within a society as, among other things, it encourages the responsibility/accountability of government for the implementation of commitments taken in the area of enhancing gender equality, enhancing the transparency of its actions by improving the transparent nature of its work, measurability of its results, the participation of women and all vulnerable and marginalised groups in all stages of the budgetary process, the efficiency and effectiveness of policy strategies, the fight against gender based discrimination and the economic and social security of citizens.

Gender based budgeting at the same time stimulates the achievement of the two key ecnomic, development and social goals: the first one refers to gender equality, womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s empowerment and the elimination of discrimination and the second one is focused on economic and social growth. The enhancement of gender equality is an international standard in terms of the enforcement of basic human rights as it enables the discriminated population categories to develop their potential and participate in and contribute to the development process. The primary goal of development, according to the UN Human Development Report (UNDP, 1995), is to increase the opportunities that the people have in their lives, while following three main principles: equal opportunity for all (all people within a society), sustainability of such opportunities in terms of their maintenance and transference from one generation to another and the empowerment of people to participate in development and to obtain the benefits of the development process. The three key principles within the development engendering process are (1) the equality of rights between men and women, (2) women perceived as both stakeholders and beneficiaries of change and (3) equal opportunities for men and women.

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E.g., implementing the right to education requires the financing of schools, faculties, teaching aids and staff; implementing the right to healthcare requires the construction and maintenance of hospitals and ambulances; implementing the right to social security requires the financing of social institutions, social workers and social benefits; implementing the policy of equal opportunities requires financing anti-discrimination mechanisms.

Funds are necessary not only for implementing measures for the realisation of all human rights, but also for ensuring their application without discrimination on any ground (see Dokmanovic 2007 p.117).

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Gender equality is a developmental goal “if the development is not engendered it is endangered” (UNDP 1995). Studies by the World Bank, such as ‘Engendering Development: Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources and Voice’ 2001 (see Morrison, Raju and Sinha, 2007, Pp.31-33) as well as those of other international organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (see ‘Gender and Sustainable Development - Maximising the Economic Social and Environmental Role of Women 2008 Pp. 8-11) show that gender equality in general has a positive effect in terms of economic growth and the gross domestic product of the national economy, since the provision of equal opportunities for women and men increases the quality of the human capital. The approach aimed at providing more productive and better use of human resources expects to yield increased labour productivity, a reduction in the number of the poor, an increased fertility rate, increased innovation and the improved efficiency of business operations.

Developmental experience of macroeconomic structural adjustment and stabilisation policies applied worldwide in the nineteen eighties followed by globalisation based on the Washington Consensus confirm the failure and insufficiency of those macroeconomic policies that were focusing on market based criteria, price stabilisation and decreased role of the state. Even the additional inclusion of social policy within such a macroeconomic framework did not prove to be effective in terms of the realisation of social development goals and poverty reduction.

Despite the fact that the need for the integration of macroeconomic and social policy has already been widely recognised among the governments of different countries, social policy is still very often simply added to the macroeconomic one as an ancillary and not as its integral part. Feminist economists find the reason for this to be a triple kind of bias present within conventional public finances and budgets: deflationary bias, the ‘male breadwinner’ bias and the commodification bias (see Elson and Cagatay 2000 Pp. 1347-1364). Gender budgeting should represent a transformative approach that includes an effective social dialogue by which a gender sensitive social policy is integrated into a macroeconomic policy as, for example, is the case with the Canadian alternative budget (Alternative Budget for the Rest of Us: Alternative Federal Budget, 2012).

Gender sensitive policies stipulate the inclusion of discriminated population groups in the development process, but in order to be successful they also stipulate the so-called ‘transformative approach’ (see Elson and Cagatay 2000 p.1348) that, at the same time, democratises the overall macroeconomic policy formulation and implementation process. The new development paradigm (see Stiglitz 1998, 2002), which the transformative approach to macroeconomic policy is based on, puts the social and economic dimension of development at the heart of understanding the human development process and sees gender equality and the absence of poverty as a basic human right. The developmental paradigm of inclusive and engendered development was widely supported at UN conferences during the nineties of the 20th century. The ultimate political and macroeconomic goals according to that view include: distributive justice, equality, provisioning for the needs of all, freedom from poverty and discrimination, social inclusion and the development of human potential (see Elson and Cagatay 2000 p.1348). These goals can only be achieved using an integrated process of budget and macroeconomic policy engendering. However, the practice is very different.

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C. Implementation and Limitations Gender budgeting implementation is linked to many challenges, both technical and political, which are in reality often mixed. The most common barriers in the majority of countries include: gender biased cultures in many parts of the world and a lack of gender analysis expertise and gender disaggregated data (Sarraf 2003 1). The general lack of knowledge on gender aware finance and budget is the type of limitation that can be surpassed by a cautious planning process, selection of high quality experts from both genders and their proper education throughout all stages of budget engendering. A far greater risk, in terms of discrediting such a process, comes from the key stakeholders i.e., certain actors within government, the administration or donors. Experience related to the implementation of gender based budget related initiatives indicates that problems occur when little is done in order to apply the recommended policies. The situation can be further exacerbated if the process is accompanied by over enthusiasm amongst donors and on the part of the public when unrealistic expectations and disappointments occur. This additionally undermines the process of budget and policy engendering within the country (see Djuric Kuzmanovic 2007 p.17).

Another important trap to be avoided when introducing gendered budgeting comes from the risk of further complicating the administrative management process. Thus, the best way to avoid this is to integrate GRB into the existing processes. The process of prioritising political and economic goals is a difficult and complex task, even with high quality expert, training and technical assistance in terms of the application of its instruments. We must not; however, disregard the fact that the key purpose of budget engendering is to speed up the process of overall institutional changes and the more efficient use of public resources.

D. Impact of GR Budgeting on Policy Options and on Movement in the Economy Recognition of the fact that the economic goals, such as an increase in economic growth, productivity and the employment rate, as well as the aggregates, such as savings, investment and export and import, are not gender neutral is a starting step towards budget engendering as a macroeconomic policy tool. The evidence for this statement is provided earlier in this book in Part 1, III.4, pages 49- 53. Furthermore, numerous relevant studies have illustrated gender bias (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Special Issue of World Development on Growth, Trade, Finance and Gender Equalityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, July 2000). An increasing number of governments are also beginning to perceive the link between the promotion of gender equality policy and gender responsive budgeting and the benefits it brings to the economy in terms of increased economic efficiency. Therefore they opt to support gender responsive budget related initiatives.

Political and social interest in the introduction of gender responsive budget initiatives worldwide derives from at least two reasons. On the one hand gender responsive budget initiatives, by advocating for the efficient use of resources and meeting the needs of men and women, encourage social debate on distributive and other aspects of fiscal and macroeconomic policy related to human development and thus deflect away from the current neoliberal policy. On the other, such initiatives do not stop at the gender equality aspects because in a direct or indirect way, dependent on the economic and social trends in each country, they also consider meeting the needs of all of those who are discriminated against and those of poor population groups (see NilĂźfer, Korkuk 2004 Pp. 39-41).

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Thus, the majority of gender budget initiatives are strongly focused on the establishment of a link between poverty and gender equality and the promotion and provisioning of elementary social services.

1.5. Reasons and Objectives for GR Budgeting There are numerous reasons and objectives for which the governments and other stakeholders become involved in gender responsible budgeting. Gender budgeting is undertaken in order to collect and spend public funds in a gender responsive way that affects the achievement of the policy and social goals of gender equality and economic development.

Governments set gender budgeting in motion and start gender responsible budgeting for a number of reasons: in order to meet the commitments they undertook through international documents they signed related to the application of the principles of gender equality and by focusing on costs and expenses to show an improvement in meeting these obligations; to consider the potential discrepancy between gender equality policies and budget allocations related to this policy and thus prevent potential losses that could arise as a result of the gender implications of public expenditure and revenue; to promote measurability and improve the efficacy of their own policies, encourage the progress of democracy, strengthen their own accountability, transparency in public works and political activities and contributed towards curbing corruption and all forms of discrimination against women. By gender budgeting government encourages political and economic development and gender equality in society in several ways. Firstly, the overall economic policy is changed; secondly, gender biases built into budgets or those encouraged by them are recognised and thirdly the nature and form of sector specific programmes are changed and corrective measures to eliminate gender gaps and empower discriminated groups are shaped (see Kozul 2007 p.55). However, the three reasons mentioned above are not necessarily what occur in practice, but rather the ideal.

The government has an especially important role to play within the gender budgeting process. It should strengthen the political will for the equal treatment of women and men and provide and target its policies at those who are discriminated against. Therefore, it is indispensable that government, in addition to political willingness, has sufficient financial resources available for targeted selective and coordinated GRB management.

In addition to the state many other stakeholders that can contribute to gender responsive budgeting such as research and non-governmental organisations and especially womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s organisations (see Djuric Kuzmanovic 2007 Pp. 14-15).

Gender analysis and the application of gender responsive budgeting are important both for women and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s organisations as they empower women to recognise their own role and re-evaluate their contribution to the economy of care as well as to the market economy.

This is not perceived in macroeconomic models but allows for cost savings in different sectors (e.g., education, health and social security) and publicly advocates for a reassessment of the contribution of women to politics, economy and society as well as through parliaments, the media, cultural and religious institutions, trade unions and civil society institutions and encourages and supports the establishment of a strong coalition of womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

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organisations that must not be reduced to political intervention, patronage or mere benevolence (see Simel 2000 Pp.1-30). They should target their activities at information gathering, initial studies and research and the expansion of experience, setting of objectives and consensus building, technical coordination and the coordination of action between national and international organisations and institutional and partnership capacity building.

The benefits that derive from gender sensitive budget analysis are of importance to government, women and citizens. Government can benefit from gender budget analysis through improved policy efficiency, progress in democracy, the strengthening of accountability, public influence, stopping corruption and all forms of discrimination against women. Women and citizens may benefit in terms of a strengthening of civic initiatives, the provision of gender sensitive data as a baseline for the fight against corruption and discrimination and by taking into account the needs of the poor and strengthening accountability (see Djuric Kuzmanovic 2007 Pp. 14-15).

1.6. The History and Development of GR Budgeting The first gender budget initiatives were inspired by the experiences of the Australian women’s budget initiatives and the South African women’s budget. The first gender budget initiatives had different institutional bases and approaches. In the case of Australia these initiatives were launched by the government in order to assess the effects of their own policies on women and men, while in South Africa non-governmental organisations and researchers played a key role by providing an in-depth analysis that demonstrated to the government why certain policies had to be changed.

Complex and developed analysis of the history and development of GDP should include key themes like the country context, key gender equality issues and the institutional arrangements that are in place, the budgetary context and gender responsive budgeting experiences in the country with a focus on the national budgets, similar to the web country profiles on gender responsive budgeting in the Asia-Pacific region: <http://resource.unisa.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=7296>.

Such case studies should answer, like it is done in the case of South Africa (UN Women 2012, p.7). A detailed and in-depth analysis of the GRB experiences of a number of selected countries is presented in a consistent framework in the fourth part of this book: pages 138-163.

The main aim of the following section is to give only a very brief insight into the key efforts made in different countries as an illustration of the historical development of GRB. Australia was the first country to analyse the impact of government budgets on women and girls. The state government began its initiatives in 1985 first in South Australian introduced initiatives and then the six states followed by the governments of two territories. The time period for the initiatives varied, the first phase lasting up until 1996. The Australian Federal Government’s women’s budget is still in existence, although it’s form and processes have changed significantly over the past 30 years (see the profile on the Australian experience of GRB as part of gender responsive budgeting in the Asia-Pacific region: <www.unisa.edu.au/genderbudgets>).

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The Australian initiatives showed that mainstream policies and budgets needed to be influenced in order to promote gender equality (health, education and the labour market and trade) and not just at the level of small programmes and gender targeted expenditure intended to fill the gap in mainstream policies and budgets (e.g., a training programme for women to enter trades or men to enter nursing).

The gender budgeting initiatives in Africa are closely related to poverty reduction strategies. Following the abolishment of apartheid in 1994 in South Africa the Parliamentary Committee for Finance and several non-governmental organisations founded the Women’s Budget Initiative (WBI); the aim was to analyse the effects of GRB on 27 departments and five local governments. At the start they looked into the specific areas of employment in the public sector and taxation in order to clear the way so that the rest of the analysis could focus on the main expenditure issues related to service delivery. In the years that followed two provincial governments prepared gender budget statements, while the WBI effectively closed. The research results influenced other groups encouraging them to analyse the impact the budget has on other population groups, especially children and the disabled (see Esim 2000 Pp. 1-30).

In Tanzania the Gender Networking Programme (TGNP), established 1993, launched a gender budget initiative in 1997 that included more than twenty non-governmental organisations. In the first year TGNP focused on four ministries (planning, finance, education and health) in order to analyse the impact of macroeconomic and financial policy on different population categories. They developed a checklist for planning and budget officers (see Esim 2000 p.10) aimed at assessing the way in which the vision, mission, policy goals, institutional setting and specific programmes fitted into the government programme. This was expected to demonstrate how gender relations and their impact can be incorporated into policy and economic development.

Female politicians in Uganda involved in the preparation of the draft of the new Constitution in 1994 established the Women’s Forum for Democracy (FOWODE). It was composed of female and a few male parliamentarians committed to the promotion of gender equality and the inclusion of gender into all government policies and programmes at all levels of the decision making process. The Forum included representatives of women, youth, workers and persons with disability and in cooperation with an MP group created ​​a gender sensitive budget analysis and organised a series of conferences related to this issue (see Banulacht 2004 p.76 ; Budlender 2009).

Gender budgeting initiatives motivated by the activism of national women’s organisations (National Women’s Machineries) in Latin America started in 1997. Women’s organisations demanded that budgets provide resources for the economic and political empowerment of women and the Caribbean countries. The first gender budgeting initiatives driven by government and/or civil society appeared in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, and Honduras and were mainly focused on an analysis of municipal budgets, poverty reduction and strengthening citizen participation in political processes. Barbados was part of a Commonwealth Secretariat pilot to which the government signed up and therefore the Commonwealth Secretariat provided the key assistance as opposed to the women’s machinery of government.

In Mexico in 1999 it was the non-governmental organisation Fundar (Centre for Analysis and Research) that conducted the research into governmental programmes in the field of

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population and birth policy, organised workshops on budgets that address the needs of the poor and conducted a survey on the national budget. It then developed a project plan to support women’s understanding of local budgets.

In Brazil in 1995 the local government in Recife launched a practice of public consultations related to the budget, while the Women’s Coordination Group, established in 2001, launched a variety of initiatives to increase the participation of women in participatory budget. One such initiative referred to the creation of recreational areas that could be used by children while their mothers were at the meetings discussing the budget. The second initiative related to the introduction of so-called ‘women’s meetings’, with the participation of government officials, members of the women’s movement and other activists in order to increase the participation of women in the budgetary process. In 2002 such meetings evolved into a Thematic Forum of Women that defined the priorities that were to be applied by the General Council to the participatory budget within the budget process (see Leskovac 2007 Pp. 60-88).

Gender budgeting initiatives in Asia that appeared in many Asian countries were always closely linked to poverty reduction strategies. India (UN Woman, FSG, 2012), Nepal and a few other countries produce gender budget statements. See the Asian country profiles: <http://www.unisa.edu.au/Research/Hawke-Research-Institute/Research-projects/ Gender-responsive-budgeting-in-the-Asia-Pacific-region/Country-profiles/>.

A network called the British Women’s Budget Group (WBG) was established in the United Kingdom in 1989. The group consisted of experts from universities, trade unions and from the civil sector who engaged in a gender analysis of the national budget focusing on budget revenue. The network publishes its annual comments on the United Kingdom’s national budget and underlines the importance of a gender sensitive approach to economic and tax policy and budget.

At the end of nineties there was an initiative in France to publish “Jaune budgetaire” (Yellow Annexes to Budget Law), while in 2000 it became mandatory for the French Government to complement the Budget Draft with a Report on the Results Achieved in the Area of Gender Equality. One of the first GRB initiatives in Europe was the one organised in Switzerland, which was led, in the form of a pilot project, by the National Women’s Conference of the Trade Union of Public (NWCTUP) and the employees the Swiss Conference of Equal Opportunities Officers. This study was published in 1996. It summarised the results in terms of the impact of the reduction in fiscal allocations to three governance levels (federal and cantonal - Bern and the City of Biel) and pointed out that it is women who, disproportionally and at all levels, bore the burden of reduced budget allocations.

This initiative was followed by several similar initiatives that were initiated by women’s associations, members of parliament, trade unions and other stakeholders in charge of the implementation of the principle of gender equality at the national, cantonal and local level.

In July 2005 the Government issued a decision requesting an annual updated RB analysis and the updating of statistical data every four years. Yet the financial sectors resisted as they found these analysis to be too expensive and outside the mandate of the government.

Additional problems were caused by the fact that different budgeting systems exist at different levels and the statistical data proved to be rather useless in terms of drafting policy and the budget (see Kuzmanovic Djuric and Golemac Powell, forthcoming).

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Today budget engendering has become a regular practice of public administrations at all levels in European countries. The European Gender Budget Network (EGBN), founded in Vienna in February 2006, works on gender budgeting initiatives (Klatzer and Neumayr 2006; Klatzer 2008).

Member countries are invited to incorporate gender issues into all policy processes, use the open coordination method to promote gender budgeting, publish information on the ways in which gender is reflected in budgets, standardise gender budgeting tools and support civil society in its activities related to gender budgeting. In addition, the Declaration of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe: Making Gender Equality a Reality (Council of Europe, 2009) underlines the perception of gender equality as inseparable from human rights and a basic criterion for democracy. It also calls for gender sensitive policies. The Declaration, amongst other things, calls for an exploration of opportunities for the mainstreaming of gender into all areas to be used for gender budgeting as well as in order to warrant equal distribution of resources amongst women and men. Successful gender mainstreaming implies the adoption and application of tools such as gender analysis, gender disaggregated data and gender impact assessment as well as the development of the skills of all relevant stakeholders so that gender mainstreaming can be implemented in practice in all areas and indicators developed to measure the impact on the promotion of gender equality.

Wider acceptance of gender responsive budgets worldwide came in 1995 when the United Nations, at the Fourth UN Conference on Women, through the Beijing Declaration for Action recommended that the governments systematically review the benefits women receive from public expenditure and adjust their national budgets so as to provide for equal access to public spending for both women and men. The adoption of the Beijing Platform made gender budgeting an internationally recognised strategy for the improvement of gender equality and provided a recommendation to national governments to systematically analyse public sector expenditure and adjust their budgets to promote gender equality. Starting from that moment, many states and international organisations and institutions invested effort in order to improve gender budgeting.5

1.7. Principles and Prerequisites of GR Budgeting The principles that serve as the grounds for gender budgeting initiatives include: transparency of work and partnership and cooperation amongst all stakeholders included throughout the entire budgeting process. Gender budgeting increases transparency through partnership and cooperation and includes different population groups within the budgeting process. Gender budgeting initiatives could help to establish the practice of public hearings (debates) during the budget drafting process as well as the monitoring of its results and effects. Having in mind the fact that the gender budgeting process encourages the participation of women it results in the democratisation of the budgeting process and the policy in general.

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The Commonwealth Secretariat initiative among Commonwealth Countries that began in 1997 was important for developing pilots and resources.

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Gender budgeting initiatives in different areas engage civil society members in the policy and economic debate and they in turn specifically engage women who, in general, are marginalised in such debates.

The key prerequisites defined in the Council of Europe documents ‘Gender Budgeting, Final Report of the Group of Specialists on Gender Budgeting (EG-S-GB) (see Council of Europe, 2005 Pp.11-16)6 are indispensable in terms of the successful implementation of gender budgeting include: • political will to initiate and provide for the success of gender budgeting initiatives, awareness of the presence of gender inequality and of the ways in which it is being transmitted within society, government institutions and industry; • responsibility of the state in terms of being held accountable for the commitments it has accepted in relation to gender mainstreaming into (public) policies in general and with regard to gender budgeting in particular; • human and financial resources needed for analysis, coordination and capacity development and coordination between all stakeholders involved in the budgeting process; • gender disaggregated data as a prerequisite for a gender impact assessment of policies; • transparency, partnership and cooperation between budgeting experts and gender equality experts, the participation of women and men as well as stakeholders outside the government sector (including civil society organisations and external experts) in all stages; • commitment of the administration in relation to the responsibilities of civil servants in different positions for specific work; and • implementation of government gender equality policy in practice in a way that is adjusted to the specific activities of each of the government departments or agencies (the success of which is to be measured against the objectives and use of indicators).

Government confirmation of policy commitment, responsibility and financial support for the implementation of an equal opportunities policy and the promotion of gender equality by: • increasing the awareness of political and state structures (parliaments, local assemblies, their advisory bodies, commissions, committees and boards, and political parties); • clear definition of jurisdictions and instructions as well as the constant training of all stakeholders involved in this process, reviewing of periodic progress reports, supervision and process revision and providing continuous financial support through the budget (see Dokmanovic, Djuric Kuzmanovic 2012 Pp. 51-52).

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Also see Quinn 2009 Pp. 12-13.

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The Government’s administrative commitment (Ibid) includes: • establishment of clear priorities, activities, tasks, plans and deadlines within the appropriate national ministries, administrations and agencies (their close cooperation throughout the budgetary process, including training, instructions and application guidelines, process monitoring and consultations during the budgeting process and the collection and structuring of data, resources, methods, good practice and exchange of experience); and • successful calls for additional budgeting analyses and studies (if there are no appropriate or available human resources within the administration then these can be compensated for through cooperation with independent experts).

Engendered statistical data and its integration into the budget serve as a basis for more gender aware public finance policy and budgetary policy. It is very difficult to develop methods, procedures and indicators for the implementation of gender responsive budgeting (as a standard tool in public administration action without detailed and comprehensive gender disaggregated data) (Ibid).

Political commitment on the part of the government is the basic prerequisite for implementation of the stated principles and prerequisites for the introduction of gender budgeting.

The key motivation for the government to use gender responsive budget initiatives is the potential of gender budgeting in terms of economic efficiency and effectiveness, honouring the country’s commitments in relation to the fulfilment of international recommendations and use of the tools and stimuli coming from civil society organisations and academia.

1.8. Design of the Strategy and Selection of Priorities for GR Budgeting Shaping a strategy for the introduction of gender responsive budgets, prioritisation and the practical organisation of gender budgeting initiatives can take different forms in different countries. Depending on the country, several aspects may differ: political and management levels from which the budget engendering process starts, the scope of the topics covered, budget classification models, the stages of the budget cycle affected by the engendering process and the dissemination of results of the analyses (see Elson 2003 Pp. 5-7; Budlender, Elson, Hewitt and Mukhopadhyay (eds) 2002 / 2002).

According to the level of political organisation, gender responsive budgeting initiatives may be applied at the national, regional or local governance level, within the government departments organised by government officials, in elected bodies organised by elected representatives or outside the governmental sector and by researchers and civil society organisations. Despite the fact that there is no single model that can guarantee success in terms of application of budget responsive budgeting initiatives certain strategies may definitely strengthen the gender budgeting process. A desirable element of successful gender budgeting initiatives is when they are implemented using democratic procedures, both through the study process and through the public advocacy element.

Experience with gender budgeting initiatives so far has shown that those initiated in environments that have a transparent decision making process related to budget and an engaged

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civil society and informed citizens who hold their government accountable and require responsible governance are those most likely to succeed (see Norton and Elson 2002 Pp. 5-14). What is important for all initiatives, both those coming from the governmental and those from the non-governmental sector, is to have good grounds in terms of knowledge about the processes and the features and consequences the budget would create.

Gender budgeting initiatives may refer to individual parts of the budget7, such as engendering the expenditure of selected departments or programmes, new projects, certain forms of revenue (taxes, user fees etc.), changes within the taxation system and the implementation of new regulations. In practice the classification systems mainly impact on the ease or difficulty of the task of analysing the gender impact of the budget. E.g., traditional line budgeting is harder that programme budgeting.

Gender budgeting initiatives may refer to a certain stage within the budgetary cycle, such as annual and multiannual planning within the process of identifying the goals and financial resources required for their implementation and their review and evaluation in terms of their level of success. The results of a gender based budget analysis are disseminated in different ways and by different stakeholders: they may take the form of budget reports, special annexes to the budget, briefing papers for parliament members, press reports/statements, published studies and popular education publications.

What is important on the journey from the gender responsive budget as an analytical concept to its wider and successful application is to regularly assess the impact and success of different existing gender budgeting initiatives against the overall objectives of engagement, empowerment and equity. This includes the establishment and development of specific methodology deriving from a particular analytical framework and constantly testing it and directing it towards the integration of gender as a criteria factor for budget formulation, the mastering of different stages of budget engendering and at the same time developing the capacities of gender budget advocates at all levels and in all segments of society.

New approaches such as participatory budgeting initiatives and the approaches to gender and budgeting based on human rights should be studied and new allies and goals used to develop gender sensitised participatory research techniques for budget formulation that integrates the needs identified in a society’s ‘womb’ and thus strengthens participation in gender budget formulation (see Djuric Kuzmanovic 2007 Pp.13-14).

Despite growing enthusiasm amongst donors, governments and civil society a huge number of gender budgeting initiatives have been restricted mainly to analytical initiatives. Yet the aim of budget engendering is for the principle of gender equality to be integrated into the criteria for determining budget planning, formulation and implementation. Therefore, the key challenge for the majority of gender budgeting initiatives is to move forward from gender based budget analysis to gender responsive budget formulation (see Balmori, Hofbauer, Helena 2003 Pp. 2-3) and for these to be interpreted as strategies that are complementary to the strategies of poverty reduction and the inclusive sustainable development of the national economy.

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Despite the fact that so far none of the countries can claim of have a fully operationalised gender budget, the development of women’s capacities is an important element of their empowerment if they are to exercise influence over public finance.

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2. BUDGETING FOR GENDER: PROMOTION OF GENDER EQUALITY THROUGH BUDGET Gender aware public finance and budgetary policy have made it evident that the allocation of time and resources within families is both gender and socially conditioned and that it predetermines which family members will join the market and in which ways.8 This refers to the three basic forms of non-market unpaid labour, done by women: subsistence production, the care economy and voluntary community work (see Elson 2002 p.1). These forms of labour are, within the framework of conventional economic policy, assumed to be socially responsible and are not viewed as economic activities; therefore they remain outside the focus of fiscal and monetary policy, despite the fact that they presume the use of scarce resources, primarily labour, and the fact that they provide necessary inputs for both the private and public sector within the market economy.

Gender aware government budget analyses recognise the different contributions of men and women in the production and distribution of goods and services and they take into account whether the budget includes the different interests, needs, rights and responsibilities of women and men, girls and boys in the economy. Gender responsive budgeting initiatives, amongst other things, provide answers to following questions: are the budgets and tax systems really gender neutral as it may seem at first; how can gender become an integral part of government policy; how can women and NGOs increase their participation in the drafting of budget proposals and in the collection and analysis of macroeconomic gender disaggregated data?

By including the resources needed and/or through the redistribution of existing ones, gender responsive budgets are changing budgetary policy in a way that promotes gender equality.

Thus the strategy of gender sensitive budgets includes an increase in budgetary allocations, improvement of the quality of input resources (using civil servant training, more purposeful funding and expenditure), the redistribution of budgetary allocations, changes to the type and quality of public goods and services and changes to the expected outcomes of policies (see Sharp, 2003, p.18). Gender sensitive strategic changes to budgetary policy do not take place in an ‘empty space’, on the contrary they are connected to the overall trends within the economy and society and with the ways in which all other prerequisites for the success of the budget engendering process and its implementation are being met.

2.1. Macroeconomic Environment for Taxation and Public Spending Gender ‘blindness’ of the economic theories, ideologies and policies that do not take into account the different effects they have on women and men is usually accompanied by an insistence on free trade and capital movement and rigid orthodox monetary and fiscal policy. Such economic policies, based on neoliberal ideology9, have proven to be inefficient in 8

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In addition, market operations rely on social and institutional norms that reflect assymetrical power relations between men and women based on their gender, class and race features. Thus, gender based macroeconomic analysis indicates the relevance of non-market processes taking place in each economy that, at the same time, enables and contributes to unhindered market operations.

More detail on the gender impliations of economic policy and specific gender assymetries, depending on the concrete macroeconomic policy framework, can also be found in Bakker (1994) Pp.27-29.

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terms of structural reform in countries and in the globalisation of the world economy over the past decades, while in terms of the results of economic development and the populationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s living standard they have failed to improve gender equality (see Bakker, 1994, Pp.129, World Bank, 2001, III-VI).10 On the contrary, the world is currently in crisis and there is increasing evidence to indicate that there to the maintenance of the level of gender equality achieved. Therefore, in addition to criticising neoclassical economics and its neoliberal policy implications, it has become even more important to utilise other important schools of heterodox thought in economics (such as the socioeconomic school of thought, institutional economics, postKeynesian economics and the capability approach) in order to shift the focus of economic analysis and policy action from a review of the gender impact on economic processes and policies to understanding their mutual relations and conditionality (see van Staveren 2010 Pp.18-48) and to finding alternative integrated economic policy options (World Bank, 2001, Pp.2-6). Understanding this simultaneous relation yields a key question for gender sensitive policy: how to promote the efficient allocation of resources in a more equal way, while taking into account the specific needs of both women and men?

In the past decades, under conditions deriving from the neoliberal structural reforms and globalisation, the general assumption that the original Washington Consensus relied on (Stiglitz 2005; Williamson 1990) was that the liberalisation of trade and financial flows would enable the functioning of the free market and that this would improve competitiveness amongst economic stakeholders in the world market. It was expected that the result would be expressed through increased economic growth and rate of development.11 Thus the original Washington Consensus is grounded on three key principles: liberalisation and privatisation, macroeconomic stability (primarily of prices) and the minimal role of government.

These principles were used to create a detailed code of conduct to be recommended to governments, namely governments were expected to observe these recommendations when applying for loans from international financial organisations such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organisation. This represents a set of particular neoliberal measures that, amongst other things, include the privatisation of public companies, economy deregulation, liberalisation of trade and industry, massive tax reductions, control of inflation by monetary methods even at the risk of increased unemployment, strict control of organised work, a reduction in public and especially social expenditure, a decrease in public administration, expansion of international markets and the elimination of control over global financial flows (see Steger 2003 p.41).

Analyses of the experiences with the application of this conventional model have proven that it did not succeed in providing a permanent improvement in the economic growth of the world economy, a reduction in existing distortion factors in the goods and services markets (see Williamson (ed) 1990, 1999) or the more complete use of labour factors (Braunstein 2012). This new competitive economic efficiency was accompanied by the spreading of economic inequalities, growing unemployment and poverty. Numerous analyses have confirmed that this action displayed a pattern of favouritism (the so-called free market was 10 Also see the discussion on pages 24-26 of this book.

11 Discussion of the Washington Consensus also closely covers the material on the page 52 Part I and page 5 Part II of this book.

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endangering women to a degree far above the average) and that this particularly affected poor women (see The Global Gender Gap, 2012). This was expressed through the privatisation of public services and a reduction in public expenditure on healthcare and protection and for local infrastructure which resulted in a large number of costs being transferring to women (see Arza, Braunstein, Goulding and Cook, < Razavi>, 2012).

However, even calls for a post Washington Consensus that would, through a set of additional rules and the correction of the existing ones, respond to the observed problems (the down turn and discontinuation of economic growth and employment, the growing informalisation of labour, frequent crises, changes within the public sector etc.) were still perceived in the context of idealised economic institutions and as a result of development and not as its prerequisites (Braunstein 2012). The change in terms of understanding the role of the state (shifting from protection of the public interest towards that of attracting investors) is taking place within the reality of the new financial revolution and organisation of work processes. The risks that earlier were typically linked to capital and investors have today been transferred to labour and public sector, such as healthcare and education, and this has led to a redefinition and development of a new type of loyalty within family and ethnic and religious relations.

The government has to have a clear picture of how many and what kind of resources it has available within the budget planning process. The assessment of available resources is done by evaluating the macroeconomic situation, primarily by appraising the following elements: production within the country, the budget deficit, the balance of payments, the foreign currency exchange rate and the availability of loans. The quantity of money that the government has at its disposal will depend on its economic and policy choices and decisions. For instance, the government may decide to increase revenue by increasing taxes. The government decides on the scope of expenditure in relation to the available or expected revenue and the expected size of the deficit. Naturally, the government is also somewhat limited in terms of its choices.

This is especially evident when it is forced to rely on external assistance and credits due to the lack of its own resources. Stabilisation and structural adjustment programmes supported by the multilateral international agencies of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other donors in general required governments to reduce their national deficit by reducing public costs (as a prerequisite for securing financial assistance and other forms of support). Yet governments are also responsible for using the budget to implement their countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s selected economic and social goals.

This kind of responsibility of the state calls for prioritisation when it comes to the allocation of public resources for particular sectors. The state should invest in social security development by carefully aligning public spending dynamics with revenue and its precise strategic targeting: allocation to points where improvements are possible can be more efficient and more gender balanced. For example, government can influence state revenue (direct and indirect taxation, user fees, intrastate assistance etc.) by the degree of coverage and level of taxes, while taking care not to discourage investors by the imposition of high corporate taxes as well avoiding alienating potentially largest groups of voters that may be put at risk by the imposition of high taxes on the population.

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Taxes in the widest possible sense may be defined as the fees that the state imposes for transactions, products or activities in order to fund public expenditure (the scope and level of which is also decided upon by the government). There are usually four principles that determine the taxation purpose: (1) the increase in taxes should be equally distributed, (2) the distribution of revenue should be targeted at poverty and inequality reduction, (3) the influence exercised over the price of goods and services should promote those in favour of the wellbeing of the society, especially in relation to health and climate related issues and (4) tax payers are represented as citizens.

Due to their dissimilar nature, state revenue and expenditure have to be treated differently in terms of gender based budget analysis. The important aspect to be analysed in terms of state revenue is the impact of the taxation policy on gender. Taxation policy may produce significant gender inequality, whether directly or indirectly. The direct taxation bias is contained in tax regulations, such as the tax declaration on assets that do not include women and therefore directly deny them the right to own property. The indirect tax bias is based on presumed social roles, customs and arrangements that, for example, favour formal employment, which is more common amongst men.

Direct taxation forms, such as income tax, may have a stronger and more specific impact on men than women, due to the fact that men have easier access to formal employment and higher earnings (gender pay gap). Whereas indirect taxes focused on spending tend to have a stronger impact on women because more often they are the ones that manage the family budget and therefore have higher expenditure for health, food and education. A reduction in direct taxation for women presumes the availability of gender disaggregated data on individual tax payers and not only on family units. The indirect taxes (taxes on spending, excise duties on alcohol, tobacco products and petrol) are not defined per person and therefore at first glance they may seem to be gender neutral, because they are not determined in relation to men and women but against goods and services.

However, assessments of the impact that these taxes have on spending amongst certain categories of the population confirm that their impact is stronger in the case of the poor and in the case of women. The poor population groups spend the majority of their income on food and other fundamental consumer goods. Women, who are disproportionally represented amongst the poor categories of the population, are more often in charge of the household budget and therefore more severely affected by an increase in indirect taxation. Gender equality often may actually be promoted by a greater increase in income tax as opposed to those on spending, since the first more affects men while the second has a stronger effect on women.

In addition to direct and indirect taxes, user fees for the use of public services are also becoming an ever stronger complement to and replacement for taxes. Yet their impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of public resources as well as on gender equality remains rather controversial and is sufficiently explored (see Budendler and Hewitt 2003 p.93). Yet their introduction has had a strong adverse effect on the living standards and health of the poor and limiting and even prevented their access to public services. Some of the fees, such as tuition fees, as well as intrastate revenue may be classified according to their type in order to analyse their gender impact. However, numerous revenue based on debt are hard to classify and categorise, even in the case of the donors that significantly contribute to a countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s budget.

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The realistic estimation of budget revenue is followed by another task that is as demanding as the first: to establish the modalities of its distribution, namely to decide on which needs to meet, how to meet them and to what degree these can be met through the budget. The fundamental framework used to distribute overall public resources through the budget is based on economic and social goals and the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s liabilities towards its international commitments and creditors. Gender analysis of budget expenditure shows the degree to which the particular needs of women and men have been met. Establishing the scope of expenditure is, in most cases, the most important and most demanding issue.

A gender analysis of public spending needs to monitor the difference between the spending impact (initial effect on spending) and its scope (final financial effects of the spending).

For example, in the case of a mother and child hospital where all of the employees are men the initial impact of the spending in terms of earnings would be 100% for men and 0% for women, while in terms of the scope of the spending it would have a disproportional effect on women and babies (half of whom would probably be boys and half girls). Budget items supported by strong political interests such as the defence budget show less tendency to decrease compared to, for example, the amount intended to meet the needs of women, the poor and discriminated against groups of the population.

2.2. Performance Oriented Budget (POB) and its Gender related Implications The first steps taken in order to improve conventional line item budgeting were made in the nineteen fifties and sixties in order to improve the efficiency of government operations in meeting policy goals in comparison to the price being paid for these goals. Performance Oriented Budgeting (POB) represents an approach to budget management aimed at reviewing whether the money is being managed in line with the planned goals and also whether the plans are good or not (see Sharp 2003 p.25). The efficiency of a policy in terms of meeting the planned goals becomes the basic â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;performanceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and the criteria used by government in the allocation of resources. The main purpose of this approach to budgeting is to allocate resources (inputs) in accordance with the planned goals and to link the use of resources with the results achieved (outputs and outcomes).

The key goals set forth when it comes to implementation of gender budget initiatives are: raising gender awareness, improvement of government accountability and achieving true change within budget policy.

The above mentioned goals can progress through gender analysis and changing the budgetary decision making processes. It allows any GRB work or strategy to be placed according to its contribution to these goals (see Sharp 2003 Pp. 9-18). The question that arises here is can GRB utilise performance orientated budgeting to contribute to these goals? The potential impact of a POB framework on GRB involves understanding its impact on the key goals of GBI (see Sharp 2013 p.18).

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The main questions usually asked as part of this approach are shown below.

• Outcomes: What are the goals?

• Input: What resources need to be provided in order to achieve the goals planned?

• Activity: Which activities are planned in order to achieve the goals?

• Outputs: Which indicators will be used to measure the achievement of the goals?

The outputs in the area of health protection policy are measured according to the percentage of the female population using reproductive health services, while the outcome is the improved health of the population. An example of an input indicator is the share of the cost of health services primarily targeted at women within the total cost. An example of the necessary activities planned in order to reach the objective are the regular and free of charge health checks of the reproductive health of women.

The POB approach is widely used in budget engendering to measure and link the input, output and outcome indicators. This approach is rather specific as equality is explicitly identified as one of the budget indicators (see Sharp 2003 p.53): this represents a significant expansion of performance oriented budgeting. Diverse gender sensitive functional budgetary frameworks applied to performance oriented budget systems pay increased attention to performance measurement and criteria, in an effort to direct them, as explicitly as possible, towards the results and thus improve their efficiency (see Sharp 2003 p.55).

The introduction of equality criteria does not mean that it is simply added to the existing performance criteria. In fact, this includes procedures for the integration of equality and performance criteria. Three typical questions asked in the engendering of the performance oriented budget system.

• Outcomes: What the government wishes to achieve?

• Outputs: How does the government intend to achieve this?

• Performance reporting: How will the government know whether it has succeeded in doing so?

However, there are three additional dimensions to be considered in order to precisely answer these questions (see Sharp 2003 p.56). The first dimension refers to the development of gender sensitive input, output and outcome indicators. The second refers to the expanding of the existing scope with regard to output criteria and results criteria, with equality used as an explicit performance criterion. The third aspect refers to the re-examination of the existing understanding of economy itself and its principles of efficiency and effectiveness.

When it comes to the development of gender sensitive indicators as a performance measure one needs to bear in mind that they play a double role. Their primary role is to provide for the detailed identification of the differences between different population groups in order to provide a more precise answer to the question of why good or bad performance occurs in certain areas but not in others. Their second role is to identify the inequalities that exist between different consumer groups.

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The lack of full and detailed gender sensitive data is still a barrier to be eliminated.

Establishing a correlation between the goals to be achieved and the costs needed for their realisation increases the efficiency and effectiveness of resource management, while, at the same time, the attention given to the issue of gender improves gender equality.

Mainstreaming the gender perspective using such an approach is easily feasible; however, it is not easy to define clear and measurable goals and to provide full information on their effectiveness. An important assumption in terms of selecting between the competing goals and policies is the existence of measurable goals: in reality this may call for long expensive and complicated procedures. As a result this approach is often considered to be overtly technocratic and contrary to the desired minimal possible role of government in the economy.12 Changes in budget policy usually lead to changes in power relations and to resistance from those affected by such changes.

In order to understand the ways in which the POB approach to budget management can contribute to the realisation of gender responsive budget goals we need to understand its strengths and weaknesses (limitations) as a concept as well as its practical application (see Sharp, 2003, p.50). The positive aspects of this approach are reflected through increased transparency and the identification of the gender impact of the budgeting process that surpass the limitations of conventional line item budgeting.

It also mainstreams economic measures, effectiveness and efficiency into budget and policy and perceives the process as a tool to assess the results; it imposes a rational decision making process related to budget, provides information for the participation of citizens in budget related decision making processes, promotes government accountability by underlining the link between its intentions, the services provided and the impact they have on society It also recognises and values paid care services to a higher degree compared to before and it assesses progress in terms of the achievement of gender equality and government responsibility.

Possible weaknesses and problems of the performance oriented approach to budget management consist of the following: failure to include measures and indicators on the gender impact of budgets and policies, the growing complexity that presumes calls for additional significant capacities and time, a lack of success in terms of paying adequate attention to gender equality measures, its proneness to the misrepresentation of the budget related decision making process as basically a technocratic as opposed to political process, the fact that basic budget information is not easily readable nor widely distributed and that the true dimensions of budget (inputs, outputs and outcomes) are not presented in a single place e.g., in the budget statements; the lack of adequate measures to provide the appropriate quantity and quality of health services, inappropriate measures and misconceptions about the efficiency of measures in cases where both paid and unpaid activities have not been included in the budget. The key criticisms of POB made by Sharp (2003 Pp. 65- 66) are the lack of equity as a performance criteria (see Sharp 2003 Pp. 65-66) and the inadequate meanings given to the performance criteria of economy, efficiency and effectiveness for GRB when the unpaid sphere of care is ignored (Ibid p.78).

12 The very question of the role of government is controversial. Many changes related to the introduction of this type of budget had their grounds in the new forms of the deregulation process, such as the narrowing and privatisation of government services.

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2.3. Programme Budgeting and Gender Budgeting Following the nineteen sixties programme budgeting became an increasingly popular response to the weaknesses of line items due to the perceived strengths of the performance oriented approach to budget management. This concept, as already discussed in Part I of this book (pages 8-10), is a form of POB or results orientated budgeting that was developed as a response to the challenges that governments faced when selecting priorities for funding and trying to achieve the desired development direction. There are several programme orientated budgeting systems that are used in practice. It is specific as this budget includes capacity planning using a combination of efficiency and effectiveness in terms of performance criteria. The Government of Australian used programme orientated budgeting at the federal and state level to connect all the resources included in the implementation of a particular programme, which was accompanied by constant monitoring of its efficiency and effectiveness as part of the achievement of the policy goals set forth by the Government (see Wanna, Kelly and Forster 2000 p.174).

The usual situation that governments face in terms of budget management is that resources are always scarce and thus the requests for public funding in general exceed the available public funds. Therefore, it is necessary to precisely establish funding priorities within the budgeting process in line with the strategic policy commitments defined in different programmes.13 Programme budgeting introduced a system of strategic thinking for priorities and offered standards and mechanisms throughout all of the steps of annual and mid-term planning. In addition, programme budgeting is, through its system of exchange of information and cooperation between different levels of government (national, regional and local) and its clear organisational and decision making structures, able to provide for greater transparency and accountability. Programme orientated budgeting allocates a significant part of its attention to budget execution against the achievement of the stipulated goals. Therefore, it is often called the results oriented budgeting.

Advocates of such a budgeting approach (see Kluvers 2001 Pp. 29-45) underline the fact that it increases success in terms of the realisation of policies starting from planning to the efficiency and effectiveness of the achieved results (Ibid, p.38). Programme budgeting provides the information needed to select the policy that would provide the best possible results in terms of the ratio between the cost and results. It also provides for the improvement of the resource allocation system through regular evaluation of the achieved programme effects (see Melkers and Willoughby 2001 Pp. 54-64).

However, the opponents of programme orientated budgeting warn that its application leads to a number of problems, starting from the large financial resources needed for its introduction all the way through to the strong level of resistance that it usually experiences from the state bodies and institutions. E.g., the key reasons for the failure of the attempt to introduce programme budgeting in Sri Lanka in the nineteen seventies were the lack of political 13 The term â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;programmeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; refers to a process of conjoining, through all management levels, of certain planned activities that fall under the same operational and strategic goal into a single whole. Budget users group their activities and services into programmes and all programmes have their objectives (operational goals), expected results and indicators. Programme based budgeting usually consists of the following elements: programme title, status (what is the problem and what is the programme supposed to resolve), goal (what needs to be provide), activities (capacity development, advocating, â&#x20AC;Ś.), budget (how to get funds), indicators (how to monitor programme implementation) and the remaining (open) gender issues (problems).

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commitment, trained personnel and parallel accounting controls and audits that would make such an approach feasible (see World Bank 1998 p.14). Critics of programme oriented budgeting came from the OECD countries; these countries warned that the programme budgeting, as a rational technocratic process with regard to the allocation of resources, is contrary to the nature of budgeting as a political process. In addition, the lack of detailed gender disaggregated data as well as the lack of data on other structural characteristics of the population prevented the precise establishment of the needs to be funded through the budget (see Sharp 2003 p.49).

The problems of programme oriented budgeting are generally those of any POB system, as discussed above, as well as particular problems to do with a programme system. The programme system was in place when GRB was introduced at the federal and state level in Australia (see Wanna, Kelly and Forster 2000 p.174). While it facilitated an assessment of individual programmes and highlighted which were large and small spending programmes and those that were gender specific ones it was easy to lose sight of the overall policy. The shift towards output and outcome budgeting has not linked well with GRB. Ranking in terms of gender significance may serve as a useful method for the selection of those programmes that might be of special importance for gender analysis. Such an approach implies a comparative analysis of mutually connected programmes in order to obtain a more extensive and clear picture of the desired priorities. In organisational terms, this often calls for the establishment of a special agency to deal with these issues.

2.4. Analytical and Technical Instruments of GR Budgeting There is no unique way to implement gender budgeting, but there are certain standard analytical procedures, steps and technical tools that underpin any process of budget engendering. A systematic overview of the standard analytical and technical instruments of GRB is presented in Part III of this book under section 2.1 (pages 109-110).

The use of these analytical and technical instruments in different countries is adjusted to their particular economic and social contexts.

Every process of the practical implementation of gender budgeting, as Quinn Sheila (2009 p.16) points out consists of three stages: â&#x20AC;˘ gender analysis of the budget; â&#x20AC;˘ budget restructuring based on such a gender analysis; and â&#x20AC;˘ the integration of gender as an analytical category within the budgeting process.

The first one, gender based budget analysis, is an indispensable step indicating that the budget, via its allocations in terms of services, transfers and reimbursements for citizens, affects women and men in different ways. To carry out such a kind of analysis we need gender disaggregated data on the final beneficiaries or recipients of the budget programmes.

Deeper analysis should show the degree to which the budget meets the needs of the recipients and whether and to what extent the gender specific needs and roles of the recipients

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have been met. It will also show the challenges and barriers faced by those who did not gain access to funds, the degree to which the budget reduced exacerbated or left the gender inequality level unchanged, the lack of or connection between policies and budget related decisions and the reasons why the budget should take the different levels of participation of women and men in the care economy into account (see Quinn 2009 Pp. 17-18).

The second stage refers to budget restructuring based on gender analysis. It includes the definition and undertaking of measures to reduce inequality. Temporary or one-off measures cannot be of much help in that regard as they do not address the basic findings from the gender analysis, which is whether or not the budget is gender biased and thus results in the inefficient and inadequate use of resources. Budget restructuring should provide for permanent change and the more equitable distribution of budget resources that can respond to the actual needs of women and men in an efficient way (see Quinn 2009 p.19).

The third phase aims to integrate gender as an analytical category within the budgeting process. This stage refers to the dynamic and complex process of engendering (public) policies within the budget process that takes place within and outside the institution and includes the following: examination, analysis, checks conducted within the institutions and in the field in order to account for the actual and changeable needs of women and men, girls and boys. The key questions asked at this stage of budget engendering (see Quinn 2009 p.20) are how are budget related decisions made; what assumptions are used as grounds and to inform the budget drafting; who makes the decisions and who can influence decision making and who is being denied the right to make an impact?

The stages of budget engendering can be specified through a few key steps. The list of tools of gender analysis was first put together and explained by Diane Elson for the Commonwealth Secretariatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s GRB pilot that was conducted in Commonwealth Countries in 1997.

Some tools are not widely used e.g., the Expenditure Incidence Analysis (Austen, Costa, Sharp and Elson 2013).

South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda used a five step approach that showed the direction for actions in the implementation of gender sensitive policies, programmes and sector assessments (Budlender 2002). The analytical procedures, tools and methods14, usually used in budget engendering differ depending on whether the analysis refers to budget expenditure of revenue (Budlender, Sharp and Allen, 1998; UNIFEM, 2005).

Unlike public expenditure that is directly linked to certain policy areas, public revenue represents a special policy area. It is therefore important to underline the differences between analyses conducted with regard to expenditure and those conducted in terms of revenue.

14 In Part III section 2.2 of this book further detail is provided on the gender budget tools.

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Analysis of budget expenditure usually includes: • analysis of gender relations within a specific policy area, budget allocations and the development of policies that reflect gender equality in given areas and their translation into budgetary allocations; • examining the impact of such a policy and an analysis of budget revenue and impact analysis of certain revenue for gender relations; and • development and implementation of a revenue policy that reflects gender equality and an assessment of the policy’s impact.

Based on experience gained through the practical application of gender budgeting initiatives, the gender budgeting experts (primarily Debbie Budlender, Rhonda Sharp, Diane Elson and Katherine Rake) developed several analytical tools that are today considered as standard for budget engendering. The literature usually lists seven main tools used to analyse public revenue policy that were construed by Diane Elson (see Elson 1997 p.13) in April 2005 and which have become standard in each gender based budget analysis. The key instruments used for budget engendering include gender aware policy appraisal, a gender disaggregated beneficiary assessment, gender disaggregated public expenditure analysis, gender disaggregated public revenue analysis, gender disaggregated analysis of the budget on time use, a gender aware medium-term economic policy framework and gender aware budget statement.

Gender responsive budget initiatives around the world are adopting these seven instruments as baselines, developing and adjusting them according to their own specific context.

If the detailed and exhaustive information is available, Tools 3 (survey on public consumption benefits) and 4 (time use survey) offer the possibility to analyse the impact that the budget has on different groups of women, men, girls and boys. When assessing the relevance of such information Tool 1 (policy analysis) may give a detailed overview of the gender bias present in certain policies and its impact on different groups. Tool 5 (gender aware medium-term economic policy framework) is of importance in terms of budgetary system reform, while Tool 6 (gender aware budget statement) provides an answer to the question of what the government can do when applying gender budgeting. Some tools are not widely used e.g., the Expenditure Incidence Analysis (Austen, Costa, Sharp and Elson 2013).

The selection of suitable mechanisms and methods for budget engendering depends on the resources available, the scope and focus of gender budgeting initiatives within a particular country as well as the stage that has been reached in implementing gender budgeting. The mechanisms and methods not only refer to the analysis of budget revenue and expenditure but to the analysis of the effects and measures related to employment, income distribution, the care economy as well as the use of time. Numerous gender budgeting mechanisms and methods are based on widely available standardised economic approaches and methods the scope of which is extended by the integration of gender as an analytical category to gender equality issues. Dependent on the national, regional or local context, gender budgeting initiatives should further develop standard mechanisms and methods by adjusting them to a proper context.

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2.5. Assessment of the Capacity for GR Budgeting Standard analytical and technical gender budgeting instruments do represent a basic conceptual framework for gender based budget analysis. Numerous gender budgeting initiatives implemented worldwide over the past decade lead to the conclusion that the successful development of a conceptual framework represents the first necessary step for the translation of political decisions into life. The next step should be to select those methods and tools that are believed to contribute to the improvement of gender equality and development within the society, their development and alteration at certain stages and steps made against the given contextual social and macroeconomic conditions.

Gender budgeting application presumes a detailed examination of the particular circumstances within each country. The basic set of questions (see Budlender and Hewitt 2003 Pp. 45-46) that should be answered when applying analytical and technical gender analysis instruments include those listed below.

• What are the formal procedures for budget formulation, execution and accounting?

• Have there been recent attempts to change the budget process, format or institutional arrangements?

• Which macroeconomic models does the government use in the first steps of the budget process?

• Which policy papers and processes determine the national priorities that should determine budget allocations?

• What constraints does the government consider when formulating the budget?

• In what format is the budget presented?

• What is the role of the central agencies, such as the finance ministries and planning agencies, in budget preparation and execution?

• How much government expenditure is allocated for servicing debt?

• What role and powers are assigned to the legislature for budget formulation and oversight and how effective is the legislature in these roles?

• What are the roles and powers of independent auditors and how effective are they?

• Where there are sub-national governments, what powers do they possess with regard to raising revenue and or the allocation of expenditure and what functions/sectors of government are they responsible for?

• Are any civil society groups involved in budget work?

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When asking these questions it is useful to enquire about the possible gap between the theory (what is meant to happen) and the practice (what actually happens); a huge number of countries face challenges in terms of translating the budget vision into practice.

Principally, there are two aspects of GRB that are particularly important, namely ex-ante and ex post.

The first aspect ex ante refers to the integration of the gender aspect into the economic models that comprise the mid-term economic and fiscal policy framework. The ex ante aspect involves budget goal programmes and the establishment of benchmarks reflecting gender equality. Programmes of engendered budget goals are an essential part of the process of budget planning and preparation and are used to formulate and quantify general short-term, mid-term and long-term goals with regard to gender equality. These are implemented using budgetary measures and the budget is audited and evaluated on the basis of their implementation. Despite the fact that budget goals do not always have to be measurable nor expressed in monetary terms their precise formulation and quantification is indispensable in terms of a complete overview of the success of their implementation.

Benchmarking includes procedures for the setting of benchmarks (reference points) that are used to specify the effects of budgetary changes. These procedures include the development and specification of indicators that set the elementary dimensions of gender relations and reflect the budgetary goals programme. These are used to analyse the consequences: the results of the implemented budgetary measures. The described methods provide for the drafting of the relevant Gender Budget Statement, which is in fact the government report and budget overview that includes the implications pertaining to gender equality (see Sharp 2003 p.70).

The second aspect ex post involves the budget balances that reflect the state of gender in/ equality. This aspect refers to the procedures of the gender based policy assessment. In this case, the impact that a certain policy has in terms of gender equality is explored as well as the ways in which such a policy can be redefined and the resources re-allocated in a way that will improve gender equality. Examples of potential gender budgeting activities to be used at different stages within the process (Djuric Kuzmanovic and Golemac Powell 2013) are described below.

1. Budget preparation stage (a) To ensure that the budget allocations provide for the implementation of programmes, plans and activities in such a way that they meet the needs. (b) To evaluate the possible impact of the new methods of revenue collection on different groups in relation to their ability to pay. (c) To compare budget estimates for the current year with the revised estimates and actual expenditure in the previous year and to provide for the implementation of corrective measures to enable the proper and full use of budget funds during the current year.

This stage of a gender responsive budgeting process is to be performed by government, i.e., the ministry of finance as the line ministry in charge of budget preparation.

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2. Budget adoption stage (a) To analyse the trends within the sector or ministry and the share of allocations and expenditure: as an indicator of government priorities. (b) To analyse the revenue side: what are the sources of revenue, subsidies etc., and what impact will they have on women and men? (c) To review the trends and participation: reduction or increase and the percentage in terms of share.

At this stage parliamentary bodies will play a role: as part of their mandate as legislative bodies and those in charge of scrutinising the operations of the executive. In addition, the academia and civil society may also be engaged.

3. Budget execution stage To ask the questions: Are the budget funds being used as planned and to the full amount?

What are the activity implementation costs?

Who is receiving the subsidies?

Are the budget funds being used to the benefit of those for whom they are intended?

Budget execution is monitored and analysed by the government, while the parliament, as the supervisory body, is also in charge of this stage of the gender sensitive budgeting process.

4. Post execution stage To analyse what the end results were (outcomes) and the impact of the programmes, projects and arrangements for which the budget funds were used for their implementation? (a) To analyse the expected outcomes to be achieved on the basis of the funds used against the true outcomes, including the unexpected ones. (b) To evaluate whether the funds were used in a manner that provided for the realisation of the outcomes (end results) in the most effective way. (c) To assess the impact: what change was brought about by specific expenditure?

The executive, i.e., the government and the legislature, and the parliament (the body charged with scrutinising the process) are in charge of the analysis and assessment of the outcomes and impact of the budget funds used to implement the government programmes and projects.

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3. GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGETING IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EU The European Union is committed to the promotion of gender equality through the process of engendering all (public) policies at all levels and at all stages. Gender equality has been a core value of the European Union since the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 (Article 2 and 3 (2) of the Treaty). The European Commission has been implementing (through the Community Strategy on Gender Equality and the corresponding framework programme Gender Mainstreaming) a strategy for various sector policies.

“Successive treaties have recognised and strengthened the instruments to achieve effective equality mainly in the area of employment (equal pay for work of equal value, health and safety for pregnant workers, maternity and paternity leave and protection of employment rights). Other areas have also been addressed such as equality of treatment in access to goods and services and equal treatment in statutory social security” (European Gender Budgeting Network 2008/2009).

The issue of gender equality has been at the very heart of public policy and all political programmes and procedures ever since 1996 when the European Commission adopted a Decision to mobilise all general policies and to target measures towards the promotion of gender equality and to evaluate their effects on men and women, even at the planning stage (COM (96) 67 final). The results of such a political commitment by the EU has become evident in different domains starting from the engendering of the European strategies on employment, research policy and EU structural funds all the way to studying the impact of the tax system on women. Development of the public policy engendering process at the EU level comprised the development of necessary gender methods and tools and gender sensitive statistics and indicators.

“At the Commission the issue of gender sensitive budgets was first raised at a seminar on gender mainstreaming as part of the macroeconomic guidelines in October 2001. The Belgian Presidency, in particular, organised a conference on ‘Gender Responsive Budgeting: a Global Vision to Strengthen Economic and Financial Governance’ in cooperation with the OECD, UNIFEM and the Nordic Council of Ministers, which opened the debate at the EU level on public finance and the gender perspective. More specifically, as regards gender budgeting, the European Commission set up a working group made up of national experts on gender budgeting within the Consultative Committee on Equal Opportunities, whose aim was to draw up a document containing the most significant experiences in the area, providing methodological guidelines and identifying the necessary institutional requirements for implementation at the Community level and within the Member States” (EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT session document FINAL A5-0214/200316 June 2003, p.12).

A Group of Specialists on Gender Budgeting was established in November 2002 and charged with defining the methodology for drafting and implementation of gender budgeting at the local, regional and national level (Council of Europe 2005 Pp.7- 9). The Groups terms of reference was adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 31 March 2004. The commitment of the EU to the implementation of gender budgeting was confirmed by the Roadmap for Equality between Women and Men (2006-2010), which underlined the Commission’s support for gender budgeting and gender impact assessments in all areas of policy.

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The Roadmap outlines six priority areas for EU action on gender equality: (1) equal economic independence for women and men, (2) the reconciliation of private and professional life, (3) equal representation in decision making, (4) eradication of all forms of gender based violence, (5) the elimination of gender stereotypes and (6) the promotion of gender equality in external and development policies (EC COM (2006) 92 final).

A number of EU member states and regions are already using gender budgeting as a tool to effectively mainstream gender into all of their budgetary and policy frameworks. As the European Gender Budgeting Network underlines GB is, “a strategy to promote gender equality in macroeconomic and budgetary policies and thus can effectively contribute to the quality of public finance... It is an important strategy for ensuring greater consistency between economic goals and the social and legal commitments made by all member states of the EU” (European Gender Budgeting Network 2008/2009).

However, certain analyses of the European reality suggest that EU macroeconomic policies are eroding gender equality and women’s empowerment in Europe (Klatzer and Schlager 2013). The mechanisms of systematic reproduction of injustice have been reconfigured and strengthened along gender lines over the past decades (see Young, 1990). Furthermore, “The social consequences of the economic and financial crises and of austerity policy on women and men in Europe continue to be widely ignored by policy makers” (Klatzer and Schlager 2013).

3.1. Mid-term Financial Framework from the Perspective of Gender Equality The Multiannual Financial Framework or perspective represents an inter-institutional agreement that the European Commission, European Parliament and the Council of the European Union used to reach an agreement on budgetary priorities and the structure of expenditure for the forthcoming six-year period.15 Engendering of government budgets at all levels of governance as well as the EU Multiannual Financial Framework is an indispensable part of policy engenderment in the EU.16 Introduction of gender budgeting into EU budgeting practice as well as the further development of engendering methodology is supported by the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (The Multi-annual Financial Framework 2014-2020 from a Gender Equality Perspective, 2012) within the context of the economic and financial crisis and also as a strong tool for the recovery of the European economy.

The EU policy on gender equality is currently articulated in the Commission’s Strategy for Equality between Women and Men 2010-2015 and the Council’s European Pact for Gender 15 The multiannual financial forecasts were introduced in the 1980s as a result of an agreement between the EU Council and the European Parliament to adopt the new methodology and procedure for joint budget planning and implementation of budget priorities.

16 Previous multiannual forecasts referred to the following periods: 1988-1992 (Delors I package), 1993-1999 (Delors II package), 2000-2006 (Agenda 2000) and 2007-2013. The multiannual financial framework for the period from 2007 up to 2013 was adopted in the form of an institutional agreement between the European Commission, European Parliament and the EU Council. It brought about certain significant changes compared to the previous one (i.e., the 2000-2006 estimate) in terms of both a different classification of budget expenditure and also in terms of their level. The next multiannual financial framework will refer to the period from 2014 to 2020 and it will include future EU moves up until 2020 and the maximum amounts for funding important common policies and EU activities in priority areas.

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Equality (2011-2020). The EU has reiterated the importance of close linkage between the European Pact for Gender Equality, the Strategy for Equality between Women and Men 2010- 2015 and Europe 2020: the European Unionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Strategy for Jobs and Smart Sustainable and Inclusive Growth.

However, despite the numerous EU commitments, which are reiterated in the EU Strategy 2020, the key issues with regard to the European future include the promotion (improvement) of gender equality. While gender budgeting is the key policy strategy for the implementation of public policy engenderment and reform of the European economy the attention given to gender issues and the evaluation of the achieved results from the gender perspective is still not sufficiently present (Ibid p.3). What was recognised is that policy engenderment in the EU requires time and resources and that it is a long-term process. Policy engenderment in the EU does not imply the abandonment of measures that are strictly targeted at women nor of the bodies in charge of the supervision of the overall process towards gender equality.

3.2. EU Budgetary Process and EC Recommendations The European Union budget indicates the following key objectives: to establish a framework for sound decision making on the financial basis of common EU policies, to provide a sufficient quantity of funds needed for the implementation of all of the activities and tasks planned within the EU and to avoid wasting money and the excessive growth of budgetary expenditure.17 In 2008 the European Commission Directorate General for Budget proposed the introduction of the gender budgeting concept into EU budgetary procedure, considering that the EU budget, despite its specific features, is suitable for engendering and that gender budgeting may be used in all of the budgetary process steps: from its preparation and planning to implementation (The Multi-annual Financial Framework 2014-2020 from a Gender Equality Perspective 2012, p.23).

17 There is a clear difference between mandatory and optional budget expenditure in terms of the realisation of these goals within the EU budget structure. Mandatory expenditure consist of all funds established by contracts, secondary legislation or international agreements and the final decision on these is made by the EU Council; all other expenditure is classified as optional budget expenditure and the decision on these is made by the European Parliament.

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Table 5.1: Gender budgeting tools and their possible application in the context of the EU budget Stage of the Tool identified in budgetary process the literature

Practical application within the aspect of existing Commission tools

Implications

Planning and preparation of the budget

Gender aware policy appraisal

In the Impact Assessments of financing proposals, the assessment of differentiated impacts on men and women could be further strengthened. Currently, it is buried amongst a long list of questions on the social impact. This could be done within the context of further strengthening the identification and measurement of social impacts, and especially the impact of the planned instruments on people.

The tool challenges the assumption that some policies are gender-neutral.

Presentation of the budget

Gender responsive budget analysis undertaken through a budgetary cycle framework

In relation to the Activity Statements, the format of the PDB could be revised to differentiate systematically between inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and the impact in each Commission policy area. Gender relevant issues could then be highlighted. The current PDB format is already significantly oriented towards such a framework, as the policy area description consists of general objectives, expenditure (inputs), description and justification of intervention, performance information and proposed appropriations.

However, the link between expected outputs and outcomes is not always explicit.

The information contained in the PDB would have to be systematically reorganised, re-assessed and enhanced.

Currently, as shown in section 5, gender specific information is reported in a patchy way.

Gender aware budget statement

The PDB could contain an annex that would draw together gender specific information on the expected objectives, inputs, outputs, outcomes and impact on each policy area.

This would require modification to the existing budgetary documentation procedures

Adoption of the budget

No specific tool has been identified, but a gender aware budget statement is pertinent at this stage

The role of the Parliament and the Council are key to the adoption of the EU budget, as these two institutions, acting as the budgetary authority, amend and review the preliminary draft budget proposed by the Commission. Therefore, the tools to be used at the stage of presenting the budget (e.g., gender aware budget statement) can be expected to be scrutinised and considered by the budgetary authorities in the decision making process over adopting the budget.

The importance of continued political demands for the results of gender budgeting approaches was continuously emphasised during the consultations that were undertaken

Source: Study to Assess the Feasibility and Options for the Introduction of Elements of Gender Budgeting into the EU Budgetary Process (2008: Pp.40-41).

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The areas that have been underlined as being of especial importance from the gender perspective (European Aid, Budget Support Guidelines, 2012, p.17) are as follows: economic independence, education and training, health/wellbeing/environment, fundamental rights and external relations. The application of this new methodology in these areas has shown that the budget is suitable for gender budgeting to a degree to which it is possible to conduct the analysis, at least for programming documents that achieve useful indications on the level of attention to the gender issue in these documents.

The analysis of budget documents has shown that the introduction of gender budgeting was announced in several of them, but that for many programmes information from a gender standpoint is still lacking or incomplete. It was therefore recognised that it would be useful to start its introduction as part of the process of planning linked to the EU Multiannual Financial Framework, which should be accompanied by an extensive gender analysis and studies into all policies and programmes. In other words, in order to promote gender budgeting the appropriate mechanisms and tools should be introduced and the ‘gender machinery’, qualified staff and expertise as well as the active support of civil society provided for.

New understanding with regard to budget (Communication “The Future Approach to EU Budget Support to Third Countries”, October 2011, Council Conclusions, May 2012), include several key principles to be applied in the new policy framework in order to strengthen the contractual partnership between the EU countries and the partner countries.

• To strengthen the link with the key values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

• To strengthen the diversity of agreements on budgetary support in order to better respond to the political, economic and social context of the partner countries.

Implementation of the stated goals presumes: a strengthening of the qualification criteria and a more structured evaluation, stronger focus on accountability and the transparency of the process, strengthening of the decision making process and its structure as well as the risk management framework related to budgetary support, stronger orientation towards results, performance, predictability and ownership and strengthening of EU coordination.

Lessons from the EU budgetary and policy making process identified through a review of the overall EU budgetary process are summarised and explained in the Study to Assess the Feasibility and Options for the Introduction of Elements of Gender Budgeting into the EU Budgetary Process (2008, Pp. 25-34) and for ten selected Commission policy areas: Agriculture, Employment and Social Affairs, Enterprise, Research, Information Society and Media, Regional Policy, Education and Culture, Communication, Freedom, Security and Justice, and Health Consumer Protection.

“One of the key lessons from the review of the EU budgetary and policy making process is the need to avoid creating an additional bureaucratic burden in terms of more paperwork and additional requirements. If gender budgeting is seen and implemented as an integral part of the drafting process of budgets, policies and legislation it does not necessarily need to become ‘an additional task’ requiring a huge amount of extra human and financial resources. However, even where it is regarded as integral to the budgetary and policy making process, some additional resources are likely to be required in the initial implementation phase and continuous support is required (as it is for any similar organisational change process)” (Ibid p.39).

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One of the key considerations for the implementation of gender budgeting within the EU budgetary process is whether it is relevant for the annual Strategic Planning and Programming (SPP) cycle or for the longer term financial framework (Ibid p.43).

3.3. Repercussions of EU Fiscal Rules on National Budgetary Policies A drop in budget revenue (from VAT) in previous years caused an increase in terms of contributions from the member countries gross domestic product.18 The EU member countries have, in recent years, been faced with crisis and significant budgetary deficits. Analyses of the connection between the sustainable mid-term budgetary framework and the fiscal measures undertaken for the period from 1990 up until 2012 for all 27 member countries indicate that (Nerlich, Heinrich and Reuter, 2012) the fiscal measures that were undertaken had a positive effect in terms of the primary balance but a negative one in terms of public costs; the impact of the latter differed both in terms of type of cost and the budget revenue components. Thus, the measures related to balancing the budget affected almost every other fiscal policy category while those related to deficit only had an impact on certain budget categories. Therefore, a further strengthening of the budgetary impact in the midterm budget framework by the Independent Fiscal Council is recommended in terms of the primary balance, along with careful planning when it comes to public spending and the detailed analysis of the budgetary impact to spending (Ibid p.18).

However, the new economic governance within the European Union (see Klatzer, Schlager, 2013) is characterised by: • high level rule-based fiscal policies with focus on deficit and debt reduction and the strengthening of structural reforms; • lack of democratic legitimacy with a considerable increase in the powers of the finance bureaucracy in the EC and the member states; • creation and reinforcement of such non-transparent processes without the possibility of democratic influence and control; and • transfer of influence over delicate economic and budget policy decisions to small elite groups within the bureaucracy.

The implications for gender from this shift in power and its influence over macroeconomic policy are numerous. One of the most important shifts in terms of gender over the last decade is that, “while the degree of women and their influence in traditional democratic institutions has slowly increased over the last decades, the effective decision making power has not only shifted towards selected EU institutions but also to other international institutions like the IMF, multinational enterprises and finance institutions and markets” (Klatzer and Schlager 2013).

18 The European Union’s fiscal policy is decentralised as budget revenue is collected and charged by the tax authorities of the EU member countries, while the European Commission plays a major supervisory role in terms of the way budget funds are spent.

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3.4. Gender Balance and Cohesion Regulation reform related to EU structural funds that took place from 2000 up until 2006 provided for the integration of the gender perspective into this area (see Elson, 2003, p.2).

This is important as these funds are the primary source of support provided by EU in the areas of regional and local development and labour market integration. The reformed regulations include the following requirements: • activities financed by these funds contribute towards the elimination of gender inequality; • monitoring committees include the balanced participation of women and men; • key monitoring indicators are disaggregated according to gender; • ex ante evaluation of the gender impact is conducted; and • equal opportunities are used as one of the criteria for setting the level of financial contribution by the Community and for allocating reserve funds between the regions within each member state.

The document ‘Budget for Europe 2020’ underlines that, “a European employment and social inclusion initiative will be set up through joint action in the fields of education and vocational training, employment and inclusion” (COM 2011). Funds for this purpose will be directed via three key instruments: the European Social Fund, the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund and an integrated programme of employment, social policy and inclusion (the Multi-annual Financial Framework 2014-2020 from a Gender Equality Perspective 2012, Pp.39-40).

Each of the financial instruments has its special goals. Thus, with regard to the realisation of equal opportunities for women and men, Structural Funds will be targeted to promote gender equality in all of these activities, as one of the fundamental values of the EU (Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Woman and Men on Gender Equality in the Cohesion Policy 2014-2020, 2012). The example of the implementation of Structural Funds shows how member states are responsible for collecting gender disaggregated data and indicators during implementation.

“Gender budgeting within the EU budgetary process will not necessarily require additional resources (which would in any case be hard to achieve within the current seven year Financial Framework). It is more likely to lead to a redirection of programme resources and additional guidance, monitoring and evaluation of spending on development goals according to the evidence on the differentiated needs of men and women. It is important to differentiate between any reallocation necessary for carrying out gender budgeting initiatives at the initial stage and any further reallocation that might take place at a later stage in accordance with the emerging evidence concerning the differentiated needs of women and men. It therefore could seems that gender budgeting approaches will lead to a redirection of administrative resources at the initial stage (although not necessarily programme resources), while at a later stage it could lead to the redirection of operational expenditure.

Implementing gender budgeting within the EU budgetary process would require clarity in terms of the political commitment, legal basis and strategic direction as well as investment

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in relation to awareness raising and capacity building resources (administrative resources).

These would need to be linked to the scope of its implementation” (Study to assess the feasibility and options for the introduction of elements of gender budgeting into the EU budgetary process 2008 p.43). The key questions asked in this regard (The Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men) are listed below.

• How to ensure that the dual approach of gender mainstreaming and specific actions is improved through the implementation of cohesion policy funds for 2014- 2020?

• What are the specific suggestions on how to reinforce the gender dimension in the defined thematic objectives in line with the Europe 2020 objectives?

• How can the Commission better cooperate with the authorities in the member states, other European institutions and civil society organisations in order to ensure that gender equality considerations, as an integral part of all investment priorities, are properly implemented?

It is the opinion of the Advisory Committee that, in the context of tight resources and serious economic challenges, the focus should be on policy implementation and cohesion so as to enable the advancement of the important goal of gender equality, even in a difficult economic environment. Under the existing conditions of economic crisis, an increase in the unemployment rate amongst men occurred, especially amongst young and elderly men, while restrictions on public services affected women in particular as they comprise the majority of public service employees and are reliant to a greater degree on their benefits and services compared to men. One aspect of key importance for the definition and application of a successful recovery plan is to understand the impact that the crisis has had on gender.

Therefore, on 6 October 2011 the Commission adopted a Common Strategic Framework containing common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. The Framework contained numerous measures aimed at encouraging gender equality. <http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/what/future/proposals_2014_2020_en.cfm>.

However, the targeted financial support for the implementation of this goal is decreasing and currently accounts for less than 0.8% of the budget for implementation of the Cohesion Policy. It is also being distributed unevenly to different funds and member states, mainly via the European Social Fund.

The part played by the Cohesion Policy needs to be strengthened in the forthcoming funding period (2014 to 2020) in order to meet the goals set forth under the Europe 2020 Strategy and to reduce the adverse impact of the crisis on gender.

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4. THE ROLE OF DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDERS IN THE PROCESS OF GENDER BUDGETING The gender budgeting initiative can be launched by different stakeholders, both within and outside the government sector. Governments can instigate the gender budgeting procedure on their own initiative (e.g., Sweden), on the basis of an initiative coming from the European Parliament (e.g., South Korea) or from the civil society (e.g., UK). The key stakeholders in the engendering process are the governments and parliaments. Yet there is a line of other stakeholders that need to be involved in this process: researchers and experts, international and non-governmental organisations, trade unions and employers’ associations. The roles and responsibilities of the government and of other stakeholders have, in a detailed way, been formulated by the Council of Europe (2005). The following sections describe their typical role within the budget engendering process.

4.1. Government and Public Administration The government and public administration are the key stakeholders when it comes to launching and implementation of the engendering of public budgets. The government is a complex governance mechanism that consists of a cabinet/council of ministers and public administration within the ministries, departments and agencies. Government decisions are prepared and implemented by a network of different stakeholders from within the government administration and public institutions.

The success of budget engendering depends on the government’s policy commitments and capacities and on clearly defined roles for the different stakeholders involved. ‘Inside government’ gender budgeting initiatives have tended to be more effective if it is the ministry of finance that leads the initiative in cooperation with the ministry (or another body or mechanism) in charge of gender equality issues. As the budget engendering process should include all policy areas it calls for participation and the development of expertise, the engagement and mutual cooperation between senior civil servants and advisors in charge of drafting the budget and those responsible for gender equality. These stakeholders are of key importance for the success of this project and therefore they need to believe that it is realistic and work towards improving the existing practice. Therefore they have great responsibility in terms of the implementation of a gender budgeting initiative, despite the fact that the most important decisions related to the budget are adopted by the cabinet and by other ministries.

The necessary expertise in terms of gender equality issues can be provided by using gender equality mechanisms that can be organised as government bodies, as separate ministries or departments, info-desks, contact persons, external resource centres or promotional body possessing a mandate at the national/government level. The role of these gender equality mechanisms is to work on awareness raising, provide professional assistance, training and information, promote and coordinate gender budgeting and assist in budget preparation.

The level of their participation depends on cooperation with other key stakeholders, especially with ministers and more specifically with the ministry of finance. Officers responsible for budget from all the ministries need to cooperate mutually as well as with experts from the gender equality mechanisms.

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Such cooperation is especially needed when it comes to the development of tools for the implementation of gender budgeting as this surpasses the common administrative approach, guidelines and control lists.

The role and responsibilities of the government refer to intergovernmental coordination and continuous exchange of information between the departments and participants in the gender budgeting process, the development of concepts focused the aspects on gender sensitive budget management, the distribution of information in order to raise awareness on the necessity of gender budgeting, the development of concepts for management training structures, in particular departments and services; development of standardised questionnaires in order to inform policy and budget decision makers, development of guidelines for the improvement of gender disaggregated databases, including the analytical instruments, policy project concepts, devising of monitoring and evaluation measures and particular professional expertise and symposia for policy decision makers.

Government has a key role to play in terms managing the GRB process and establishing the roles to be played by different actors in the process. Gender budget initiatives are most effective when the ministry of finance leads the initiative, “ideally with the close involvement of the ministry or national/federal authorities for gender or women’s affairs (Equality Division Directorate General for Human Rights, COE 2005 p.15).

“Parliaments and local and regional assemblies in general negotiate, amend and finally adopt the budget proposed by the executive authorities but they can also submit requests and engage in lobbying activities, thereby participating in the formation of political will and strengthening the governments’ commitment to gender budgeting” (Ibid p.16).

The ministry of finance plays a key role in terms of engendering the national budget, as it is in charge of coordination of overall activities at the national level. This refers to the national level budgeting process, development of the budgetary framework from a gender perspective (done jointly with the bodies and mechanisms in charge of budget equality), collection of reports on budget engendering from the relevant ministries, compilation of annual progress reports on gender budgeting implementation, establishment of gender sensitive records on the final beneficiaries of budget funds, impact analysis with regard to each type of public expenditure, separately for men and women (for previous year) and other factors that should be taken into account in the further planning and use of the budget.

The line ministries are in charge of delivering budget estimates to the ministry of finance, execution of the budget based on their sector policies and priorities (taking into account gender sensitive sector policy analyses), preparation of gender sensitive statements for their sectors, the development of gender sensitive plans and budgets, the definition of and reporting on gender budgeting indicators and the preparation of training plans for their staff on different issues related to policy and budget engendering.

The ministry in charge of gender equality plays the following role: coordination of the implementation of the national policy on gender equality, equal opportunities, the empowerment of women and the elimination of discrimination against women; proposing gender budget initiatives, cooperation with the ministry of finance and with other ministries and supervision of the budget engendering process at the national level, the provision of expert assistance for all issues related to gender equality and to contribute to the gender

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sensitisation of all stakeholders involved in this process as well as others working in public administration.

In certain cases, some of these measures will be delegated to the relevant institutions and government agencies whose primary role is to shape and conduct an assessment based on gender equality. Budgeting allocations for the relevant agencies in general need to include gender mainstreaming for all of the activities of the given agencies.

4.2. Civil Society and NGOs Civil society and independent analysts play an important role in terms of urging the government to introduce gender responsive budget initiatives. However, their impact remains limited unless the government, as the key stakeholder, does not take the leading role in the implementation of gender budgeting. Civil society consists of experts, advocates and practitioners that work in partnership with the government and often provides the impetus for launching gender responsive budget initiatives. Around the world, budget engendering came about as a result of feminist policy and activism (Sharp & Broomhill 2002). Civil society groups have identified gender budgeting as a means of participating in the engendering of macroeconomic policy. Disappointed by the inadequate application of public policy engendering, numerous activists perceived budget engendering as a potential means through which they could provide arguments for the policy changes for which they advocated. The budget engendering initiatives that had major impact in terms of real life changes came about as a result of close cooperation between the non-governmental and governmental sectors.

Non-governmental organisations have a role to play in voicing the reasons for the introduction of gender budgeting, research into and justification of the analytical mechanisms, tools and methods necessary for its introduction; the provision of training for civil servants and guiding feedback from citizens towards budget decision makers.

“Although civil society initiatives may suffer from resource and data constraints, its distance from government allows it a critical perspective in independent monitoring and evaluation of the budget” (Equality Division Directorate General for Human Rights, COE, 2005, p.18).

Trade unions and employers’ associations can, as they often participate in policy shaping, make a significant contribution to the process of implementation of a gender responsive budget initiative through the organisation and voicing of the collective will. A special role in this regard is played by women’s sections within the trade unions, because they are gender aware and contribute to the empowerment of women i.e., improvement of the economic and social status of women through their activities and by advocating for budget engendering.

“Trade unions and employers’ organisations play an important role in organising and articulating the collective will and can also contribute to the process of gender budgeting insofar as they participate in policy development” (Ibid p.18).

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4.3. Parliament Members of parliament, local and regional assemblies, especially women, participate in the negotiation, amendment and adoption of budgets proposed by the executive. Through advocacy and lobbying they participate in the development of the political will and thus contribute towards strengthening the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment with regard to gender budgeting. The roles and responsibilities of members of parliament primarily refer to advocating for the gender budgeting process through parliamentary committees, verification of the presence of gender aspects within the budget prior to its adoption and the supervision of budget implementation. However, as Budlender and others warn (Budlender, Elson, Hewitt and Mukhopadhyay 2002), their role depends on the political power they wield in the overall political life within the country.

Research conducted by Costa, Sawer and Sharp also shows that gender focussed institutions, such as womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s caucuses in Parliament, can be an important means of increasing the voice of female parliamentarians in GRB (Costa, Sawer and Sharp 2012).

4.4. International Organisations and Agencies International and bilateral agencies supporting gender budgeting initiatives include: the United Nations, the Commonwealth Secretariat, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), United Kingdom Government Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Bank. The UN Fund for Women19 and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Council of Europe, European Union and the Nordic Council played a key role when it came to the formulation and the adoption of international gender equality standards, special resolutions and guidelines helped governments to formulate their strategies and initiatives in this area.

International organisations encourage and fund research and analyses in this area, collect examples of good practice and provide technical assistance and support for the gender budgeting initiatives of governments, which is particularly valuable at the early stages of the introduction of gender budgeting. For example, the Council of Europe informal expert group that was tasked with defining gender budgeting, collecting the necessary information and harmonising all of the activities undertaken by the different stakeholders in this domain. This group of experts was appointed to draft a report on gender budgeting focused on awareness raising in this domain amongst the member countries and collected practical examples of good practice on gender budgeting, which contributed to the more effective and efficient targeting and use of public funds.

19 In 2010 the United Nations Development Fund for Women was replaced by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

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Numerous international civil and women’s groups are promoting gender budgeting in the countries of their origin as well as at the international level, as members of the European Gender Budget Network.20

4.5. Researchers Experts and researchers play an important role in terms of initiating, advocating, developing, and comparing and implementing gender budgeting. They join the process as independent experts or as members of non-governmental organisations or women’s groups.

Their contribution is very significant, as gender budgeting requires detailed research and analysis along with expertise and availability (in terms of time) that the government officers often do not have. The contribution of academics is indispensable when it comes to implementation of analyses on the impact of policies, measures and strategies with regard to gender equality, the development of methodologies and indicators, training of civil servants and decision makers, development of indicators and the control of budget outcomes.

The International Association for Feminist Economics plays an important role in producing peer reviewed research and by facilitating GRB discussions at its international conferences and regional groups.

In Italy, for example, gender budgeting was introduced following an international seminar held in Rome that was organised by two academics, with the financial support of the Special Commission for Equal Opportunities. In Norway they engaged foreign experts in order to obtain information on international experiences, increase the political interest and to provide advisory support for the gender budgeting process at the state level. An academic postgraduate course on feminist economy and gender budgeting was organised at the University in Novi Sad in Serbia, while the initiatives coming from women’s groups and the civil sector encouraged political stakeholders in Vojvodina to launch a gender budgeting initiative in certain sectors at the province level (see Todorovic 2010 p.39).

4.6. The Media The media can play an important role in the promotion of gender budgeting. However, it is, at the same time, limited by the level of freedom and transparency the media enjoys in relation to political influence. Requests for changes to policy and budget management modalities delivered to government via the media may have an impact on politicians and high level officials, especially if accompanied by analytical debates.

20 E.g., the Belgian GRB initiative that started in 2002 following an international conference held in Brussels on Strengthening Economic and Financial Governance: towards Gender Responsive Budgeting, organised by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Government of Belgium. In Austria there is a Watch Group that focuses its attention specifically on the gender related aspects of public finance, while in Germany there is a Federal Gender Budget Initiative (Big-Budget). In Spain there is the Platform for Gender Impact - Now (La Plataforma Impacto de Género Ya) and in the United Kingdom there is the UK Women’s Budget Group. In North America there is The American Centre on Budget and Policy implemented project titled The International Budget Project (December 2001). For more information on the role of donors and international agencies in promoting GRB see Sharp (2003, Pp.7-8).

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However, in those countries where the government exercises a high degree of influence over the media or completely controls it the media cannot act as an ally and refuses even the mildest criticisms of the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actions. The role of the media in promoting the gender budget initiatives also depends on the type and level of media. Media commentary that is valuable (such as the discussion of taxation on pensions and family support programmes) may not come under the heading of gender budgeting but it can cover important gendered aspects of budgeting.

5. DATA REQUIREMENTS FOR GRB AND GENDER INDICATORS Gender statistics and gender indicators are an indispensable prerequisite if budget engendering is to be grounded on the actual situation and based on an adequate assessment of the status of men and women within the economy and society. It is also necessary in order to realistically assess the progress achieved in terms of the application of gender budgeting.

Gender statistics is the statistical area that covers all of its domains and realistically reviews the actual lives of women and men, thus facilitating an adequate response to the questions dealt with in policies related to gender equality (UNICEE, 2010). Therefore, the different approaches used (conventional, participatory or other) and the different international organisations and institutions encourage the creators and users of statistical data to improve their own capacities in terms of the production and analysis of gender disaggregated data.

Measuring gender inequalities using gender sensitive indicators and their shortcomings has already been discussed in the Part 1 and II.4 of this book (Pp. 34-38).

Valuable data may, for example, be derived from the Time Budget Survey that reviews the allocation of time between different tasks (see Alexander and Baden 2000 p.28). Such type of data has multiple values. Allocation studies, namely time use studies, can indicate the link between work patterns and changes within the environment, compare the amount of leisure time that individuals and the society in general enjoys (as a measure of wellbeing), provide a more precise snapshot of activities in rural areas where non-market labour is dominant and indicate the scale of the inclusion of the non-paid labour (by age and gender).

The data on the use of time shows a lack of conventional labour statistics and therefore cannot manage to grasp the overall scope and complexity of the activities that the individuals, especially women, engage in, particularly in underdeveloped countries. What these analyses typically show is that women have more working hours than men but are less engaged in paid labour compared to men (UNDP 1995 Pp. 91-2).

In 2007 the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the World Bank Institute (WBI), while monitoring the implementation of the Gender Statistics Programme for Europe and Central Asian Countries, initiated a three year programme (2007-2010) on gender statistics in Europe and Central Asia, primarily targeted at middle and high level officials in the statistical services, decision makers, researchers and academics. The goal of this programme was to encourage the development of a more complete economic and social situation and trends analysis in different areas, including the area of gender budgeting in public institutions.

Indicators provide indispensable means of describing the situation in the different areas they monitor and are calculated for. These can be measurable, expressed in numbers and

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percentages, or they can be expressed as opinions or perceptions that reflect a certain status or situation and measure how its changes over time (The Guide to Gender Sensitive Indicators 1997, p.5). The indicators can be quantitative and qualitative, direct or indirect and may be in the form of products and processes or sectoral or intersectoral (Ibid p.14). In the policy decision making process they represent objective benchmarks that enable confirmation of whether a particular policy or programme has achieved the planned goal. In addition, they provide grounds for monitoring, review and evaluation of policies and measures.

Therefore, it is important that the development of indicators is preceded by a clear decision on what will be measured, what kind of information is needed and from where they can be collected. Quantitative data can usually be found in official statistics and administrative databases, while qualitative data is collected via focus groups, surveys, studies and by simple observation. In order for the indicators to serve as valid grounds for policy decision making they need to be specific in relation to the objective they are expected to measure, measurable (in quantitative or qualitative terms), realistic in terms of requiring reasonable costs, relevant (in terms of their users) and timely (refer to a specific timeframe) in order to be able to monitor their dynamics.

Indicator engendering gained in popularity during the nineteen eighties, as it was necessary to provide a more clear insight into the role of women and their underestimated contribution to the economic and social development of national economies and the world in general. Gender sensitive indicators have the specific task of monitoring gender related changes within society over time (Ibid p.5). Their use, along with certain specific gender sensitive techniques, helps in gaining a better understanding of how planned goals can be achieved by monitoring changes in terms of the status of women and men over time. They also document the success in their realisation.

Despite the fact that a growing number of countries, international organisations and donors recognise the importance of gender indicators and the fact that they are constantly improving in terms of their completeness, detailed and use, further work on their development and use is still needed. Gendered indicators are needed for the assessment of the dimensions of gender in/equality and the results of gender equality policy as well as for the realistic review of the connection between the measures aimed at improving the status of women, the effects and economic development. The use of gender equality indicators is necessary within the process of achieving results and the establishment of the link between gender equality policy and policies in individual areas (economic, trade, agriculture, education, health etc.) and reviewing the degree to which a certain policy in a particular area contributes or impedes the implementation of gender equality.

5.1. Gender Sensitive Indicators and adding Equality as a Performance Indicator Following on from the discussion on the mainstreaming of the gender perspective into the POB approach (see pages 77-78) it becomes clear that it is not easy to define clear and measurable goals and to provide full information on their effectiveness: there is no single system of gender sensitive indicators. However, the types of indicators may be conceptualised in different ways in an effort to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;coverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; each part of a policy or project with appropriate

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indicators. The most common examples of gender sensitive indicator systems promoted by international and bilateral organisations and donors are those developed and advocated for by the World Bank, USAID, the British ODA and GTZ (Ibid p.8).

Types of indicators have been conceptualised in different ways. One of the most flexible and common indicator typology is set out below. The most common indicator typology uses indicators in a chain, starting from input through to outcome with a short definition given for each type and followed by a detailed discussion and example (Ibid 17).

Recent agency work on gender sensitive indicators “The World Bank has recently explored the extension of the use of Key Performance Indicators at the project and sectoral levels as a part of Monitoring and Evaluation. It has, as part of its ‘Next Steps’ indicator programme, developed a series of sectoral indicators, including indicators of population, education, agriculture, poverty and housing, some of which are gender sensitive (World Bank 1995). The section on indicators of poverty (also published separately as Carvalho and White 1994) is a good source for a general discussion of indicators.

USAID, under its Program Performance Information for Strategic Management (PRISM), has developed a methodology for gender sensitive indicator use, giving some examples (USAID 1994b), but the approach is preliminary, there is some confusion about categorising of indicators, and qualitative indicators are largely ignored.

British ODA (1993a, & b) has been developing a gendered Policy Information Marker System (PIMS) to evaluate project objectives, using a simple scoring system based on DAC requirements to evaluate how far the project has met WID objectives.

GTZ has developed the ZOPP (German acronym for ‘Objectives-oriented Project Planning’), which has involved some participatory development of indicators (World Bank 1994a).

UNDP has extended its work on the Human Development Index to include a country level index of gender development, and a country level index called the gender empowerment measure (UNDP 1995). The gender development index compares women’s and men’s life expectancy, educational attainment and income. The gender empowerment measure concentrates on gender differences in income, access to jobs classified as professional and technical and administrative and managerial, and the percentage of parliamentary seats held by women and men”.

Source: Canadian International Development Agency (1997 p.8).

These organisations and institutions proposed a flexible set of indicators to the budgetary process stakeholders (Ibid Pp.16-19). This set included risk indicators related to inputs, processes, outcomes and outputs. These indicators measure the level of success in achieving progress towards the planned goals and results. This set of indicators was used to derive another set, applicable to each stage of the budgeting process and for monitoring progress in the application of gender budgets. These are usually divided into three categories: input, output and outcome indicators.

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Input or resource indicators refer to the human, financial and material resources needed for the implementation of the concrete activities necessary for the successfully realisation of specific projects and programmes. The input indicators play an important role in the identification of potential problems and their causes. However, they cannot be used as a single indication of whether the project or programme is going to be successful. The input indicators serve as a necessary baseline for the assessment of results i.e., the success of achieving the goal of the project or programme is measured against these indicators serving as the baseline. The input indicators often illustrate the utilisation of costs and services intended for the improvement of gender equality and the empowerment of women in terms of overall costs and the resources available for the measures and interventions in a given gender domain.

Output indicators are used to assess the success of budget implementation as they are intend to monitor the changes that have taken place over time i.e., specific achievements that have resulted from particular programmes and projects, such as the quality of produced goods and services. They measure the impact of external factors on the programme, the quantity of resources provided for that purpose and they measure the activities during implementation. Therefore, detailed information for the users of particular and also general programmes that have either a direct or indirect impact on women and men are needed in order to properly define them. The output indicators measure the direct product of a certain programme or project e.g., the number of users of health services or the number of healthcare premises or schools built. Yet they are less useful than those that measure the results achieved, as some of their effects are not immediately visible in the short or long term.

Results, outcome or impact indicators typically indicate the long-term effectiveness of the programmes or projects implemented, measuring the changes that take place under their influence in terms of the improvement in the quality of life of the beneficiaries. Their relevance is often underlined, despite the fact that many programmes use input and output indicators as opposed to these indicators. The problems related to their extensive use are that they require additional resources and capacities in terms of long-term training for those that conduct these tasks and an in-depth analysis. Their advantage is that they bring longterm benefits and experience that is also applicable to other programmes and projects.

In a following text we list some of the possible examples of input and output indicators using the example of Serbia (see Dokmanovic, Djuric Kuzmanovic 2012 Pp. 73-75).

Examples of input indicators: • share of expenditure specifically targeted to improve gender equality against total expenditures; • share of expenditure allocated for public services primarily intended for women against total expenditure; • share of expenditure allocated in order to transfer revenue/income primarily intended for women against total expenditure; and • existing (current) funds allocated for gender equality interventions.

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Examples of output indicators in agriculture • Share of women against the share of men using subsidies in agriculture.

• Share of women against the share of men receiving seedlings.

• Share of women against the share of men receiving loans for agricultural production development.

Output indicators related to education • Share of girls against the share of boys attending primary education.

• Share of girls against the share of boys attending primary schools receiving transportation subsidies.

• Share of girls against the share of boys attending secondary schools.

• Share of women against the share of men attending tertiary education.

Output indicators related to healthcare • Percentage of the female population of reproductive age using reproductive health relatedservices.

• Percentage of childbirths performed in public hospitals.

• Share of female against the share of male patients satisfied with health services.

Output indicators related to access to drinking water and sanitation • Share of women against the share of men having access to healthy drinking water.

• Share of women against the share of men having access to sanitation facilities.

• Share of women against the share of men served by public water supply services.

The administrative data of agencies is a good example of the complexity of the production and use of gender indicators. Some data, while produced, is often not gender disaggregated and even when it is it is frequently not matched against GRB users.

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Kožul, M. 2007. II poglavlje: Koncept rodnog budžetiranja, u: Đurić-Kuzmanović, Tatjana, (ed). Ka rodnom budžetiranju, Ženske studije i istraživanja i Futura publikacije(Chapter II: Gender Budgeting Concept in Djuric Kuzmanovic, T. (ed.). 2007. Towards Gender Budgeting: a Guide, Novi Sad, Women’s Studies and Research and Futura Publications). Novi Sad. Pp. 39-59.

Leskovac, S. 2007. Sumaran pregled svetskih iskustava rodno budžetske inicijative, u: Đurić-Kuzmanović, Tatjana, ed., Ka rodnom budžetiranju, Ženske studije i istraživanja i Futura publikacija (Summary of International Experience on Gender Budgeting Initiatives. In: Djuric Kuzmanovic, T. (ed.) Towards Gender Budgeting: a Guide, Women’s Studies and Research, and Futura Publications), Novi Sad. Pp. 60 – 88.

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PART THREE

GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGET ANALYSIS AND APPROACHES

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Based on the theoretical and conceptual issues presented previously in the textbook, this part focuses on the more practical issues of approaches, instruments and tools for GRB analysis complemented by examples from GRB practice from throughout the world. Chapter 1 presents frameworks for linking budgeting with gender equality, namely focusing on different levels of analysis of public finance from a gender perspective (1.1), linking budget analysis to a rights-based approach (1.2), presenting a functional framework from a functional chain perspective (1.3) and a frame for integrating GRB at different stages of the budget process (1.4). Subsequently, instruments and tools for gender responsive budget analysis and integration into budget processes are presented in chapters 2 and 3. The last chapter (chapter 4) captures the main overarching aspects and challenges in the context of GRB analysis, focusing on the transition from analysis to the relevant changes and transformations.

1. FRAMEWORK FOR LINKING BUDGETING WITH GENDER EQUALITY Government budgets affect people in multiple ways. How government budgets are set up and implemented, through raising revenue and spending money (public expenditure), has the potential to reduce or increase inequalities between women and men, intersecting with other categories (for example, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or place of residence) and to impact on gender relations. In terms of linking public budgets with gender equality issues, a series of different approaches and frameworks are available.

1.1. The Levels of Public Finance Analysis from a Gender Perspective Analysis of the impact of public finance and gender equality can take place at different levels of aggregation. At the highest level this involves theoretical and conceptual work and deconstruction. As has been pointed out in Part 1 (Chapter 3), integrating a gender perspective in macroeconomics involves challenging the conventional conceptions of what are economic activities. The picture has been enlarged by taking into account the unpaid economy, unpaid care work and so-called ‘reproductive’ work as productive activities and reconceptualising economic sectors and their interaction. In this way the economic models are rebuilt from a gender perspective. Efforts to build theoretical foundations for GRB have stressed the need to engender macroeconomic policies (Elson, Cagatay 2000 and Elson 2004) and macroeconomic models together with their theoretical assumptions. Early on, approaches to GRB were criticised for being too narrow and focusing on budgets without considering the wider macroeconomic picture (see Budlender 2002 p.85).

At the level of fiscal policy (the aggregate policy effects of public expenditure and public revenue with its stabilising focus) GRB analysis can be used to assess the effect of the overall budget strategy on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Some work has been done on the effects of fiscal policy at the aggregate level, especially in the context of fiscal retrenchments and restrictive fiscal policies. Examples include work in Switzerland (Bauer/ Baumann 1996), analyses by the UK Women’s Budget Group (e.g. Women’s Budget Group 2013) and increasingly work in the context of the current financial and economic crises (e.g., Klatzer/Schlager 2011, 2014, Young et al 2013, Karamessini/Rubery 2013).

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However, this work has not yet been attributed an established place in the context of GRB initiatives, especially if it is mainly focused on inside government GRB work.

The largest field of practical work on GRB is focused on sector, departmental or programme level analysis, looking particularly at expenditure and the delivery of services in specific sectors, sub-sectors and programmes. This is also the level at which many core analytical GRB tools (see Chapter 2) have focused.

Furthermore, at an even more disaggregated level, GRB analysis often focuses on specific budget items or funding for specific policy priorities.

With the introduction of more results oriented public finance management (PFM) approaches, GRB work has shifted its focus somewhat. As GRB ultimately focuses on achieving gender equality results, performance oriented approaches offer many opportunities for integration with gender responsive budgeting approaches (see Sharp 2003 and Chapter 1.3 below).

1.2. Categories for analysing the impact of public finance on gender equality To comprehensively analyse the impact of public finance on gender equality a multidimensional approach is necessary. It involves not only analysing budgets or specific expenditure or revenue items, but also a gender responsive analysis of policies, macroeconomic strategies as well as planning and budgeting processes.

Some of the main categories of GRB analysis are: • macroeconomic effects of the budget; • the budget in its entirety; • strategic policy planning and budget allocations; • budget and planning decision making processes; • programmes, projects and sectors; • public employment; • public services; • income transfers; • subsidies; • public investment e.g., infrastructure investments; • direct and indirect taxation; • changes in the tax system; and • user fees and duties.

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In each of these categories the most important elements of analysis are as follows: the impact on the situation of women and men and their wellbeing, the impact on employment, security and income; the impact on gendered power relations and the impact on the distribution of unpaid work as well as on social norms and stereotypes. More immediate impacts of resources spent on the provision of services, public employment, infrastructure and income transfers as well as the impact of revenue collected through taxation and other revenue measures can be observed. However, there are also more indirect impacts that are of equal importance. The macroeconomic effects of the budget are channelled via the impact of budget on creating employment and economic growth as well as inflation, all of which are gendered impacts (see Elson 2003 p.141).

1.3. Functional Framework for Relating Budget to Gender Equality A functional framework for relating budget to gender equality that has been widely used is to look at the chain of inputs, activities, outputs and impacts (see Elson, 2002, p.18). Each governmental unit or programme can be analysed by looking at planned and realised inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes (see Table 1 below).

Table 1: Functional framework for relating budget to gender equality Explanation

Examples

Focus of GRB analysis

Financial resources, personnel and other resources used to realise activities and outputs.

Teachers, expenditure on school equipment, school buildings and tax collection.

Are inputs adequate to achieve gender equality and/or other objectives?

Activities:

Services planned and delivered.

Teaching at schools, and health services.

Are activities designed to be equally appropriate for women and men and adequate to achieve gender equality or other objectives?

Outputs:

Planned and delivered utilisation of activities, such as goods and services.

Children attending or graduating from school, patients treated and taxes collected.

Are outputs distributed fairly between women and men and are they adequate to achieve gender equality or other objectives?

Outcomes:

Planned and actual achievements in the relation of broader objectives.

Literate people, healthy people, poverty reduction and increased employment.

Do planned and realised outcomes promote gender equality as well as other objectives?

Inputs:

Is there gender equality amongst personnel?

Source: adapted from Elson 2002 p.18.

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This framework can be used as a basis for structuring GRB analysis. The last column of the functional framework contained in Table 1 points to the overarching focus of gender responsive analysis. The tools presented in Chapter 2 offer specific analytical instruments for analysis of these aspects.

1.4. Gender Budget Analysis and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Until recently the areas of government budgets and human rights have been considered as separate spheres. Within GRB literature there is a strong emphasis on framing the debate in the context of women’s social and economic rights (e.g., Norton/Elson 2002, Budlender 2003, Elson 2006, Hofbauer 2000 and Vargas-Valente 2002). A rights based approach to the gender analysis of budgets enables the identification of gender inequalities within the budget process, allocations and outcomes and furthermore it enables an assessment of what states are required to do to address these inequalities (see Elson 2006 p.3).

The Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is the most important international source of women’s rights. As Elson (2006) points out, CEDAW “clearly set out a number of general principles (e.g., non-discrimination and equality) that are binding on states in the decisions they make about budgets (see Elson, 2006, p.13).

CEDAW requires the state to construct and implement government budgets in ways that respect, protect and fulfil human rights. Government budgets are indispensable for the realisation of human rights, which cannot be achieved without public expenditure and the allocation of public revenue required for financing state activities. CEDAW is not only about eliminating legal discrimination but also about eliminating de facto discrimination. It requires states to use a model of substantive equality.

From a rights perspective, the implications of public expenditure for gender equality require consideration of a number of issues (see Elson 146ff).

• Priority given to gender equality and the advancement of women in the distribution of public expenditure between programmes.

• Elimination of discrimination (in both policy and effect) against women in the distribution of public expenditure.

• Adequacy of public expenditure for the realisation of the obligation to achieve de facto gender equality.

• Gender equality in the impact of public expenditure to monitor how far obligations of results have been met.

• Gender equality to be furthered through public expenditure reform.

Equally, from the revenue side, a series of requirements can be derived from CEDAW in terms of the impact of tax laws to promote substantive equality (compare to Elson, 2006, 147ff). Recommendations include: • men’s share of aggregate tax payments should be at least equal to their share of income;

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• explicit discrimination should be eliminated through a reform of the tax law; • income tax system should be neutral in the burden of taxation on different types of family, irrespective of the marital status and sex of the partners; • income tax system should not perpetuate gender stereotypes in which men are expected to be the breadwinners and women the homemakers, but should support the modification of social and cultural patterns of conduct in ways that promote substantive equality; • VAT System should exempt basic necessities; and • no user fees for basic education and health services should be imposed.

CEDAW also has implications for the macroeconomics of the budget. Elson (2006) identifies the main implications as follows: • macroeconomic policy should support women’s right to equality in (paid) work on equal terms with men; • women should not suffer disproportionately if a budget deficit is reduced by cutting the level of public expenditure; and • macroeconomic policy should ensure the “full development and advancement of women”, taking into consideration women’s unpaid work as well as women’s paid work.

Budlender (2004) has elaborated very practical work in relation of CEDAW, which is intended to be used by NGOs and women’s organisations, by putting forward specific questions and suggesting a series of indicators for measuring the progress for each of the CEDAW articles.

1.5. Integrating GRB into the different Stages of the Budget Process In this chapter, a framework for integrating GRB into the different stages of the budget process is presented. It is helpful to use the budget cycle as a frame for highlighting how GRB activities can be linked to the different stages of the budget cycle.

In spite of the specifics of budgeting in each country context, in general the budget process can be described in four stages (for a discussion of the main features of the different stages of the budget process see Part I, Chapter I.6).

1. Budget formulation (or preparation) 2. Adoption (or enactment) of the budget 3. Execution and implementation of the budget 4. Budget control: Audit and evaluation In cases where there is a multiannual budget framework the process of planning, deciding, realising and auditing/evaluating of the framework, in principle, follows the above stages.

The multiannual budget framework represents an envelope for annual budgeting, mostly by

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defining the upper level limits for annual budget expenditure. In the subsequent discussion the multiannual budget framework is not explicitly discussed; however, opportunities for GRB are discussed in the annual budget process and they also apply to this level.

Here the stylised model of the four main stages of the budget process is used to discuss how GRB can be linked to the different stages of the budget process as well as to show the range of possibilities of how to carry out GRB work throughout the budget cycle (based on Sharp (2003) (see figure 1). The institutionalisation of gender equality issues into one or more stages of the budget cycle is important for achieving a more systematic and ongoing implementation of gender equality perspectives in the context of the budget.

Figure 1: Stages of the budget process

Source: Sharp (2003), p.70.

At each of the four stages, different opportunities for integrating GRB into the budget process exist. What follows is a brief description of the main activities taking place at the different stages of the budget process and the identification of possibilities for GRB activities at each stage (compare to Sharp 2003 70ff).

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Integrating GRB at the Budget Formulation Stage At the stage of budget formulation a series of activities take place to plan and prepare the budget. At this stage important opportunities do occur to ensure the systematic integration of gender issues into the budget formulation. The main activities typically carried out at this stage of the budget process are: • highest level objectives are determined by the government; • budget parameters are modelled and set by the ministry of finance or economy; • government policy directions and priorities are articulated; • budget call or budget circular is issues by the ministry or department of finance; • sector priorities are established by the sectoral departments and ministries; • output costs are estimated; • budget allocations are negotiated by the ministry or department of finance with the sector ministries; and • draft budget is approved by the government and sent to the Parliament.

All these activities offer potential for the integration of GRB. The main possible entry points at this stage are as follows: • highest level objectives and priorities include gender equality objectives and are formulated in a gender sensitive manner; • budget call circular is issued by the ministry or department of finance to all line ministries/departments and includes the request for the line ministries to integrate gender responsive budgeting into their budget submissions; • sectoral ministries or departments provide information on the gender impact of programmes respective to the budget items in their submission of budget material. In the case of performance budgeting this involves the specification of gender responsive objectives, activities and measures as well as milestones and indicators; • sectoral ministries or departments prepare gender budget analyses of the main programmes and policies that are to be included as part of the budget material; and • preparation of the gender budget statement as part of the budget material.

Although preparations for the budget take place inside government, with the finance ministry, line ministries, the government and top public officials as the key players, there are also different possibilities for academics and civil society to carry out activities within the context of GRB at this stage. Researchers can use gender sensitive models to prepare forecasts for budget parameters and provide gender sensitive research as a basis for setting high level objectives and priorities. The budget preparation stage presents an important opportunity for lobbying and advocacy for different government institutions to include priorities from a gender perspective in policy planning and budgeting.

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Integrating GRB at the Budget Approval Stage The approval of the budget takes place in the parliament. This stage of the budget process normally gets a lot of attention from the media and thus it is an opportunity to bring budget and GRB issues to the attention of the public. The main activities typically carried out at this stage of the budget process are as follows: • budget is presented to parliament by the minister of finance; • budget speech of the minister of finance; • interrogation and debate by the legislature in the plenary and by commissions; • information is provided to the media and other stakeholders; • budget accepted (or rejected); and • legislative accountability of the government for revenue and expenditure.

Again, the activities at this stage do offer potential entry points for integrating GRB. Some of the main possible entry points at this stage are as follows: • material presented to the parliament by the government includes information on gender issues; • finance minister can incorporate specific focus on GRB and gender equality in his/her budget speech; • hearings on the impact of budget on gender equality during the budget debate involving civil society and independent researchers; • discussion between parliamentarians and civil society on the gender equality priorities to be raised in the budget debate; • parliament can make changes to budget allocations e.g., to better meet the needs of women and ensure sufficient funding for gender equality objectives; • civil society can lobby for increases in budget allocations for items of particular importance to women and gender equality; • civil society actors can provide briefings on the impact of gender equality on budgets and other issues related to the budget debate; • civil society and/or researchers can present an alternative gender responsive budget; • focus on public relations work to inform the broader public about the impact of the budget on women and men and the importance of GRB; • public scrutiny and debate concerning gender equality in the budget; and • cooperation with the media and other information providers to provide them with relevant information and enhance their reporting on the gender aspects of the budget.

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Key players at this stage are parliamentarians and the finance minister (and possibly other ministries); however, there is ample room for civil society, the media and researchers to become active at this stage. Public attention tends to be high at this stage and this can be used to highlight gender equality issues within the context of budget policies.

Integrating GRB at the Budget Execution and Implementation of Policies Stage The budget execution stage involves implementation of the policies and budgets that were approved earlier during the budget year. Yet there is still room for GRB, because what is crucial at this stage is how budgets and policies are implemented e.g., how services are delivered and how investments are actually made. The main activities typically carried out at this stage of the budget process are as follows: • implementation of policies/programmes by the line ministries and government agencies; • services delivered and investments undertaken; • expenditure monitored; • performance measured; and • accountability documented.

Again, the stage of budget and policy execution offers potential for the integration of GRB. The main possible entry points at this stage are the following: • gender aware components of policy implementation/programmes; • gender sensitive performance objective/indicators; • collection of gender disaggregated data; • gender analysis as a basis for the implementation of policies; • involvement of beneficiaries in improving the quality of service delivery; and • reporting that includes the gender indicators and information on the impact of policies/ programmes on gender equality.

The key actors at this stage of budget and policy implementation are the line ministries and government agencies, whereby civil servants responsible for the delivery of different services and government tasks have a large role to play. The private sector can also play a role when the delivery of certain tasks is contracted out. The finance ministry plays an important role in releasing funds and, dependent on the country specific regulations, can also sometimes approve larger projects. At this stage the engagement of civil society can be in the context of service delivery, as actors who are active in monitoring service delivery, but also in asking for accountability. In order to fully implement GRB incorporating the perspective of potential and actual beneficiaries of government services is also of importance.

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Integrating GRB at the Budget Audit and Evaluation Stage Audit and evaluation of the budget is carried out after the budget year has ended and usually involves independent auditing institutions. The main activities typically carried out at this stage of the budget process are as follows: • fiscal performance is evaluated; • formal auditing and reporting to the legislature; • evaluation of the results (achievement of outcomes); and • formal performance reporting to the legislature (annual reports).

Often uncertainties exist as to whether GRB can be integrated at this stage, because there is limited understanding of what auditing and evaluation actually entails and it is wrongly reduced to mere financial auditing. As the activities at this stage go far beyond financial auditing, especially if some element of performance budgeting is being implemented, there is potential to integrate GRB activities at this stage as well. The main possible entry points are the following: • gender sensitive audit mechanism; • gender sensitive evaluation criteria; • performance reporting including information on gender equality performance; and • debate on the achievement of gender equality when the audit is presented to parliament.

The key players at the auditing and evaluation stage are the auditing agencies, the government and line ministries that carry out (internal and external) audits and evaluations as well as the parliament, which receives and debates the respective reports. Civil society can take up an active role at this stage by fulfilling a monitoring role and by demanding accountability.

Within the context of the entry points for GRB discussed in this chapter, a series of different analytical instruments and tools can be used. The following chapter presents the main instruments and methods for the analysis of budgets, policies and processes from a gender perspective.

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2. INSTRUMENTS AND METHODS FOR ANALYSING BUDGETS, POLICIES AND PROCESSES In the context of GRB, gender budget analyses are crucial for showing how budgets affect women and men by intersecting with other categories, for example, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, place of residence and how budgets impact on gender relations. A broad range of tools and instruments have been developed to analyse the gendered impact of budgets. This chapter discusses gender responsive budget analysis and approaches within the context of budget policy and the budget process.

2.1. Overview of Tools and Approaches One of the core elements of activities within the context of GRB is gender budget analysis, which provides evidence on how budgets and policies impact on the situation of girls/women and boys/men respectively as well as different groups among them and its impact on gender in/equalities or gender relations. In the nineteen nineties a group of feminist economists, among them Diane Elson, Rhonda Sharp and Debbie Budlender, developed a set of tools to analyse budgets from a gender perspective. The experiences of this initial gender sensitive budget work were an important source of inspiration for the development and refinement of the respective tools. UNIFEM (2005) points out that the availability of such a set of tools and the dissemination of experience opened the road for gender equality advocates and development practitioners to raise awareness on the limitations of existing economic policy making models. These tools provide generic methodologies that can be applied both jointly and individually to provide data to better inform policy makers and support civil society demands for a more equitable distribution of government resources and the more effective implementation of women’s rights. These methodologies have been the main driving force behind the increased momentum around gender budgeting and they have been used and adapted by advocates of gender equality to examine government budgets and advocate for more responsive budgets (UNIFEM, 2005, p.1). For a background discussion on the tools and instruments for gender responsive budget analysis see part II, Chapter 2.4.

The original tools (compare to Budlender/Sharp 1998; Elson 1997 and 1999 and UNIEM 2005) comprised the following: • gender aware public policy appraisal; • gender disaggregated public expenditure benefit incidence analysis; • gender aware beneficiary assessment; • gender disaggregated analysis of the impact of budgets on time use; • gender disaggregated tax incidence analysis; and • gender aware medium term macroeconomic policy framework.

Another tool developed within this context is the Gender Aware Budget Statement, which is less of an instrument of analysis and more of a means of presenting analysis and

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of government accountability; therefore it is discussed in Section 3, which discusses the approaches to integrating GRB into the budget decision making process.

The names of the tools differ somewhat in the literature and these different terms are referred to in the context of the detailed descriptions below. Tthis is not an exhaustive list of the analytical tools. In the context of GRB work these tools have often been used, but some more than others. In the context of practical work these tools have been adapted and changed and other tools developed. The following tools in particular are used more widely in gender budget work: • costing of policies and programmes of high relevance to women and girls; and • gender aware analysis of the budgetary decision making process.

The choice of tools used in an analysis depends on the objectives of the gender budget work, but is also influenced by the availability of data, the expertise of the relevant personnel, time constraints and other resources such as access computers (see Budlender/Sharp, 1998, p.37).

A very useful approach was developed during the Australian analysis to illustrate how important it is to look at the overall budget and not only at expenditure devoted to women or to gender equality.

This is the so-called three-way categorisation of expenditure.

This three-way categorisation of expenditure is aimed at showing explicitly how small the budget share going to women and gender specific expenditure is. It was first introduced in 1985 in the South Australian women’s budget (Sharp and Broomhill 1998), as an internal government initiative (see Part IV for a presentation of the Australian experience). Agencies were asked to report on their global budget according to whether the expenditure and programmes were for: 1. expenditure specifically targeted at women and girls; 2. equal employment opportunity expenditure for civil servants; or 3. general or mainstream expenditure.

Examples of category 1 – expenditure specifically targeted at women and girls – include women’s employment programmes, women’s health programmes and support for women’s NGOs. Category 2 – equal employment opportunity expenditure for civil servants – comprises expenditure for the promotion of equal opportunity employment within public administration, e.g., specialised training focused on female employees or female mentoring programmes. In category 3 – general or mainstream expenditure – all expenditure that is not specifically targeted at women and girls or for gender equality is grouped together. The latter category thus represents the overwhelming part of general expenditure.

This approach enables a quantitative assessment of the share of government expenditure targeted at women and girls relative to non-targeted indirect or general expenditure. In the case of the early Australian analysis this approach revealed that the category general or mainstream expenditure, “expenditure averaged 99% or more of the total budget of the

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participating agencies (see Sharp and Broomhill 1990 p.3). More specifically, expenditure specifically targeted at women and girls in the community and equal opportunity expenditure within the public service, which included funding for the women’s machinery within government, were small: amounted to less than 1% of the total budget of the selected government agencies.

As such, the categorisation of expenditure is a justification for gender responsive budget analysis because it well illustrates that there is a need to shift the focus from women or gender specific expenditure to mainstream expenditure. It is necessary to look at the whole budget in order to be able to mobilise resources for change. This approach in itself is not a sufficient analysis, but has been very important to inform about the proportions within budget allocations and can still be a very useful starting point for analytical work.

With regard to the presentation of these tools for gender budget analysis, it has to be kept in mind that GRB is not only about analysing specific expenditure and revenue items or programmes but also about assessing the impact of the budget on gender equality objectives as a whole (see Elson 2002 p.26).

2.2. Presentation of the Main Tools and Instruments for Gender Budget Analysis This chapter presents the different tools for gender budget analysis by following a similar structure. Starting with an explanation of the tools and their aim the contexts in which the tools can be used is explained together with what information or data is needed, which actors are most likely to use them and at which stages of the budget process they are useful and can be applied. Furthermore, specific examples from GRB initiatives are presented to illustrate the practical use of the tools.

2.2.1. Gender Aware Public Policy Appraisal The aim of gender aware policy appraisals – also called ‘gender aware policy evaluation of public expenditure by sector’ – is “to evaluate the policies that underlie budget appropriations in order to identify their likely impact on men and women” (see Elson 1999 p.5) and to question the assumption that policies are gender neutral in their effects. The main question is whether policies and the respective resource allocations are likely to reduce, increase or leave unchanged the degree and pattern of gender differences. This is an analytical approach that involves scrutinising the policies of different portfolios and programmes by paying attention to the implicit and explicit gender issues involved (UNIFEM 2005). It also involves linking the policy analysis to resource allocations.

This tool is appropriate for delivering a broad picture of the gender implications of a certain policy and there are extensive variations on how this tool can be used. To a large extent it depends on what data and information is available. A gender aware policy appraisal involves the development of an analysis that provides an understanding of the policy’s gendered implications. This is achieved through the identification of the implicit and explicit gender issues, the corresponding resource allocations and an assessment of whether the policy will

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continue or change the existing inequalities between men and women (and groups of men and women) and patterns of gender relations (see Budlender and Sharp 1998 p.38).

There is a variation of methods for conducting this type of analysis, such as: • a narrative of policies and policy changes and their expected outputs and outcomes for women and men; • a checklist of questions for assessing the policy, including checking the gendered assumptions of the policy against the evidence; and • a performance approach that analyses the aims and performance objectives from a gender perspective and evaluates the results.

A weakness of the gender aware policy appraisal tool, which relates to its level of aggregation, is that the “nature and scale of the links in the causal chain cannot be predicted with accuracy” (see Elson 1999 p.5). Thus, it is advantageous for different stakeholders to conduct gender aware policy appraisals through an open and consultative process.

This tool is being used by different actors inside and outside of government. The depth of analysis depends on the availability of data and information. A gender aware policy appraisal can give an overview of the gender implications of policies and often serves for subsequent more detailed analysis. It is often used as a starting point for analytical work. Given the level of uncertainty concerning the causal chain, Diane Elson recommends a two pronged approach in order to ensure objectivity. She recommends gender aware policy appraisal work to be done by governmental institutions and to be published, for example, in annex to the budget statement and that at the same time NGOs and research institutions carry out independent evaluations (see Elson 1999 p.6).

The gender aware policy appraisal approach to analysing policies and programmes from a gender perspective creates a strong link between policy and resource allocation; this approach was used in the early GRB activities in South Africa. When conducting a gender aware policy appraisal the below 5-step approach has been used there (see Budlender 2012: 13f).

1. Situation analysis 2. Policy/programme analysis 3. Analysis of budget allocations 4. Monitoring of service delivery and budget spending 5. Assessment of the impact or outcomes Step 1, the situation analysis, involves an analysis of the situation of women, men and girls and boys as well as their sub-groups in a given sector and the identification of possible gender issues. Amongst others, the aspects that are looked into are the socioeconomic situation of women and men (for example, the different dimensions of poverty and the situation in male and female headed households), the different roles of women and men (Who does what, when and where?), the different tasks of women and men and the issues of access to

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and control over resources (land, money, new technology, training possibilities and access to markets). The latter includes the different constraints placed on women and men, differences in income and time use, namely the time spent by women and men and different groups of women and men on various activities.

The second step, an analysis of policies and programmes, involves an assessment of whether and to what extent government policies, programmes and projects as well as activities address the gender situation (identified gender gaps). Some of the relevant questions asked are listed below.

• Are gender equality measures included in policies/programmes?

• Do policies address the identified gender issues/ gaps?

• Do policies recognise the possible differences in needs and priorities of (certain groups of) women and men?

• Are men and women equally involved in policy development?

Step 3 links policy analysis to budget allocation, using an assessment of whether budget allocations are adequate to meet the objectives and implement gender responsive policies, programmes, activities and projects.

Step 4 focuses on monitoring and auditing the ‘outputs’ delivered and whether the budget was spent as allocated. Thus in this step, budget spending on different services, investment, transfers etc., is examined and short term outputs of expenditure and service delivery are assessed in order to evaluate how resources are actually spent and how policies and programmes are implemented.

The step 5, an assessment of the impact or outcomes, focuses on an assessment of the longer term impact or outcomes of policies and their related expenditure and focuses on an appraisal of whether policies and financial allocations actually lead to a reduction in the gender gaps identified through step 1 and whether this has led to an improvement in gender equality.

Example of a gender aware policy appraisal: analysing the new healthcare policy in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia In the early stages of GRB implementation in FYR Macedonia a gender aware appraisal of the new healthcare policy was carried out with the objective of demonstrating and promoting the value of gender sensitive analysis in budget and policy making for ensuring the more equitable distribution of government resources. The presentation of this example is taken from UNIFEM (2007) and CRPM 2008).

This specific new healthcare policy was analysed using a broad gender aware policy appraisal approach. The so-called Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) is a medical cost reimbursement method used to rationalise hospital services by regulating the duration of patient stay in public hospitals. Several countries have utilised various forms of the DGR method, usually as part of government efforts to control public spending and increase the efficiency of the management of public funds.

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With similar intent, the Ministry of Health in Macedonia introduced DRG in 2008.

Yet the gender implications of DRG have not been analysed by the policy makers involved in its design. Based on experience in other countries, the working hypothesis of this research and analysis was that the introduction of the DRG measure will inevitably decrease the length of stay in Macedonian hospitals/clinics and that the recovery and therefore care work for the ill will transfer from the public sphere (hospitals) to the private sphere (households).

This will eventually create savings in the public health system but will cause a corresponding increase in unpaid care work performed in Macedonian households.

When hospitalisation is reduced there is a shift from institutional to home care and it is women who often take on the care giving role for ill and recovering family members.

Women’s unpaid care work in the household remains ‘invisible’ in terms of economic indicators and national accounts and is therefore often ignored by policy makers. This often results in the reinforcement of traditional gender roles and can lead to ‘false economy’ where there is a transfer of costs from visible monetary budgets in the public sector to the time budgets of women in families and communities. The consequence is the potential deterioration of human capital, especially amongst women.

Research tools used in this study to estimate who is most affected by the shift that is emerging as a result of the introduction of DRG, included a time use survey of case study families who care for ill family member(s) discharged from DRG implementing hospitals and a nationwide survey of care work, including care for the ill; a desktop review of the legislative and policy framework of the health sector, as well as an analysis of the DRG system and unpaid work.

The evidence gathered through this research shows that with the introduction of the DRG payment system at the hospital level of healthcare the average length of stay of patients in hospitals has indeed decreased. By using the DRG payment tool the study offered sound estimates on the savings to the health system, which amounted to approximately 34% of the Ministry of Health’s annual budget. It confirmed the hypothesis that there is a link between the DRG system and unpaid care work as it was shown that care work as part of domestic work increased once the system came into use, even though it was not yet at full capacity.

The results of both the time use survey and nationwide survey of care work demonstrated that the burden of care work was disproportionately shared amongst female and male family members. Women spent 51% more time on unpaid care work for ill family members than men (6 hours during weekends as compared to 3 hours for men). This unpaid care work does not contribute to the country’s GDP, although the study estimated that its value was equivalent to the part-time salary of a nurse.

The burden of care work taken on by women had an effect on their professional and personal life. Women tended to decrease their working hours and therefore earned less in their formal employment, or even quit their job; they had less time for themselves and in particular for their children.

As a result the analysis demonstrated that the DRG policy was a budgetary tool that was not gender neutral. It created significant gender inequality and did not contribute to the much needed change in patriarchal attitudes and deep-rooted stereotypes regarding the roles and responsibilities of women and men within the family and society in Macedonian.

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Amongst the policy recommendations provided by the study to the Ministry of Health and the Health Insurance Fund to ease the implementation of the DRG policy measure and to achieve the genuine objectives of improved hospital efficiency and effectiveness but at the same time neutralising the gender implications of the DRG system were the following: • inform citizens about the benefits and also the expected impact of the new payment system on the average length of stay in hospital and the transfer of recovery from hospital to the home; • invest in improving the existing home care system and develop new services that will ease the burden of unpaid care work for Macedonian families; • change the Law on healthcare and allow for treatment to be provided at the primary level; • open more daily hospitals throughout the country; • place the obligation on hospitals to ensure that there is follow-up care (referrals back to primary level facilities for further recovery); • policy makers should take into account the newly emerging need for care (under the DRG system) for medical recovery in particular by looking into the possibilities for expanding this social scheme as one policy solution to overcome patient dissatisfaction and to address the increased burden of care placed on women in the household; and • consider utilising part of the savings that will emerge from the introduction of the DRG payment system for improving the system of home care. In this way a holistic approach to healthcare can be provided and overall efficiency and effectiveness improved as opposed to merely transferring care work from the public sector to families. This would also address the issue of the added burden of unpaid care work for women and reduce the tendency to take it for granted that women will bear this burden.

2.2.2. Gender Disaggregated Incidence Analysis of Public Expenditure Gender disaggregated public Expenditure Incidence Analysis (EIA), also called benefit incidence analysis of public spending, is aimed at analysing the extent to which women and men, girls and boys benefit from public expenditure (see Elson 1999 p.3). This analytical technique analyses how public expenditure for a given programme is allocated to beneficiaries from a gender perspective. It is intended to reveal the distribution of expenditure between women and men, girls and boys. This quantitative tool can be used to assess the distribution of direct payments (financial benefits and transfers) or public services provided.

Expenditure Incidence Analysis depends on the allocation of public expenditure for the provision of public services and the behaviour of households in utilising public services (see Elson 1999 p.3). Important work on developing this instrument has been pioneered by Demery (e.g., 2002). In order to carry out this type of analysis quantitative data about the beneficiaries (e.g., the number of individuals by sex utilising or consuming specific public services or receiving financial transfers) and unit cost of providing the public services is

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required. Regarding the unit of reference for which the incidence is calculated, at either the individual or household level, the possibilities for calculation depend on the availability of data on the users of public services or recipients of cash transfers.

The calculation of the incidence of public expenditure of a particular service can be calculated by multiplying the unit cost of providing a particular service by the number of units utilised or consumed by women and men (or girls and boys).

As is also the case with other instruments, it is important to note that mere disaggregation between women and men is only the starting point and might prove to be too aggregate as it could hide a lot of the differences respective to women and men. So it is important to use cross-sectoral data sets wherever possible. Thus, the final step of the analysis involves aggregating individuals or households into subgroups in order to be able to assess how the public expenditure is distributed across different groups of women and men (Austen/Costa/ Sharp/Elson 2013). The most common variable used, among others, to form these groups is income; other cross-sectoral analysis of importance may include ethnicity, age and geographic location (e.g. urban/rural).

Thus, application of this tool is very much determined by the availability of quantitative data in order to accurately calculate or estimate the unit costs of specific public services and the utilization of these services. Data on service utilisation can be gathered from different sources, e.g., household surveys, information from the ministries providing the services or research reports. Given the crucial importance of the relevant data for using this tool it is an approach more often used for internal government analysis or analysis used by research institutions.

In their gender disaggregated EIA study of the Pacific country of Timor-Leste Austen, Costa, Sharp and Elson (2013) argued that this tool can provide a ‘headline’ indicator for showing the gender gap in government spending on basic education in state schools; according to their study, rural girls were the most disadvantaged with respect to public spending relative to their population share. They concluded that while the EIA can be useful in highlighting the initial gap further gender analysis is required to assess what policies and programmes are needed to fill the spending gap and promote gender equality. “Its potential can only be fulfilled when it is combined with additional gender analysis” (Austen/Costa/Sharp/Elson 2014). Furthermore, the authors argued that the creation of links between relevant GRB research findings and policy changes requires a strong understanding of the budgetary decision making process. Thus, it is important to emphasise that the best use of gender disaggregated Expenditure Incidence Analysis is in the broader context of gender analysis of budgets and budget processes.

Example of gender disaggregated Expenditure Incidence Analysis of active labour market policies in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Serbia Subsequently, the gender budget analysis of training services for unemployed in the context of the so-called Integrated Qualification Scheme (IQS) of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is presented here. The gender disaggregated expenditure incidence analysis was used in the context of a broader methodology, combining a number of different analytical tools. A complete report on the activities can be found in Provincial Secretariat (2009).

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The objective of the IQS programme was to provide support and to stimulate the development of training centres for training the unemployed to return to the labour market and for people planning to start their own business with the aim of making them more competitive.

The programme activities were comprised of computer skills training (basic computer skills and several specialised computer skills trainings) as well as training for beginner entrepreneurs. The analysis began with an analysis of the criteria for participating in the programme as well as collecting information on the target group. The detailed results of this work are not presented here due to limited space but, in brief there were considerable gender differences amongst the employed and unemployed (22% unemployment rate for women compared to 15% for men: women constituted the majority of long-term unemployed persons) as well as entrepreneurs (23% women compared to 77% men) become visible (all data was for 2006).

One of the two essential data requirements for a gender disaggregated incidence analysis of public expenditure in the area of providing training services was the number of women and men participating in the trainings. This gender disaggregated data on the users of services was important for carrying out the analysis. The number of participants in the different types of training is shown in this example as disaggregated according to sex (see the following table).

Table 2: Trainings Participants according to the type of training disaggregated by sex Training type

Training sessions

Participants

Women

Share of women

Men

Share of men

For the unemployed

48

504

320

63%

184

37%

1. Basic computer skills

19

240

198

82%

42

18%

2. Specialised computer training

29

264

122

46%

142

54%

For beginner entrepreneurs

11

255

107

42%

148

58%

Source: Provincial Secretariat (2009).

The second essential data required to carry out the gender disaggregated incidence analysis of public expenditure was the unit cost of providing the service. In this case, this was the cost of the training provided per participant. This could be calculated by obtaining information on the overall cost of the different types of training, including the trainers, facilities, material etc. Based on the information on the overall cost of a training course, the average unit cost of the different types of training could easily be calculated by dividing the overall training expenditure for a particular course by the number of participants. Equally it was possible to determine the expenditure spent on women and men that participating in the training.

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As the following table shows, the unit cost varied according to the different types of training.

The cost of training per participant was lowest for basic computer training and highest for specialised computer training in AutoCAD. Table 3: Unit cost of IQS training services according to the different types of training Training type

Cost per participant (in RSD)

Basic computer skills

12,575

Specialised computer training: web design

40,714

Specialised computer training: AutoCAD

48,060

Beginner entrepreneurs: managing and improving business

21,210

Based on the data contained in Table 2 (number of female and male participants in different trainings) and Table 3 (unit cost of different trainings), the incidence can be calculated by multiplying the unit cost by the number of women and men. The results of the calculation are shown in table 4 below.

Table 4: Distribution of resources - the cost of the training according to training type and the average cost of training per participant (women and men) Training type

Cost per participant

Women

Men

(in RSD)

RSD spent on women (in 1,000s)

RSD spent on men (in 1,000s)

Basic computer skills

12,575

198

42

2,490

528

Specialised computer training:

40,714

42

48

1,710

1,954

Specialised computertraining: AutoCAD

48,060

22

46

1,057

2,210

Beginner entrepreneurs: managing and improving business

21,210

100

140

2,120

2,970

362

276

7,377

7,662

20

28

Web design

Total Average expenditure per women/men Source: Provincial Secretariat (2009).

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The cost of training per participant was the lowest for basic computer training, a training in which predominantly women participated. Total spending on women for basic computer skills trainings was much higher. The specialised trainings where a far higher share of men participated were much more expensive, leading to a higher share of the budgets being devoted to men for specialised training. So overall it is no surprise that even though more women participated in the training activities, the total expenditure (incidence of expenditure) for the men who participated was higher than the spending for the female participants.

In terms of average expenditure, calculated as total expenditure for women respectively for men divided by the number of women respectively men participating, the expenditure per women was lower (around 20,000 RSD) than for men (around 28,000 RSD).

The example presented above to illustrate how Expenditure Incidence Analysis can be done in practice was the core of a broader analysis documented in Provincial Secretariat (2009, p.38ff). This study shows the benefits of using gender disaggregated EIA in combination with other analyses for GRB. In this case the study was combined with a broader situational analysis and elements of a gender aware beneficiary assessment (see Chapter 2: 2.3) involving the organisation of focus groups to learn more from the perspective of the beneficiaries and also from the service providers.

2.2.3. Gender Aware Beneficiary Assessment The aim of a gender aware – or also called gender disaggregated – beneficiary assessment is “to collect and analyse the opinions of women and men on how far current forms of public service delivery meet their needs and how far the current patterns of public expenditure accord with their priorities” (see Elson 1999 p.1). This research technique is used to ask actual or potential beneficiaries the extent to which government policies and programmes match their priorities.

The range of methods for obtaining information about the perception of actual and potential beneficiaries is broad, ranging from quantitative tools (opinion polls, attitude surveys etc.) to qualitative methods (e.g., participatory appraisal processes, focus group discussions and participant observations) to methods using a mix of quantitative and qualitative aspects (e.g. interviews). What is essential is to make certain that these different types of beneficiary assessments are gender disaggregated and possibly also disaggregated by other dimensions, such as rural/urban, class and age, depends on the purpose of the survey. The choice of methods has to take into account the different quality of results. Whereas, for example, opinion polls can lead to statistically representative results this method does not allow for a discussion process and social learning. On the other hand, qualitative instruments involving, for example, discussions and participatory assessments do involve a reflexive learning process but do not lead to statistically significant results. Thus, apart from the question of available resources, the choice of methods involves a weighting between statistical representativeness and quantitative results compared to the importance of discursive participatory elements with more qualitative information.

Gender aware beneficiary assessment is a tool which allows the voice of the citizen to be heard (see Budlender and Sharp 1998 p.41). It can focus on specific services, overall priorities regarding budget allocations or on the links between revenue and expenditure. Potential

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and actual beneficiaries can be asked a range of questions concerning how they perceive the services delivered and whether and how they meet their needs and preferences. Apart from the assessment of concrete services, the approach can also be used to ask people about the allocation of budgets for different public tasks. In addition, regarding the trade-off between expenditure and revenue, the opinion of beneficiaries can be assessed by, for example, asking people whether they would be ready to pay more taxes in order to increase the provision of public goods and services or whether they want tax cuts despite the accompanying reductions in the provision of public goods and services.

The beneficiary assessments can be carried out by government agencies or by groups outside government, such as civil society or researchers. The contexts under which it can be used are very broad, ranging from public administration wanting to improve service delivery to civil society groups wanting to focus attention on gaps in service delivery that do not meet the specific needs of women or men.

An example of a gender aware beneficiary assessment of rural development and agriculture policies carried out in Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina A gender disaggregated beneficiary assessment was used in combination with other methods in a GRB analysis of rural development and the agricultural sector of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other methods included a gender aware policy appraisal of the sector using Budlender’s five step framework (see UNIFEM 2010 40ff; Rokvic 2009). The gender disaggregated beneficiary assessment was adapted to reflect the time and funding constraints of the research project. A focus group meeting for representatives of a rural women’s association was the main method used to gain an insight into the needs of women living in rural areas, the challenges these women face and the gaps they experienced in accessing services. The main topics discussed by the focus group (see Robvic 2009, 73ff) were as follows: • rural women and the quality of life in rural areas; • training needed by rural women; and • rural women in agriculture and forestry, with a focus on improving women’s access to information and technology, funds and participation in the market.

It turned out that the needs of rural women did not receive sufficient attention in activities and policies of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management. It was highlighted that gender friendly policies could have a huge impact on transforming their lives and those of communities at large.

Women comprise more than half of the population in the rural areas of Republika Srpska (RS) and represent the most valuable part of society through the many roles they perform in the care economy, as mothers and housewives, and in the paid economy as a skilled labour force for agricultural production. The results (see Rokvic 2009 67ff) highlighted the following: • Women in rural areas were exposed to poverty and a difficult economic situation because they were limited in more ways than men when it came to making a living. The main factors that affected their chances of participating in the labour market were their

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dispossession of productive resources like land ownership, difficulties in accessing the market, the burden of housework and the education of children, old age and lower levels of education that are characteristic of women in rural areas of RS. • Due to the different roles that women played in agricultural production and rural development their contribution to the development of these sectors was fundamental.

Women played a major role in food production and influenced the choice of foods used to prepare family meals and took care of their health and wellbeing. They were a crucial source of labour for agricultural production, mainly in the areas of the management of production and the marketing of products on the market. However, their limited access to and use of new information and technology and in the use of basic infrastructure hampered development in rural areas.

• The main limitations women faced in terms of their participation in agricultural production and rural development related to their access to resources, particularly their dispossession of the means of production and the uneven distribution of the home budget that allocated women a far lower proportion of means to tackle their needs and interests.

Moreover, the fact that their presence in the agricultural economic sector was greater at the production level and lower in marketing lessened their access to the market for agricultural products. In addition, their lack of information on markets, loans and new technologies and their limited access to financial and credit caused by the non-existence of liquidity created a serious hindrance on the path of economic development. Equally important was the low level of participation of women in the life of rural communities in relation to counselling and decision making on investments in infrastructure as well as their low level of participation in manufacturing organisations, which further reduced their chances to improve their potential for success in the agricultural economy.

• It was difficult for them to gain access to funds available in the budget for agriculture and rural development. They needed better information to be able to educate themselves in order to participate in the decision making process on investment in their community.

• Although the Ministry organised consultative meetings with beneficiary organisations during the budget drafting process the representatives of the most vulnerable beneficiary groups, including women in rural areas, were usually not members of these organisations. That meant that they were left out of the discussion process.

• There was no direct discrimination against women in rural areas from the point of view of access to funds, but, nonetheless and taking into account all of the limitations that women face in rural areas, there were numerous examples of indirect discrimination and aggravating circumstances.

• The Ministry had only one special measure to support women’s associations in rural areas and no other programmes or instruments for education, information or the encouragement of women to use subsidy funds.

• The criteria for production and income support in agriculture and rural development related to the volume of production and therefore favoured commercial producers.

Since there were more women than men who did not meet the standards these criteria were questionable from a gender point of view.

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As a result of this analysis and other ongoing efforts by Republika Srpska changes were proposed and incorporated into the newly developed Rural Development and Agriculture Strategy Action Plan. These included, amongst others, gender disaggregated data collection per programme, special measures to improve the living conditions of women and youth in rural areas and special measures to stimulate rural entrepreneurship amongst women (see UNIFEM 2010 p.42).

2.2.4. Gender Disaggregated Analysis of the Impact of Public Expenditure on Time Use A gender disaggregated analysis of the impact of the budget on time use looks at the relationship between the national budget and the way time is used in households or by individuals. This is aimed at revealing the macroeconomic implications of unpaid work in social reproduction e.g., the time devoted to caring for family and community members, cooking, cleaning, teaching children etc. (see Elson 1999 p.9), while the aim is to ensure that the time spent by women in unpaid work is accounted for in policy analysis.

The question is how budget expenditure and the respective changes in expenditure allocations affect the time budget of women and men. The collection of information on how women and men use their time is necessary in order to use this tool. An important source of information on time use data are the time use surveys that are disaggregated by gender and other variables like age, household size and the number of children, which are carried out by the statistical offices. In order to analyse the implications of specific services on the time budget of women and men other forms of information collection should also be applied, for example, the use of time-sheets used by women and men involved in specific activities.

Elson (1999 9f) suggests different approaches to reveal the connections between the government’s budget and household’s time budgets, namely: • the calculation of a “reproductive tax” defined as the proportion of a person’s time spent on unpaid reproductive work in order to maintain society. Changes in reproduction tax could be linked to changes in other taxes; • the calculation of social sector input/output matrices that include unpaid care work as an input and output as well as social sector public expenditure; and • the calculation of household expenditure of time and money on services including health, education, sanitation and transport. Changes in time expenditure could then be linked to changes in public expenditure.

Furthermore, this work can be linked to the long standing demand from feminist movements to account for unpaid work by giving it a monetary value in the form of satellite accounts in gross domestic product (GDP) calculations to calculate the “gross household product”. This would enable policy makers to establish a link between changes to the gross household product and gross domestic product.

As this tool involves a large degree of quantitative analysis, it is used more frequently by analytical departments within public administration or by independent research institutions

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that carry out analyses into the impact of specific policies or the budget on time use and on unpaid work. Through their initiatives civil society actors do play an important role in inducing the systematic collection of time use data by conducting time use surveys and advocating and lobbying for the construction of satellite accounts. Civil society actors can also contribute to focusing attention on the relevance of unpaid work by carrying out time use studies for selected case studies or pilot studies to produce rough estimates on the volume of unpaid work or the implications of budget changes in terms of increasing or decreasing the amount of unpaid work.

Example of gender disaggregated analysis of the impact of public expenditure on time use by making visible the amount of unpaid women’s work within the context of the ‘A Glass of Milk Programme’ in Villa El Salvador in Peru As a variation of the analysis of public expenditure on time use, the specific impact of individual programmes and policies on unpaid work can be analysed. Public budgets are often supported by unpaid work, especially the generally ‘invisible’ unpaid work of women. The purpose of this example is to illustrate the extent to which the public budget might be supported by unpaid work. There are various ways in which budgets are supported by unpaid work; for instance, when public spending on health services is cut back generally there is an increase in the amount of time that women have to spend on unpaid care for patients at home. It is often difficult to study the exact size of these effects due to the lack of data on unpaid activities.

Another way in which budgets are supported by unpaid work is when the implementation of social programmes relies on unpaid work in the community, often that of women in the community. In this case, it is useful to calculate the unpaid work in relation to the public spending on the relevant programme. The example here is taken from an important municipal programme in Peru: the Glass of Milk Programme. The Glass of Milk Programme began in 1983 in Villa El Salvador as a social programme without any government budget. It was funded through the People’s Federation of Women, who organised to cover the food needs.

In 1984 the programme was replicated in all provincial municipalities throughout the country. The aim was to provide a free of charge daily ration of a quarter of a litre of milk or the equivalent in food. The beneficiaries were children and mothers, comprising pregnant and nursing mothers and children up to the age of thirteen. District municipalities were responsible for implementing the programme in coordination with grassroots organisations. In Villa El Salvador the Municipality was responsible for managing and administering the programme’s goods and services in coordination with and under the supervision of grassroots organisations. The analysis reported here is part of a larger GRB project in Villa El Salvador that involved an analysis of different policy areas.

In order to calculate the time devoted to the program by organised women the leaders of the grassroots organisation, who participated in the programme’s administrative committee, as well as the leaders of the gathering centres and the leaders and members of the committees were interviewed. Also, the activities that they habitually carried out in order to operationalise the programme and the average time they spend on these activities were calculated. This included activities to organise the programme at different levels and to distribute the milk. The calculations showed that, overall, women in Villa El Salvador devoted a total of 730,000 hours a year in unpaid work to operate the programme.

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As the next step, a money value was calculated for the unpaid hours spent on implementing the programme. There are different options on which wage to use as a basis for the calculation: minimum wage, average wage, the average wage of men or women or wages for similar equivalent activities in the market economy, just to mention a few.

In the case of Villa El Salvador the minimum wage was used as the basis for the calculation: 410 new Sol per month or approximately 2.7 new Sol per hour.

The calculation went as follows: • hours spent by women to operate the programme (per year)

= 730,000 hours;

• wage per hour (taking the minimum wage as the reference value) = 2.7 new Sol; and • result = 730,000 hours x 2.7 new Sol totalling 1,971,000 new Sol per year.

The result of this calculation shows that the effort made by these women in terms of unpaid working hours to make the project work totalled 1,971,000 new Sol. If the working time of the women were to be valued differently, for example, the average wage paid to women in Peru then the value of the women’s unpaid contribution to making this programme work would have been even be higher.

By comparing the monetary value of the women’s unpaid work to the transfer actually received by the Municipality to implement the programme (8,582,900 new Sol) it became evident that the women’s contribution in the form of unpaid labour was 22.96 % of the overall programme budget.

This work highlights the contribution of women to the success of the Glass of Milk programme. Not only is it a considerable amount, if time is measured in a monetary equivalent, but the women’s unpaid work was crucial to the functioning of the programme. It was not a ‘self-managing’ programme, as the government described it, but a programme managed by women for the benefit of the entire community.

Such an analysis can also be very useful to assess the gender impact of any changes in programmes; for example, expanding the programme cannot assume unlimited and unpaid time on the part of the women.

2.2.5. Analysis of Public Revenue: Gender Disaggregated Revenue Incidence Analysis Taxes are generally the main source of public revenue. Thus the taxation policy is at the heart of the public debate on what services government should provide and who should pay for them, including the share paid by women and men. “Tax systems are not gender neutral.

They contain both explicit and implicit gender biases. Analysing taxation through a gender lens can reveal these biases and be a stimulus to reform” (see Grown 2005 p.18). There are several starting points for an analysis of public revenue from a gender perspective, namely the tax system with different forms of taxes and their relative share of public revenue, different forms of direct and indirect taxation as well tax reform. In addition to tax revenue, user charges and fees can be an important source of public revenue.

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The tool of gender disaggregated revenue incidence analysis examines both direct and indirect taxes or other forms of revenue like user charges in order to calculate how much of taxation (or other forms of revenue) is paid by different individuals or households (see UNIFEM 2005). In order to enable a meaningful interpretation it is of particular importance to ascertain how much tax/user fee is paid in relation to the income of individuals or households.

Carrying out a gender disaggregated revenue incidence analysis requires data on income and expenditure patterns. A limitation of the analysis is that usually data at the household level is not available. This poses an important challenge to the analysis as many studies have shown that the often used assumption of an equal sharing of income within households does not hold true (see Budlender and Sharp 1998 p.47).

Apart from the analytical work of determining revenue incidence as such, Grown (2005) points to a series of activities to advance gender analysis of public revenue in the context of GRB work.

• Support and expand existing efforts to improve the collection of sex disaggregated data.

Tax policy units in the ministries of finance can be supported to collect, process and analyse sex disaggregated as well as other necessary data and produce tax analysis reports.

Tax administrators might also consider collecting information on the tax filers according to their sex.

• Support a legal review of the taxation law to identify explicit bias and formulate recommendations for change.

• Support research on the equity improvements that could be attained if a greater share of tax revenue is shifted from indirect taxation to more progressive direct taxes. These studies should focus on the distributional consequences as well as on administrative and implementation aspects of personal and corporate income tax. For those countries where personal income tax represents a larger share of total tax revenue, gender budget advocates should look at potential biases in individual and joint filing as well as biases in the structure of exemptions, deductions and allowances.

• Conduct research on gender bias in indirect taxes, such as in VAT, consumption taxes or trade taxes. Gender budget analysts should examine the nature of exemptions provided under the VAT and whether these exclude small taxpayers and food and basic necessities that contribute to human capital development, including health and education.

An example of gender disaggregated revenue incidence analysis: analysing income taxation in Austria.

An analysis of income taxation in Austria was carried out by the Austrian Ministry of Finance for several years (see Arbeitsgruppe Gender Mainstreaming 2001, Einhaus et al 2006 and Einhaus 2010). It highlighted the relevance of an analysis of income taxation from a gender perspective, there is potential for gender biases even if tax laws as well as tax tariffs are formulated in a gender neutral way.

Given the large gender pay gap and segregation in the labour market in Austria, women on average have lower incomes than men. As shown in Table 5, men on average earn 160% of women’s gross annual wages (data for 1999). This is the main reason why the design of

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the tax tariff structure is relevant from a gender perspective. Progressive income taxation (meaning that higher incomes pay a larger share of their income as taxes) contributes to reducing the gender pay gap. Men on average do pay a higher share of their wage in income taxation (17.1%) than women (11.8%) and this contributes to reducing the gender pay gap.

Table 5: Income, income taxation and social security contributions of employees by sex in

Austria, 1999 Income and deductions in 1000s Austrian Schilling

Share of annual gross wages

Men/ women

Men

Women

Men

Women

(Index in %)

Annual gross wages on average

458

285

100%

100%

160%

Out of this social security payment

68

46

14.8%

16.1%

148%

Out of this income tax

78

34

17.1%

11.8%

229%

Annual net income on average

312

205

68%

72%

152%

Source: Arbeitsgruppe Gender Mainstreaming 2001.

On the other side, there is the effect of social security contributions that needs to be taken into consideration as in Austria they are deducted from income in addition to income tax.

Social security contributions are designed as a fixed share of income up to a threshold of income, above which no further contributions are to be paid even if income is much higher.

This construction of social security payments leads to a situation where higher income groups pay a smaller share of their income in social security contributions than lower income groups. Given that women are overrepresented in the lower income groups and men in the higher income groups, men on average pay a smaller share of their income in social security contributions.

As for the year analysed, men on average paid 14.8% of their wages in social security contributions, compared to women who pay 16.1% (see Table 5). Therefore, if considered in isolation then social security payments tend to widen the income gap. However, the combined effect of income tax and social security contributions for employees causes a reduction in the gender pay gap. Whereas gross average wages of men are 160% of that of women this gap is reduced to men earning 152% of womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wages in terms of average annual net wages (i.e., after income and social security payments have been deducted).

Furthermore, the Austrian analysis of income taxation included a gender analysis of tax breaks in the income taxation system. This analysis pointed out that with the exception of tax breaks for single parents men profited much more from all of the other categories of tax breaks (e.g., deductibles for long commuting to work or the deductible for being the sole

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family earner). For all other tax breaks both the number of cases that were eligible for the tax reductions as well as the average amount of the reduction was higher for men than for women. This has to do with the fact that the system of tax breaks has been oriented towards the normal full time earner and thus women who are often in part-time and lower paid jobs were not eligible. In some cases there have been subsequent changes to the tax breaks system. An important case is the redesign of deductibles for long commuting to work, which was redesigned in order to make sure that part-time workers are eligible (at least for part of the deductible).

Not only income taxation and social security payments have a gender impact, the overall tax structure has a considerable impact on gender that has to be taken into account. For example, due to their lower income women tend to spend a larger share of their income on consumption and therefore an increase in indirect taxation, such as Value Added Tax, will have a larger impact on women.

Complementary analysis by the Austrian civil society group Watch Group Gender and Public Finance (Watch Group 2010) highlighted additional gender biases in the Austrian income taxation system. It has been highlighted, for example, that in spite of the system of individual tax filing in Austria (which is contrary to the split system or joint filing for couples, which has negative incentives for women to enter the labour market) there are remaining elements of family taxation. This element of family taxation was even enlarged during the period of the centre/right government coalition through the 2004/05 tax reform. The main feature of it is a tax break for couples (so-called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Alleinverdiener-Absetzbetragâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;) if one partner is earning very little or nothing. The lower income limit for one person is higher for couples with children. This tax break actually increases net income for men, while for women it constitutes a financial incentive to remain in very low paid jobs below the limit in order not to lose the tax break. In addition, this form of tax break leads to a situation where, depending on the model of sharing of paid and unpaid work in the household, families receive different amounts of support for children.

While the traditional model of a male earner or male earner and small, below the threshold, female earner couple that have 3 children receives about 900 Euros annually, couples without children receive around 360 Euros. However, dual earner couples are not eligible for this type of tax break. Thus, this constitutes a large incentive for the small earner (usually the woman) not to go beyond the threshold, with negative consequences of not having an independent income and especially large consequences in terms of having little or no old-age pension rights.

This is only one example of the detailed analysis needed to uncover gender biases in income taxation.

Example of gender disaggregated analysis of indirect taxation: analysing excise taxes in the United Kingdom The example from the United Kingdom presented here uses an indirect method of revenue incidence analysis, due to a lack of data. It is included here as an interesting example of how to analyse indirect taxes from a gender perspective. The Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Budget Group (WBG) in the United Kingdom, a civil society group with a strong research focus, has put forward ground breaking work on analysing indirect taxes from a gender perspective.

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The WBG carried out a gender analysis of the changes to indirect taxes that were introduced by the British government in 2010-2011. The presentation of this example is taken from Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Budget Group (2011). The importance of this work goes beyond the specific case of the UK because it puts forward a methodology for analysing indirect taxes in spite of the lack of data and models to make an analysis on what men compared to women as groups pay through indirect taxation.

Comprehensive data on private spending is only available at the household level. So it is not possible to do an analysis at the individual level in order to discover what women and men spend and consume within the household and how many indirect taxes they pay. Analysis at an individual level would require assumptions about the intra-household distribution of consumption and spending power; it would also have to take into account that many goods and services bought by households are in fact used jointly by household members (for example TV sets or electricity).

Therefore, the WBG developed a useful method for gender analysis that can be done by comparing different households categorised by composition (e.g., single male or female households, couple households) and by type (according to characteristics such as the age of adults, presence of children and presence and sex of earners). This study has looked at how government indirect tax measures impact on households with different gendered characteristics. The study presented a separate analysis of changes in excise taxes on alcohol, tobacco and fuel as well as in value added tax (VAT) and an analysis of the combined effect of these changes.

The analysis, by showing the variation in the impact of indirect taxes both in terms of cash (which reveals the sources of extra revenue) and incidence (which reveals the proportionate impact on the household income) illustrates the kind of gendered quantitative analysis that policy makers can do, even given the limitations of existing data sets and models. The variation is driven by the different expenditure patterns of different types of household. These do not just arise from age and children. Households comprised of single adult men and single adult women with the same characteristics with respect to age and children have different expenditure patterns.

The increases in excise on alcohol and tobacco may discourage the consumption of these goods but, at the same time squeezes the income of households that do not reduce their consumption. Although this study could not take account the behavioural responses to such tax rises it would be useful to analyse how different types of households respond to increases in the price of alcohol and tobacco, especially as some of the most financially vulnerable households face the largest increases in the incidence of these taxes. When it comes to alcohol these are male pensioner and no earner households without children, while for tobacco they are lone parents and no earner households with children. Where there is more than one person in the household it is important to find out the impact of such tax increases on the resources available to others in the household.

The study showed that decreasing fuel duty directly benefited single men and households with male earners more than other households, while it benefited pensioner households the least. Such a giveaway of potential revenue from fuel duty should be questioned given that it could have been used to moderate the much more significant and highly regressive increase in the standard VAT rate, which amongst lower income households penalises single

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women more than single men. Effectively the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall indirect tax changes required poor single female households to subsidise the fuel consumption of richer single male households and poor pensioner households to subsidise the fuel consumption of working age households. The WBG highlights that this casts doubt on the claim of budget fairness.

The analysis also showed that a rise in value added tax (VAT) had a greater impact than any of the other tax changes. Its incidence was particularly high for female lone parents and among single adult households without children; it was higher for women than men. It also had a higher incidence in households without a male earner, particularly those with children. Among the lower income groups its incidence was higher in female single households than in male single households.

2.3.6. Costing of Policies and Programmes of High Relevance to Women and Girls The aim of costing policies and programmes of high relevance to women and girls is to obtain an estimate of how much public expenditure is needed for the provision of particular services or the implementation of a particular policy. It can involve the estimation of other costs besides monetary costs e.g., the cost in terms of unpaid work time for beneficiaries of a certain programmes. The tool for costing can also be used to show how much it costs government not to do something e.g., highlighting the costs of domestic violence.

This tool involves a quantitative approach and is somewhat similar to public expenditure incidence analysis in its technical aspects. Yet whereas public expenditure incidence analysis is an analytical instrument used ex post e.g., after implementation of a specific service and the availability of data on actual costs and service users, costing exercises are used ex ante.

Costing of policies and programmes is used to estimate the cost of implementing planned or desired activities.

In order to carry out costing techniques what is needed is information about the cost of inputs (e.g., personnel, material and supplies) for the service to be delivered (cost of a specific unit of service) and estimates about the usage of the service (number of cases or number of participants). The calculation of the estimated total cost is then carried out by multiplying: â&#x20AC;˘ the unit cost of inputs by the number of units delivered.

As a quantitative approach it can be used both inside and outside government, but is mainly used by actors who have the appropriate research skills. It depends largely on the availability of information to arrive at accurate data estimates.

Example of costing policies and programmes of high relevance to women and girls by measuring the gap in budgeting: costing domestic violence in the Dominican Republic In order to determine the gap between the budget required to address domestic violence and the actual budget allocation a rough estimate of the cost of domestic violence to the health sector in the Dominican Republic was calculated based on the findings from a larger

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study. The information for this example has been drawn from the ICRW (2003).

The process by which the gap was measured is shown below.

1. Arriving at a unit cost for domestic violence In a primary healthcare centre in the Dominican Republic for domestic violence, the Alcarrizos II Hospital in Santo Domingo, the annual cost of providing services for 125 domestic violence patients is estimated at US $17,657.45.

This figure takes into account only three categories of expenses: â&#x20AC;˘ salary of the personnel specialised in domestic violence services; â&#x20AC;˘ medical supplies for emergency cases; and â&#x20AC;˘ office supplies.

This translates into a total cost of US $141.26 per patient. The relevant calculation is arrived at by dividing the total cost by the number of patients.

2. Estimating the total number of domestic violence victims in the country.

According to the Experimental Survey on Demographics and Health (1999), based on a nationally representative sample, one in three women in the Dominican Republic aged between 15-19 years reported having been abused by a husband or other person since turning 15 (see CESDEM, USAID and Macro International, 2001, p.48).

The total population of the Dominican Republic in 1996 was 8.1 million of which women represented 50.3% and women in the 15-49 age group represented 50% of women as a whole. This comes to a total female population in the age group 15-49 of nearly 2.04 million.

If one out of three of them is a victim of domestic violence then the total number of victims is 673,000.

3. Total number of victims of domestic violence using healthcare services According to the Experimental National Survey on Demographics and Health (1999) 11% of women who suffered physical abuse sought medical services or visited a health facility, bringing the total number of victims of domestic violence using medical services to 74,030.

It is important to note that not all of the victims of domestic violence who require medical attention sought such services; therefore, this number is likely to be an underestimation.

4. Calculating the total cost of domestic violence.

Based on a unit cost of US $141.26 per patient it is feasible to estimate that the annual cost for primary care of domestic violence cases in the health sector is nearly US $10.5 million, based on the assumption that only 11% of those experiencing domestic violence use primary healthcare.

Yet in the national budget of the Health Ministry for 2002 the total amount established

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for primary care services for domestic violence was only US $15,000. In other words, the amount established by the Health Ministry for primary care services for domestic violence patients in the entire country could not even cover the total annual cost for treating domestic violence patients in one hospital, Alcarrizos II Hospital in the city of Santo Domingo.

This study highlights the insufficient allocation of funds for a policy of high relevance to women. Its results can be used for advocacy work to increase the allocation of funding for the treatment of the victims of domestic violence.

In the context of domestic violence, the tool of costing has also been used to highlight how much it costs government if they do not invest in policies to prevent domestic violence against women. An example of the use of costing methods to show the cost to government of not doing something can be taken from Australia, namely the Federal Office for Women commissioned study to, â&#x20AC;&#x153;undertake an accurate and comprehensive estimation of the cost of domestic violence to the Australian economy. The achievement of this objective will assist in raising awareness in the community of the cost of domestic violence and will assist policy makers in determining the allocation of resources across areas of governmental intervention to address this issueâ&#x20AC;? (Office of the Status of Women 2004: VI). This study proved to be a very successful tool for advocacy.

Example of costing policies and programmes of high relevance to women and girls: the formal and informal aspects of the home-based care for elderly people in the Singerei region of Moldova In a case study of the formal and informal aspects of home-based care of elderly people from the Singerei region in Moldova (UN Women n.d.), among others, the contribution of informal caregivers was calculated in order to evaluate to what extent women subsidise the sector of care for the elderly. This is an example using an alternative costing method for unpaid work in line with the example of the Glass of Milk case from Peru, which is presented in Chapter 2, 2.4.

In 2007 a total of 574 people benefited from home-based care in the Singerei region, 502 of which were women (87.5%) and 72 men (12.5%). Home-based care involves three visits per week, supporting the beneficiaries through support services like meals and helping in procuring fuel, paying the bills for utilities and such like).

In addition to those people benefitting from home-based care services, a further 1,002 persons were in need of care: 642 of whom were bed-ridden, 357 women and 285 men. There were also 360 socially vulnerable people who although being registered did not benefit from these services despite applying for formal social assistance. These people relied solely on the care of their relatives.

The extent of womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contribution as informal caregivers for the elderly in the care sector in the Singerei region was estimated at 63%, based on the number of persons cared for from the total number of those in need of care. The total number of elderly people that were in the care of family members in the Singerei region amounted to 1,002 people, which substantially exceeded the number of beneficiaries of formal care provided within the social assistance system: 574 persons who lived alone were beneficiaries of home-based care in the Singerei region, while 22 persons were cared for at the St. Gheorghe Asylum in the village of Draganesti.

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The study was also intended to raise awareness about the role of women in informal care, in particular, keeping in mind the forthcoming changes to the social assistance system, which cannot stand the demographic pressure and will be restructured. The latter will include the deinstitutionalisation of the formal system and its replacement with an integrated social services system that is currently being developed.

The expenditure for home-based social assistance, financed through the state budget, amounted to 1,099,900 Lei per year. This includes the salaries for the heads of sections and social workers totalling 763,100 Lei. The payment from the budget for the care of one beneficiary of home-based care was 68.75 Lei per month. In the local asylum for the elderly 22 persons were cared for through an annual budget amounting to 766,500 Lei (all data is for 2008).

The study gives an estimate of womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contribution to the care sector in monetary terms.

It is assumed that the contribution of an informal caregiver is valued on the basis of the equivalent sum that is paid to a care worker in the formal sector. The expenditure on homebased care work was 68.75 Lei per person cared for per month (unit cost).

The number of people in the care of their families in the Singerei region was 1002 persons.

Thus, the calculation is as follows: The amount of 68.75 Lei (per person cared for per month) multiplied by 12 months and then multiplied by 1002 (the number of persons cared for by their relatives). The resulting sum by which predominantly women subsidized the sector for social assistance for the elderly was thus estimated to be 826,650 Lei per year. This represents 75% of the annual public budget for home-based care. This is a rather conservative estimate as public home-based care services only provide visits three times a week whereas it can be assumed that relatives spend several hours a day caring for those in need in their family.

Furthermore, when estimating the value the care of relatives for bed-ridden family members the reference value for the salary of a nurse in the asylum is used. Thus, the calculation of the monetary value of the contribution of women taking care of their bed-ridden relatives is as follows: The number of bed-ridden persons 642 is multiplied by 750 Lei (the monthly salary of a nurse employed at the asylum) and multiplied by 12 months. This amounts to a value of unpaid care for bed-ridden elderly persons who receive care from their relatives at home of 5,778,000 Lei annually. This represents a value of unpaid care for bed-ridden elderly people which is 7.5 times higher than the budget for the public asylum.

Thus, overall, according to the estimations presented above, the value of unpaid care work for the elderly in the Singerei region amounts to 6,604,650 Lei annually. This can be compared to a public budget for care (home-based care and at an asylum) of 1,866,400 Lei. Therefore the value of unpaid work amounts to more than 3.5 times the official budget. If women were not able or willing to provide this care then the state would have to cover this expense through the state budget.

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2.3.7. Other Tools used in Gender Responsive Budget Work The tools presented above are not the only ones for gender budget analysis. Firstly, these tools are adapted and changed to fit the specific needs within a particular context and secondly a number of other tools used by different stakeholders also exist. The objectives of any of these tools are to present gender advocates and policy makers with important evidence for correcting policies and introducing the measures necessary to improve the quality of investment and achieve more gender equality outcomes. Among others, some additional tools that use both quantitative and qualitative data might have wider potential for use within the context of GRB work if implemented in a gender responsive way include • Public expenditure tracking surveys (PETS), • Citizens report cards, and • Community score cards.

Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) A Public Expenditure Tracking Survey seeks to assess whether expenditure is used for the budgeted purpose. Aminata Lo/Alami (2011) points out that PETS give answers to two main questions: 1. Do public funds and material resources end up where they are supposed to?

This refers to the diagnostic part of PETS. It consists of identifying the actual flows of public funds in a programme or sector and establishes to what extent the public funds and other resources reach the service providers. A discrepancy between the amount of funds disbursed from the central level and the amount of funds received by the service provider is referred to as leakage.

2. Why are funds diverted?

This questions points out that PETS is used as an analytical instrument where the aim is to explain why leakage is observed. Why is there more leakage in some districts than others?

For example, why do some schools receive more of their entitlements than other schools?

By studying variations in the characteristics between different parts of the administrative structures and different service providers PETS can contribute knowledge about how to reduce leakage and improve the performance of the system.

PETS are largely used by donor agencies to track public funds; however, civil society organisations can also use expenditure tracking to enhance the accountability and responsiveness of local government towards citizen’s demands (see Catalyst et al n.d.: 12). PETS are increasingly used at the district level to monitor budget flows from local government to service delivery agents.

“There is a scarcity of examples of gender aware public expenditure tracking surveys; however, scholars have attempted to provide guidance on what such an exercise would entail.

They explain that a gender aware public expenditure tracking survey would need to go beyond the questions asked by PETS to ask who (males/females) within the service unit

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benefit. It could also check whether resources for items that are especially targeted to one sex reach the units, for example, money for building toilets for women and girls. A gender aware PETS needs to make sure that both women and men are interviewed and that collected data is presented and analysed in a sex disaggregated mannerâ&#x20AC;? (Aminata Lo/Alami 2011).

Citizen Report Cards Citizen report cards, also called citizenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s score cards, are a participatory instrument that seeks feedback from the users of public services on the performance of such services and on their level of satisfaction with the services. It is thus a form of beneficiary assessment and is often carried out in the form of a survey. It combines qualitative and quantitative methods to collect useful demand side data that can help improve the performance of public services (see Aminata Lo/Alami 2011). Citizen report cards are often used by civil society organisations to demand public accountability.

Work by the media and civil society advocacy can enhance the effectiveness of the use of citizens score cards. Citizen report cards can provide information on issues such as the availability of services, level of satisfaction with services, the reliability and quality of services, the responsiveness of service providers, hidden costs such as corruption and support systems, willingness to pay and quality of life. Through citizen report cards, indicators to measure all these dimensions are developed.

Community Scorecards Community scorecards (CSC) are an extension of the tool citizen report card by combining it with social audit and community monitoring processes. Thus it is a community based qualitative monitoring tool. Communities use the scorecard for local level monitoring and the performance evaluation of services, projects and government administrative units. Similar to the citizen report card, the CSC process is an instrument for demanding social and public accountability and responsiveness from service providers. However, by including an interface meeting between service providers and the community it allows for immediate feedback; the process is also a strong instrument for empowerment (Aminata Lo/Alami 2011).

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3. APPROACHES FOR INTEGRATING GRB INTO BUDGETARY PROCESSES Whereas the tools and instruments presented in Chapter 2 are necessary analytical tools what is also needed within the context of GRB are approaches linked to the budget process itself. In this section, the gender responsive call circular or budget guidelines as well as gender aware budget statements and budget reports are presented. The gender aware budget statement in particular, often called the Gender Budget Statement, is often referred to as an analytical tool; yet it seems more appropriate to present is as an approach within the context of the budget process. These approaches can be very important for the integration of the results of gender budget analysis into the budget process.

3.1. Gender Responsive Call Circulars or Budget Guidelines Gender responsive call circulars or budget guidelines are aimed at providing gender responsive instructions to government institutions on how to prepare the budget. At the beginning of budget preparations the ministries or departments of finance are usually responsible for issuing guidelines for preparation of the budget. Often this is produced in the form of call circulars of budget guidelines. The budget call circular is an official notice issued by the ministry of finance at the beginning of the budget preparation process. It contains instructions to other government ministries and agencies on how they must submit their budget requests for the coming budget period. It often contains a very specific format for budget submissions. Usually these call circulars or budget guidelines are gender blind; however, budget call circulars are a good entry point for the inclusion of gender specific instructions to line ministries.

There are many ways how call circulars or guidelines can be made more gender responsive.

One way is to state explicitly in the call circular that gender should be reflected in the submissions of the ministries and agencies to the ministry of finance and that it will be considered an important criterion during budget negotiations. This should create an incentive for agencies to budget in a gender responsive way. Another way that the circulars can be improved from a gender perspective is to require that all relevant indicators are gender disaggregated and that gender related indicators are included wherever relevant (see Budlender 2007: 2f).

Even though any mention of gender in the call circular would constitute progress, the more clearly the call circular specifies how gender should be included in the budget submissions the more likely it is that the ministries and agencies will consider the issue carefully and specify in a clear way what they intend to do. The format of budget submissions differs widely across countries, thus instructions on how to integrate gender aspects will vary as well.

As call circulars and budget guidelines are internal instruments of government this is an approach that is used for internal government initiatives, more specifically by initiatives with the strong involvement of the ministries of finance or departments. However, civil society actors do have a role in pushing for gender responsive forms of budgeting and budget preparation.

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Debbie Budlender (2007 6f) identifies 5 ways to ensure that gender responsive call circulars achieve their aim and government agencies and ministries observe gender aspects: 1. “Officials must know that their budget submissions will be considered more favourably by the ministry of finance if gender issues are addressed. One way to do this is to include representatives of the national gender machinery on the team that inspects the submissions and that negotiates with the agencies. It is also important to ensure that the sectoral budget officers in the ministry of finance understand the gender requirements.

In many countries these sectoral budget officers provide advice to the agencies while they are drawing up their budget submissions and are the first ones to check the submissions. They are therefore key gatekeepers. They are also likely to be influential during the negotiation stage. If they are asking the right questions agencies are more likely to take gender seriously”.

2. “It cannot be assumed that the agency officials have the necessary capacity to follow the instructions in the call circular, especially when gender is first introduced as a requirement. They might thus be willing to observe the guidelines, but unable to do so effectively. In the first years, therefore, training, mentoring or some other form of guidance might need to be made available to the agency officials responsible for preparing the budget submissions so that they have a good understanding of gender and understand how it can be reflected in their programmes, policies and budgets”.

3. “Another way of ensuring gender is addressed is to give specific instructions as to how this must be done, rather than the call circular simply making a general call for gender responsiveness. Specific instructions could, for example, require that all indicators of past performance relating to individuals be sex disaggregated. Specific instructions could also require that particular specified gender issues, such as violence against women or economic empowerment, be explicitly addressed by all agencies for which these issues are relevant”.

4. “Another possibility is to provide personal incentives for officials that encourage them to perform well in respect of gender. Compliance with various steps of incorporating gender into the budgeting process could be among the measures used as the basis for such incentives”.

5. “It is important to consider GRB as a process of change over several years. Thus, it is important that call circulars continue each year to include the gender requirements so that officials can build up their expertise and systems over time. An ongoing process will also allow the gender requirements in the call circular to be refined over time to avoid stating the requirements in ways that are found to be confusing and to add further requirements as expertise, information and systems improve”.

Examples of Gender Responsive Amendments to Budget Call Circulars or Budget Guidelines In the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia a requirement for ministries to formulate gender indicators in the framework of their programmes was included in the budget call circular.

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In Pakistan the 2007/2008 federal budget call circular included the requirement that all relevant performance indicators be sex disaggregated and that gender related indicators are included wherever relevant. Ministries and departments were required to include gender when describing their missions, visions, goals and activities. The budget call circular included the section below, which specifies how gender had to be integrated and different pieces of information provided.

“Ministerial policy objectives Indicate gender related objectives in the Ministry’s own policy as well as objectives relevant to the sector from general policies.

Key output indicators Indicate the required disaggregation, such as sex/gender and age group for services delivered to individuals.

Input indicators Indicate the relevant disaggregation. In Particular, indicate the current gender/sex breakdown of both qualified and unqualified staff.

Mission statement and functions of the Ministry Specify where and how functions contribute to the achievement of gender equity.

Objectives statement of the Ministry Disaggregate targets and performance measures where appropriate. In particular, indicate sex/gender disaggregation wherever possible. Include specific performance measures related to gender equity.

Key output indicators in the medium term Disaggregate key output indicators wherever relevant. In particular, disaggregate by sex/ gender wherever possible. Include specific output indicators related to gender equity” (see Mahbub and Budlender 2007 p.7).

In Austria the 2005 call circular included the requirement for each ministry to include the results of two pilot gender budget analyses in the budget submissions to the Ministry of Finance. These results of pilot analysis were to be included in the explanatory notes to the budget documents. The 2013 call circular included specific requirements and instructions within the context of the transition towards performance budgeting, including the requirement and instruction to specify gender equality objectives, measures and indicators in the context of performance budgeting.

In Uganda the 2005/06 call circular included the following statement: “Government is committed to mainstreaming gender and equity objectives in the planning and budgeting process. This involves articulation of the needs of special groups including women, orphans, elderly, youth and the persons with disabilities and integration of the

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respective interventions with the existing programmes as part of the budgeting process.

The guidelines have been incorporated in the Terms of Reference for the Sector Working Groups (SWGs). You are therefore requested to identify these requirements and ensure that the cost implications are integrated into the budget estimates for the next financial year 2005/06 and the medium term.â&#x20AC;? (see Budlender 1997 p.4).

In addition, in Uganda the guidelines on Gender and Equity Budgeting were produced by the Ministry of Finance and integrated into the terms of reference for the sector working groups, which play a key role in policy and budget formulation in Uganda.

This selection of examples of gender responsive call circulars and budget guidelines respectively shows the broad range and different ways to make call circulars gender responsive. It is very important to use the respective countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s system and practices as a starting point and integrate gender into the standard procedures. Gender responsive call circulars increase the likelihood of other ministries or departments taking GRB seriously, because this is a crucial document for the preparation of the draft budget and because it signifies that the finance ministry or department takes the issue serious. However, even the best gender responsive call circulars are not a guarantee that the ministries and agencies will take the instructions seriously.

Therefore, it is necessary to ensure follow-up activities to confirm that the guidelines are actually followed and the budget submissions of government ministries and agencies are gender responsive. The achievement of a gender responsive call circular is important, but practice shows that momentum needs to be maintained and advocacy with the ministry of finance might be necessary to transform one-off activities into a standard annual procedure.

3.2. Gender Aware Budget Statements and Budget Reports Gender aware budget statements aim to demonstrate the expected implications of the budgets in addressing issues of gender inequality (compare with Elson 1999 p.7). It is a statement or report from government on how gender issues are addressed by budgetary policies, expenditure and revenue. A gender aware budget statement is an accountability document produced by government showing what it does in respect of gender equality (see Budlender and Sharp 1998 p.50).

A gender budget statement can illustrate a ministryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intention to do something in respect of gender equality and can show that the ministry is following policy commitments by budget allocations (compare with Budlender 2007 p.8). Ideally, standard formats for gender budget statements would be used by all ministries. It could bring together gender budget analysis carried out by the ministries and specify performance objectives and activities to achieve these objectives.

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Budlender (2007 p.9) specifies two questions that can help choose what activities the gender budget statement should focus on in a particular sector: • Where is most of the money going?

This question is important because the GRB approach is aimed at mainstreaming gender i.e., at ensuring that gender is considered in relation to the main policies and government spending.

• Which programmes are most important for gender equality?

This question is useful because sometimes there is an activity that costs relatively little but which can make a big difference to gender equality.

Gender aware budget statements are a tool to be used inside government. However, there are different forms of how initiatives outside of government can use this approach. One is to use the government gender aware budget statement as a monitoring tool to follow-up whether government lives up to its specified priorities and objectives. Another way is for civil society to produce an alternative gender budget statement and use it as an advocacy tool to put pressure on government to increase its activities on using the budget to promote gender equality.

Examples of Gender Aware Budget Statements In India the Finance Ministry introduced a gender budget statement for the 2005-06 Union Budget that identified “demands for grants” (proposed allocations) that would substantially benefit women in ten departments. For the 2006-07 Union Budget the gender budget statement was expanded to 24 demands for grants from 18 ministries. Each ministry identified two categories of allocation.

• The first type included allocations 100% targeted at women or girls.

• The second type involved allocations where at least 30% of the allocation was targeted at women or girls.

For each of the identified allocations the following were included: the amount allocated in the previous year, the revised amount for the previous year (the amount likely to be actually spent) and the budget for the coming year.

France’s gender budget statement is called the Yellow Budget Paper on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality. It was introduced in 1999 when members of Parliament decided that each year government must, together with the Finance Bill, table a document showing what it was doing to promote women’s rights and gender equality. France also has Yellow Budget Papers on other crosscutting issues, which are the responsibility of more than one ministerial department.

For the gender Yellow Budget Paper, each department is required to: • specify all programmes and actions targeted at women or girls; • specify all actions it has taken to promote gender equality; • describe its policy on gender equality; and

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• present the indicators that it uses to measure its contribution.

Analysis of the early Yellow Budget Papers showed that gender specific allocations accounted for only about 40 million Euros out of a total budget of 260 billion Euros. These results illustrate that including mainstream programmes that promote gender equality in the yellow budget paper is of high importance.

Since 2003 the government of Gauteng Province in South Africa has required every department to produce a gender budget statement as part of its main budget document. As in other countries, the statement does not describe a separate budget for women and gender equality; instead it describes sub-programmes which are already part of the standard budget for the department, but does so under headings that highlight the specific relevance of the sub-programme for women and gender equality.

The gender budget statements use a prescribed matrix format where most of the columns use similar terms to those used in the main part of the budget, such as outcomes, outputs and indicators. However, the gender budget statement also has a column labelled ‘gender issues’ where the department must describe the issue that a particular sub-programme is attempting to address.

The departments are asked to prepare their gender budget statements in five parts, as follows: • outcomes and outputs of the three largest sub-programmes and their implications for gender equality; • outcomes and outputs that specifically target women and girls; • outcomes and outputs that will benefit women/promote gender equality; • outcomes and outputs that will benefit female employees within the Gauteng Provincial Government; and • report on the number of male and female government employees by level.

The City of Vienna, Austria, publishes an annual Gender Budget Statement that is part of the budget material presented to the Municipal Council (compare with City of Vienna 2011).

In addition, a performance report evaluating the implementation measures is included in the annual audit report for the preceding year.

There is a simple general format for the statement, for which all administrative units have to provide information. In addition to this simple format, verbal information about the development of the gender equality situation is presented along with the Gender Budget Statement. Gender disaggregated data on the labour market, income, education and child care etc. is presented in the Statement. Table 6 shows the general format of the Viennese Gender Budget Statement and gives a few examples of the type of information that departments have to provide for the different budget items.

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Table 6: Gender Budget Statement of the City of Vienna, Austria (examples) Department

Budget Item

Genderspecific objective

Planned measures or projects

Success indicator

Planned users (female/ male) in %

MA 42 (City Parks and Gardens)

8150

Gendersensitive, crossgenerational measures when designing parks

10. water playground 11. park of N. estate etc.

Number of parks

49 / 51

MA 5 Finance and Statistics

0210

To comprehensively represent the life realities of women and men

Increase of gender specific information in regular municipal publications.

Increase in the share of data presented by women/men.

50 / 50

Data and analysis in different areas with specific attention to gender differences.

On-line resource on gender equality indicators.

Evaluate how much of on-line data is sexdisaggregated.

MA 5

7822 (ZIT Technology Agency Vienna)

Increase the share of women in business, research and development; increased attention on the gender aspects in the development of innovations.

Projects led by women to receive an additional bonus.

Attention to the equal representation of women and men in project assessment groups.

All supported research projects will be evaluated in regard to the integration of gender issues in project planning.

Increase in the share of analyses that include relevant information on male and female users and distribution.

Information as a basis for evaluation of on-line data presentation.

Increased share or projects led by women.

Increased participation of women in research and development.

20 / 80

30 / 70

Increased attention to the specific impact of product developments on women.

Source: City of Vienna Gender Budgeting, in annex to the 2012 draft budget.

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The Government of Pakistan produced its first gender budget statement in 2008/2009 as part of the Strengthening PRS Monitoring Project aimed at the promotion of gender equality (see Government of Pakistan 2009 p.6). The Gender Budget Statement (GBS) covers selected pilot programmes, the Benazir Income Support Programme and other projects selected by the ministries of education, health and population welfare. At the initial stage programmes with large gender implications were selected.

What follows is an excerpt from the Pakistan Gender Budget Statement 2008/2009: “Gender Budget Statement: Education Role of Federal Government Share of Gender Specific Expenditure” Table 1 presents the federal expenditure on education under the recurrent and development budget for 2007-08 and 2008-09. In the recurrent budget the two major components that together constitute the largest part of the budget are government spending on higher education followed by spending on primary and secondary education, largely for Islamabad.

The capital costs of building primary and secondary schools and cadet colleges are the major components of the development budget.

Federal expenditure on education was greater for boys and men than spending on girls and women. Male specific expenditure in 2007-08 was almost 5 per cent of the education budget, while female specific expenditure was around 3 per cent. In 2008-09 both male and female specific spending had increased to 6 per cent and was allocated equally at 3.6 per cent.

Please note: ‘BE’ refers to ‘Budgeted Expenditure’ and ‘RE’ refers to ‘Realised Expenditure’.

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Key Initiatives in Education In order to promote education in general and girl’s education in particular various initiatives were taken by the government, including the Education Sector Reform (ESF) Programme, the National Education Assessment System (NEAS), the Science Education Project and the establishment and operation of Basic Education Community Schools in the country, establishment of Cadet Colleges, Basic Education Community Schools and the introduction of M.Ed. classes at the Federal College of Education in Islamabad.

Name of Programme:

Education Sector Reform (ESR) Programme (2006-2010)

Overall objective:

The main aim of the project is to enhance primary and elementary gross and net enrolment particularly for girls in Pakistan.

Project components:

…

Gender challenge:

Poverty is both a cause and effect of the low level of education in Pakistan. The capacity and opportunities to earn higher income remain week due to low education levels in terms of quantity and quality.

Correspondingly low levels of income and poverty also constrain households/individuals from investing in the education for girls. As a result the gap has widened between the enrolment of boys and girls, while the achievement of the MDGs of universal primary education, the empowerment of women and gender parity is becoming harder to accomplish.

The National Education Policy emphasises increased enrolment in public sector schools, the removal of urban-rural and gender imbalances and the improvement of the quality of education at all levels. In focuses in particular on the implementation of the relevant curriculum reforms, strengthening of higher education, the provision of demand-driven education and encouraging private sector participation.

Planned activities:

…

Budgetary allocation:

…

The above information is based on primary and secondary sources such as information provided by the Education Planning and Policy Wing, by the directors of the respective projects, the federal budget documents, the Annual Development Plan 2008-09 and the Economic Survey for 2007-08. The documents mentioned did not provide sex disaggregated data on input and output indicators and therefore in order to gain access to sex-disaggregated data the relevant persons in the Planning Commission and the Policy and Planning Wing of the Ministry of Education were contacted. However, no programme based sex disaggregated

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data for input and output indicators were available for incorporation into the gender budget statement. …“ (Government of Pakistan 2009: 12ff).

Similar information was included in the Pakistan GBS for other projects and programmes.

Overall, the examples of Gender Budget Statements demonstrate a large variety of approaches. The selection of the format for the GBS depends largely on the intended use. A GBS that is intended to inform the broader public about the government’s gender responsive activities might be different from a GBS that is intended to be used as a planning document for public administration or a political document for discussion in Parliament. Experience gained from discontinued GBS (e.g., Australia) show that it is important to produce a document that is accessible to the intended audience and contains meaningful information. If government is responsible for producing the GBS there is a tendency to use it to show off the achievements and merits of the governments and possibly pay less attention to areas and issues where little or no progress has been achieved. Thus, it is advisable to find ways to involve other actors. For example, the parliament could be involved by setting standards and requirements for GBS formats and content, while civil society organisations could be included by producing shadow GBS reports.

3.3. Gender Aware Medium Term Financial Framework The Gender aware medium term economic policy framework aims to create a medium term macroeconomic policy framework that incorporates the differentiated roles of women and men in economic activities (see Elson 1999 p.11). It attempts to incorporate gender into the economic models on which medium term economic frameworks are based. The ultimate aim is to affect future macroeconomic planning and budgeting by including a more gender aware and gender responsive basis in terms of models and forecasts.

A variety of approaches can be used to integrate gender perspectives. Some of the ways in which gender can be integrated into economic models (see Elson 1999 p.11; Budlender andSharp 1998 p.50) are as follows: • disaggregating variables where gender is applicable; • introducing new variables and equations to incorporate a gender perspective; • incorporating both national income accounts and household income accounts that reflect unpaid work; • analysing economies as gendered institutions; and • changing the underlying assumptions about the social and institutional setup in society as well as about how the economy works.

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Elson (1999) also points to different approaches for analysing economies as gendered institutions, namely: • identification of gender in/balances in decision making on macroeconomic policies; • identification of the gender composition of organisations and the forums in which macroeconomic policy is debated; • identification of the gender content within the organisational culture in key sectors of the economy e.g., patterns of time use, selection of performance indicators, gender composition in employment; and • identification of gender roles in the process of macroeconomic adjustment.

An example of a gender aware medium term financial framework: Tanzania’ work towards a gender responsive Medium Term Plan and Expenditure Framework In Tanzania GRB work has included a focus on macroeconomic policies and a gender responsive medium term plan and expenditure framework (MTEF). This has been part of a broad range of GRB activities in Tanzania. The NGO Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) and the Government of Tanzania have cooperated on engendering public finance (compare with Mhina 2007). The government - NGO collaborative approach in GRB has been claimed to be, “innovative and ground breaking” (see Mhina 2007 p.5). Intensive advocacy work by TGNP, capacity building, action oriented research activities and engagement with key parliamentarians and ministries have prepared the basis for the institutionalising of GRB. The starting point for the gender responsive MTEF was a deeper questioning of the macroeconomic processes on gender sensitivity, especially on pro poor equity issues and on linkages between gender and economics. Since 2000 the guidelines for the preparation of the MTEF have included the requirement to take the gender aspects into account. The gender aspects of the guidelines for the MTEF show similarities with those of the budget call circulars in other countries. For example, the MTEF guidelines for 2000/01-2002/03 asked ministries to take under consideration the following gender budgeting aspects (see Mhina 2007 p.7): • capacity building for gender analysis in projects and programmes; • identification of priority gender concerns for reducing gender inequality and inequities; • indicating gender objectives in their action plans; • utilising gender disaggregated data from the sector planning units; and • setting gender monitoring indicators, both quantitative and qualitative.

Priority areas for resource allocation in the medium term included continued mainstreaming of gender into policies, plans and strategies at all levels; capacity building for gender focal points, promoting credit facilities for women and youths as well as continued gender sensitisation at all levels.

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The intensive and continuous work of the TGNP raised awareness on gender issues within the macroeconomic policy frames. However, given the reality of the conditionality of donors and the limited scope for government to support progressive approaches, it continues to pose a major challenge (see Mhina 2007 p.9). The need for alternative development paradigms and transformative strategies has been highlighted, “International macroeconomic frameworks, including structural adjustment programmes and poverty reduction strategies … have resulted in limited room for government to support development that is gender sensitive and owned by the people” (see Rusimbi 2002 p.125). An analysis of the policies favoured by the World Bank and IMF has revealed that these policies lead towards a reduced role of the state and to shrinking public budgets, thus limiting the room for gender responsive and pro poor public finance.

3.4. Gender Responsive Participatory Budgeting An important aspect of GRB is the enhancement of the participation of women and disadvantaged groups in the budget process. They are often grossly underrepresented in the representative institutions that are included in the formal budget process and at the same time do not have access to the informal processes through which powerful and wealthy stakeholders find ways to influence the budget. Thus, enhancing participatory approaches to planning and budgeting is an important element of GRB work.

Example of gender responsive participatory budgeting through the strengthening of women’s participation in the participatory budget process in the Municipality of Elbasan in Albania Elbasan is a central Albanian municipality and one of the few municipalities in Albania to implement participatory budgeting. In the frame of a UN Women (at that time UNIFEM) supported Gender Responsive Budgeting pilot project in Elbasan one of the objectives of the GRB work was to secure a more inclusive participatory process for women (compare with UNIFEM 2010: 26ff). The Municipality itself was interested in learning whether and how the participatory budgeting process was engaging women’s voices and tackling women’s needs.

In the frame of the participatory budgeting process the Municipality committed to allocating approximately 30% of its locally raised revenue towards projects identified by citizens living in the municipality. At organised town hall meetings citizens brainstormed on the priorities of their neighbourhood that fitted into the budgetary competencies of the Municipality and could therefore be funded by the local budget. Competences at the municipal level included, amongst others, cleaning of the city and roads, investments in local schools and hospitals, investment in green areas within the city as well as improvement of the water and the waste management systems.

The annual participatory process in Elbasan lasts for approximately two to three months and is managed by municipal employees. The city is divided into 23 neighbourhoods in which all citizens are invited to participate in town hall meetings where the discussions take place.

A list of projects to be funded proposed by the citizens is drawn up. At each meeting citizens elect one person to represent them on an ad hoc ‘central commission’. The role of the commission is to review all projects proposed by citizens and select several (on the basis

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of predefined criteria) that are then submitted to the City Council for final approval. The City Council normally approves the submitted projects without further changes. Once projects are approved, implementation begins under the leadership of the local authorities.

The Municipality monitors the process in an attempt to record all changes so that in the following year’s citizen consultations it can present what was achieved through the process of participatory budgeting.

Activities to make the participatory process more gender responsive started with an assessment of the ongoing participatory budgeting process in order to determine whether and how women were involved in the different steps described above. Through a peer mentoring process a locally based NGO in cooperation with a gender responsive participatory budgeting expert observed 10 of the neighbourhood meetings during the 2007 participatory budgeting process. The neighbourhoods to be monitored were selected in a way that ensured a mix of city based and more rural based neighbourhoods as well as varying levels of socioeconomic development (i.e., areas where tourism has the opportunity to grow, areas where Roma communities are concentrated etc). The NGO and expert monitored the meetings in order to observe: • how many women participated and how active they were in the discussions; • if and how the content of the women’s inputs differed from that of men; and • if and how the Municipality proposed to capture these voices.

The findings of the monitoring of women’s participation in the participatory budgeting process showed that in general the number of women participating in the town hall meetings was smaller than that of men. Thus, approximately 32% of all participants in the ten meetings that were monitored were women. The timing of the town hall meetings (5:30 p.m.) may have accounted for this low turnout, because the power went off around this time and the roads were very dark. Furthermore, at this time of day many women were busy with their household responsibilities and caring for their children.

Interestingly, the average age of the women that did participate was roughly between 40 and 55 years of age. This may be an indication that women of this age group have more freedom of movement, having fewer household duties and being less likely to have young children. Furthermore, these somewhat older women might also have developed an interest in civic engagement over the years.

More generally, the unbalanced representation of women and men confirmed a situation where men tend to represent the family in public and on decision making issues. The lack of freedom of movement on the part of younger women was the result of their household duties. There was also an overall lack of understanding on the part of women as to the role they could and should play in influencing local policies and budgets.

When comparing the quantitative participation of women in the town hall meetings to their ‘qualitative participation’ the gaps between women and men were even more striking. For example, of the 200 women that attended the 10 monitored meetings only 30 were active out of a total of 635 participants. In some meetings women sat together on one side of the room while the men sat on the other side and the facilitator of the meeting focused

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attention on the more active group of men without encouraging women to express their views. Some of the women participants also failed to stay until the end of the meeting and therefore did not see the results of the voting.

When women did speak out the priorities they expressed were somewhat different to those of the men and reflected their role within the family and community. Typical priorities put forward by women were improving the school heating system, better education and playground facilities for children, increased/improved street cleaning and allocation of social services for women in need, children and the elderly.

To address the gender imbalance that was exposed through the research in 2009 a strategy was piloted aimed at increasing women’s quantitative and qualitative participation in the participatory budgeting process.

• A media campaign on the participatory budgeting process, in which the Municipality stressed the importance of the equal participation of women and men of all adult ages, was run. Through local television, newspapers, posters and flyers the Municipality not only informed citizens about the town hall meetings but also raised awareness about the process and the importance of participation.

• UNIFEM and the Municipality supported a local NGO to raise awareness amongst local women on the participatory budgeting process, its impact on their lives, the importance of their involvement and how they could participate. Information was delivered through flyers that the NGO distributed in places where women usually go such as day care centres, schools and parks as well as door-to-door in almost all neighbourhoods; televised advertisements were also broadcasted. The NGO organised meetings with women before the town hall meetings where it explained the municipal competencies and women discussed the issues they wanted to raise. At these pre-meetings the women identified representatives from the group to attend the neighbourhood town hall meeting and voice their concerns.

• Training sessions were organised for the town hall facilitators, who were municipal employees, on how to encourage women to be more active participation during the meetings. The training aimed to develop general facilitation skills that would allow the facilitators to elicit better feedback from the audience; the specific focus was on increasing the participation of women, but also other less represented or marginalised groups.

Special focus was also placed on how to promote more equal participation of women and men in the ad hoc central commission.

As a result of the above, in 2009 between 30% and 50% of participants at the town hall discussions were women compared to previous years when just 10% to 30% of participants were women. Moreover, the central commission appointed by citizens to make the final decision on the projects to be financed through the municipal budget witnessed a marked increase in the participation of women. In 2008 only three out of the twenty-two commission members were women, whereas in 2009 eleven women were elected to represent their communities’ needs out of a total of twenty-three community representatives.

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Contrasts between some of the priorities articulated by the women and men who participated in the town hall meetings became very clear. For example, many men stressed the importance of improving roads and street lighting leading to the recreational areas of the municipality (such as the football stadium) and moving the main rubbish bins in town away from the centre and closer to home (as men are often responsible for the task of taking out the rubbish). In contrast, women stressed the need to have proper heating systems in schools, build ramps in the schools so that the entrances are more baby-carriage friendly and keep rubbish bins well away from residential areas so as to be more sanitary and environmentally friendly.

The activities in Elbasan increased the awareness of the Municipality that a participatory process is not automatically gender sensitive. It became clear that specific measures to increase information amongst women and encourage their participation were needed in order to ensure a more women-friendly participatory budgeting process. Furthermore, the process clearly showed that the priorities of men and women tended to be different and that it is beneficial to give women equal voice in the process.

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4. FROM GENDER SENSITIVE ANALYSIS TO GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGETING Many GRB initiatives start with analysis. This is appropriate so that the actors have a good understanding both of the needs of the people in the country and how budgets work and the policies and programmes they reflect. Ultimately, however, the aim of GRB initiatives is to change budgets (and if necessary the related policies) so that they promote gender equity more effectively. To achieve this, those who are leading GRB initiatives need to think of ways to assist government officials in formulating and implementing budgets that are more gender responsive (Budlender 2007).

Sometimes GRB gets confused with a mere budget analysis or an analysis of selected expenditure. Analysis is an important starting point for GRB work in order to identify potential inequalities, but it is not an end in itself. GRB is a strategy aimed at transforming gender relations and instigating changes to budget allocations in order to improve equality between women and men. It also aims to transform the budget process to ensure an inclusive participatory process of decision making. Thus, key elements of gender budgeting involve three dimensions, namely the analytical dimension, the process dimension and the ultimate focus on change and transformation (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Core elements of successful implementation of GRB

GENDER RESPONSIVE PROCESS

GENDER ANALYSIS

CHANGES AND TRANSFORMATIONS OF BUDGETS AND POLICIES

Source: own illustration.

As with budgeting in general, Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) is both a political as well as a technical issue. So a sound and profound gender responsive budget analysis is a crucial ingredient on the way towards more gender responsive budgets. However, given the political nature of the budget and the budget decision making process, it is important to understand the political processes and to understand how to influence and change these processes in order to work towards gender responsive changes and transformations of budgets and policies.

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REFERENCES: PART THREE 1.

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8.

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Austen, Siobhan. Costa, Monica. Sharp, Rhonda and Elson, Diane. 2013.

Expenditure Incidence Analysis: A Gender-Responsive Budgeting Tool for Educational Expenditure in Timor-Leste? In: Feminist Economics, <http://www. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13545701.2013.830187#.Uj-qfhbzlSU>.

Bauer, Tobias and Baumann, Beat. 1996. An den Frauen sparen? Eine Untersuchung zu den Auswirkungen der Sparpolitik von Bund, Kantonen und Gemeinden auf die Frauen, Büro für arbeits - und sozialpolitische Studien (BASS), study commissioned by the Swiss Organisation of Public Service Personnel (Schweizerischer Verband des Personals öffentlicher Dienste) and the Swiss Conference of Gender Equality Councillors Schweizerische Konferenz der Gleichstellungsbeauftragten).

Aminata Lo, Fatou and Alami Nisreen. 2011. Budgeting to End Gender Inequalities in the Education Sector. UN Women. October 2011. New York. <http://www.gender-budgets.org/index.php?option=com_ joomdoc&view=documents&path=suggested-readings/ budgeting-to-end-gender-inequalities-in-the-education-sector&Itemid=587> Arbeitsgruppe Gender Mainstreaming. 2001. Ist das österreichische Steuersystem tatsächlich „geschlechtsneutral? Ergebnis eines Lohn - und EinkommensteuerVergleichs Männer – Frauen, Ministry of Finance, Vienna, <https://www.bmf. gv.at/ministerium/Studie_oesterr_Steuersystem_genderneutral.pdf?3vtkfo> Budlender, Debbie. 2004. Budgeting to Fulfil International Gender and Human Rights Commitments. UNIFEM <http://www.gender-budgets.org/index.php?option=com_joomdoc&view=d ocuments&path=suggested-readings&Itemid=587> Budlender, Debbie. 2007. Gender-Responsive Call Circulars and Budget Statements, Gender Responsive Budgeting Programme. Guidance sheet series No. 1.

UNIFEM. New York. <http://www.gender-budgets.org/index.php?option=com_ joomdoc&view=documents&path=resources/by-type/guidance-sheets/ call-circulars-and-gender-budget-statements-unifem-2006&Itemid=381> Budlender, Debbie. 2012. South Africa’s Experience in Gender-Responsive Budgeting. UN Women.

Budlender, Debbie and Hewitt, Guy. 2002. Gender Budgets Make More Cents.

Commonwealth Secretariat. <http://www.thecommonwealth.org/shared_asp_ files/uploadedfiles/%257B94E74D65-1E1F-4BE2-81D6-A68AB9D1959C%257D_ Gender%2520Budgets%2520Makes%2520More%2520Cents.pdf> Budlender, Debbie and Hewitt, Guy. 2003. Engendering Budgets: A Practitioners’ Guide to Understanding and Implementing Gender-Responsive Budgets. Commonwealth Secretariat. <http://www.thecommonwealth. org/shared_asp_files/uploadedfiles/%7BFBF59912-40C3-47A6-89C2F3E5A0EA9B74%7D_Engendering%20Budgets%20final%20doc.pdf>

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Budlender, Debbie and Elson, Diane et al. 2002. Gender Budgets Make Cents: Understanding Gender-Responsive Budgets. Commonwealth Secretariat. <http:// www.thecommonwealth.org/shared_asp_files/uploadedfiles/%7BBE440E9C4B8C-408E-B862-E28610A579F6%7D_GBMC%201%20Understanding%20GB.pdf> Budlender, Debbie and Sharp, Rhonda. 1998. How to do a Gender-Sensitive Budget Analysis: Contemporary Research and Analysis. Commonwealth Secretariat. Pp. 37-50. <http://www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/Public/PubDocs/docs/360141/AusAIDTr.pdf> Catalyst Hakikazi REPOA / TGPN. (n.d.). Follow the Money: a Resource Book for Trainers on Public Expenditure Tracking in Tanzania. <http://www.genderbudgets.org/index.php?option=com_joomdoc&view=documents&path=resour ces/by-region-country/africa-documents/tanzania/follow-the-money-a-resourcebook-for-trainers-on-public-expenditure-tracking-in-tanzania&Itemid=540> City of Vienna. 2011. Gender Budgeting VA 2012, Annex to the 2012 draft budget, <http://www.wien.gv.at/finanzen/budget/va12/pdf/32.pdf.> Council of Europe. 2009. Gender Budgeting, Practical Implementation Handbook, <http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/equality/03themes/ gender-mainstreaming/CDEG%282008%2915_en.pdf> CRPM. 2008. Gender Aware Policy Appraisal, Diagnosis Related Groups and Unpaid Work of Women. Skopje. Centre for Research and Policy Making. <http:// www.crpm.org.mk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/unifem_eng1.pdf> Einhaus Arnd. 2010. Geschlecht und Steuerwirkung – Einkommen und einkommensabhängige Abgaben von Frauen und Männern, Working Paper 3/2010. Ministry of Finance. Vienna. <https://www.bmf.gv.at/services/publikationen/BMF-WP_3_2010-Geschlecht_und_Steuerwirkung.pdf?3vtn20> Einhaus Arnd, Edith Kitzmantel and Anton Rainer. 2006. Ist die Einkommensbesteuerung geschlechtsneutral? Working Paper 2/2006.

Ministry of Finance. Vienna. <https://www.bmf.gv.at/services/publikationen/BMF-WP_3_2010-Geschlecht_und_Steuerwirkung.pdf?3vtn20> Elson, Diane. 1999. Gender Budget Initiative, Background Papers. Commonwealth Secretariat. <http://www.undp.mn/publications/GenderBudgets/Budgets%20 CD%20section%203/3.1%20gender%20neutral%20gender%20blind.pdf> Elson, Diane and Cagatay, Nilufer, 2000. The Social Content of Macroeconomic Policies. In: World Development, Vol. 28, No. 7. Pp.1347-1364. <http:// csde.washington.edu/~scurran/files/readings/May19/Elson.%20 Social%20Content%20of%20Macroeconomic%20Policies.pdf> Demery, Lionel. 2002. Gender and Public Spending: Insights from Benefit Incidence. UNIFEM. 2002. Pp.38-55.

Government of Pakistan. 2009. Gender Budget Statement (2008-09). Finance Division. Strengthening PRS Monitoring Project. Prepared by Muhammad Sabir.

GTZ. 2006. Manual for Training on Gender Responsive Budgeting. Prepared by Katrin Schneider. <http://www.gender-budgets.org/index.php?option=com_ joomdoc&view=documents&path=resources/by-type/training-manuals/ gtz-manual-for-training-on-gender-responsive-budgeting&Itemid=155>

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Hobauer Balmori, Helena. 2002. Gender and Budgets. Overview Report Bridge Development – Gender. IDS. London. <http:// www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/reports/cep-budgets-report.pdf> ICRW. 2003. How to make the Law Work? Budgetary Implications of Domestic Violence Policies in Latin America. <http://www.icrw. org/files/publications/HOW-TO-MAKE-THE-LAW-WORK-BudgetaryImplications-of-Domestic-Violence-Policies-in-Latin-America.pdf> Karamessini, Maria and Rubery, Jill. (eds). 2013. Women and Austerity. The Economic Crisis and the Future for Gender Equality. London and New York: Routledge.

Klatzer, Elisabeth and Schlager, Christa. 2011. EU Macroeconomic Governance and Gender Orders: the Case of Austria. In: Young, Brigitte. Bakker, Isabella and Elson, Diane, (eds). 2011. Questioning Financial Governance from a Feminist Perspective. Pp.51-73. London and New York: Routledge.

Klatzer, Elisabeth and Schlager, Christa. 2014. Gender and Macroeconomics: Economic Governance in the European Union – Reconfiguration of Gendered Power Structures and the Erosion of Gender Equality. In: Evans, May, Hemmings, Clare, Henry, Marsha, Johnstone, Hazel, Madhok, Sumi and Wearing, Sadie. 2014. Feminist Theory Handbook. SAGE, forthcoming.

Madörin Mascha. 2007. Gender-Responsive Budgeting Initiatives in Switzerland: Work in Progress. Federal Office for Gender Equality. Switzerland. <http://www.equality.ch/pdf_d/P_Budgetanalyse_Madoerin_E2.pdf> Mahbub, Nadeem and Budlender, Debbie. 2007. Gender Responsive Budgeting in Pakistan: Experience and Lessons Learned. November 2007.

Mhina, Edward. 2007. Financing for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women: Experiences from Tanzania. <http://www.ansa-africa.net/uploads/ documents/publications/Gender_Tanzania_Mhina_Aug2007.pdf> Norton, Andy and Elson, Diane. 2002. What’s behind the Budget?

Politics, Rights and Accountability in the Budget Process. Overseas Development Institute. London. <http://www.odi.org.uk/sites/odi. org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/2422.pdf> Office of the Status of Women. 2004. The Cost of Domestic Violence to the Australian Economy, Commonwealth of Australia. <http://www.fahcsia.gov. au/our-responsibilities/women/publications-articles/reducing-violence/ the-cost-of-domestic-violence-to-the-australian-economy> Provincial Secretariat for Labour, Employment and Gender Equality. 2009.

Towards Gender Budgeting in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. Novi Sad. Rusimbi, Marry. 2002. Mainstreaming Gender into Policy, Planning and Budgeting in Tanzania. In: UNIFEM/IDRC/Commonwealth Secretariat. 2002.

Gender Budget Initiatives: Strategies, Concepts and Experiences. UNIFEM. New York. <http://www.gender-budgets.org/index.php?option=com_joomdoc&v iew=documents&path=suggested-readings&Itemid=587&limitstart=20> Rokvic, D. 2009. Gender Budget Analysis in the Agricultural and Rural Development Sector in Republika Srpska.

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Sharp, Rhonda. 2003. Budgeting for Equity: Gender Budget Initiatives within a Framework of Performance Oriented Budgeting. <http://www.gender-budgets.org/ index.php?option=com_joomdoc&view=documents&path=resources/by-themeissue/public-finance-management-system/budgeting-for-equity-gender-budgetinitiatives-within-a-framework-of-performance-oriented-budgeting&Itemid=566> Sharp, Rhonda and Broomhill, Ray. 2002. Budgeting for Equality: The Australian Experience. In: Feminist Economics, 8 (1) 2002. Pp. 25-47. <http://www.siyanda.org/docs/sharp_broomhill.pdf> UNFPA/UNIFEM. 2006. Gender Responsive Budgeting and Women’s Reproductive Rights: a Resource Pack. <http://www.unfpa.org/public/publications/pid/371> UNDP: Gender Responsive Budgeting in Practice: A Training Manual, <http://www.unifem.org/materials/item_detail.php?ProductID=85> UNIFEM. 2005. Tools for Gender-Sensitive Analysis of Budgets. April 2005. New York.

UNIFEM. 2007. Gender Responsive Budgeting in FYR Macedonia.

Fact sheet September 2007. <http://www.gender-budgets.org/ index.php?option=com_joomdoc&view=documents&path=r esources/by-region-country/europe-cee-and-cis-documents/ gender-responsive-budgeting-in-fyr-macedonia&Itemid=542> UNIFEM. 2010. Gender Responsive Budgeting in South Eastern Europe: UNIFEM Experiences. <http://www.unifem.sk/ uploads/doc/GRBinSEE_UNIFEMexperiences.pdf> UN Women. (n.d.). Formal and Informal Aspects of Home-based Care of Elderly People from the Singerei Region: A Case Study. <http://www.un.md/UNIFEM/programme_areas/GRB/case_studies/eng/GRBSocialProtection_home_care_cost.pdf> Watch Group Gender und öffentliche Finanzen. 2006. Elemente einer Gender-Analyse des Steuersystems. In: Kurswechsel 1/2006: Steuer(ungs)konzepte mit Zukunft, Sonderzahl-Verlag. Vienna.

Women’s Budget Group. 2011. Gender Analysis of the Changes in Indirect Taxes Introduced by the Coalition Government, 2010–2011. <http://wbg. org.uk/pdfs/Indirect_tax_Budget_2011_final_report_June_20.pdf> Women’s Budget Group. 2013. The Impact on Women of Budget 2013: A Budget for Inequality and Recession, April 2013. <http:// wbg.org.uk/pdfs/0-WBG_Budget-Analysis_2013.pdf> Young, Brigitte. Bakker, Isabella and Elson, Diane. 2011. Questioning Financial Governance from a Feminist Perspective. London and New York: Routledge.

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PART FOUR

IMPLEMENTATION OF GENDER SENSITIVE BUDGETING INITIATIVES

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Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) initiatives from all around the world have been argued

by Sharp (2003) to have a threefold purpose: (i) to raise awareness and understanding on gender issues in budgets and policies, (ii) to foster the accountability of governments for their gender equality commitments and (iii) to ultimately change budgets and policies in the light of the assessments and having effected accountability. However, as claimed by Budlender 2003 “often the initiatives do not fulfil all the roles which are attributed to them”.

The non-fulfilment of each and every goal should not be seen as a failure, because the success of an initiative is pertinent to the actors, their commitment to the goals and their understanding of the activities they undertake.

Using a case study approach, the following section of the book provides an overview of the various gender responsive budgeting initiatives implemented in countries within the European Union, countries from South East Europe and selected global examples. In accordance with Thomas (2011), GRB is the subject of the inquiry in this section of the book and “will be an instance of a class of phenomena that provides an analytical frame”, whereas the countries present “the object within which the study is conducted”. In this respect, the case studies include quantitative evidence that relies on multiple sources of evidence and benefit from the prior development of theoretical propositions presented in earlier chapters of this book. These are primarily descriptive studies, typically presenting one or two GRB initiatives per country to illustrate what the situation is like. This approach serves primarily to make the unfamiliar familiar and to give readers examples of how GRB is put into practice. Their aim is to illustrate how diverse GRB initiatives have developed over time worldwide.

The selected case studies are not representative but rather provide an insight into the best examples for implementing GRB initiatives around the globe, specifically focusing on Europe and our region. In this respect they refer to a range of actions that ultimately seek to make the budgeting process more responsive to the inequalities between women/girls and men/ boys, such as carrying out gender budget analysis, increasing economic literacy and understanding of the budgeting process, raising awareness, building knowledge and capacity on gender issues, improving transparency of the effects the budgeting process has on women and men, increasing government accountability etc. The same case studies structure is used in all of the examples presented in this chapter, which covers the history and contextual background of when the initiative commenced and the process of its implementation concluding with observations on the strengths and weakness, successes and failures of the featured GRB initiatives.

At the end of this part of the book we have developed a chapter that provides comparative analysis of GRB approaches used around the world, in Europe and more importantly in South East Europe. The chapter also presents comparative analysis of achieved results to date.

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1. EXPERIENCES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GRB Global Case Studies 1.1. Australia A. History and Background of the Initiative Australia is a pioneer in gender mainstreaming. The political commitment to gender mainstreaming came from the top of the hierarchy: a female cabinet minister responsible for the portfolio on gender equality. Since the nineteen seventies the country has developed national machinery for the development of women’s policy encompassing (i) the head of the Women’s Policy Unit in the main policy coordination department and (ii) women’s policy focal points in all government departments. Significant for the development of this women’s machinery was the engagement of feminist activists within the state bureaucracy who became known as ‘femocrats’ (see Sharp and Costa, 2011).

Consequently the debate expanded to securing budgetary support for the implementation of women’s policies, firstly by putting focus on gender auditing undertaken through analyses of cabinet submissions and budget outlays and latter by strengthening the monitoring and oversight function of the parliamentary party committee as well as engaging intergovernmental agencies to share best practice (see Sawer 1999 p.40 in Maddison, and Partridge 2007 p.37). The comprehensive women’s machinery that was developed was later complemented by regulatory bodies and various acts of legislation such as the Equal Opportunity Acts (1984), Sex Discrimination Act (1984) and the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act (1999).

In Australia the first GRB initiative was launched as part of the 1984 federal budget with the publication of the Women’s Budget Programme that was later renamed the Women’s Budget Statement (WBS). The WBS aimed to mainstream gender into economic and social policy by requiring government agencies to provide assessments of their programmes and spending in relation to their impact on women and girls compared to that of men and boys.

The WBS was identified as best practice in 1998 by a UN expert group meeting on national machineries for gender equality (Sawer 2002).

B. Content and Process of Implementation The WBS had its own development dynamic after having gone through two broad phases before the onset of the global financial crisis (see Costa and Sharp 2011). The first phase was from 1983 to 1996. At the beginning a pilot involving thirteen departments was conducted resulting in the Women’s Budget Statement as part of the 1983‐84 budget documents. The same practice was diffused from the national to the sub-national level amongst six Australian states and two territory governments. The only difference was that the states and the territories also included budget information on equal employment opportunity programmes in the public sector, which was not the case with the federal budget statements

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where there was specific division between women’s policy and equal employment opportunity functions. The statements were based on gender responsive budget analysis produced by the ministries (and government departments) whereas the women’s policy machinery and the Treasury coordinated the responses.

The agenda, the issues of which will be analysed, was defined through the regular quarterly meeting between federal, state and territory senior ‘femocrats’ (see Sawer, 1990). Usually the analysis focused on the influence that non‐gender specific budget expenditure had on women and men, boys and girls, using standardised formats. This information was to be included in a document to be circulated on budget night by the Prime Minister (see Sharp and Costa, 2011). To complement the analysis of the impact of existing programmes and policies, government departments were to identify objectives and avenues to improve performance in addressing the needs and concerns of women (Sawer 2002; 1990). The document provided the reader with detailed information on existing and new policies and budgets although it was often uncritical of their weaknesses, including the failure to discuss what programmes and funding were to be cut (see Sharp and Costa 2011 p7).

The second phase started in 1996 and continued up until the election of the Labour government in 2007. With the election of a conservative government in 1996 came a wind of change that contributed to the phasing out of the women’s budget statement initiative and the downsizing of the women’s policy machinery. This resulted in utter marginalisation of the WBS when in 1996 the Government announced that “...while the innovative women’s budget statement has been a valuable formal reporting mechanism its purpose has been principally one of communication, with little impact on policy formulation (OSW, 1996).

Thereof, the second phase primarily focused on the advisory role and policy development function of the Office of the Status of Women (OSW), which remained the pillar for mainstreaming gender at the national level. Nevertheless, the Government published the women’s budget statement each year as part of the budget papers and formatted as a ministerial statement which, “listed the Government’s achievements included in the budget with regard to women” (see Sharp and Costa, 2011). However what they did not provide was an “assessment of the budget impact on men and women” (see Sharp 2007; Budlender 2007).

Towards the end of the federal conservative government phase a ‘Women’s Budget Kit’ was launched on the Office for Women website that provided descriptions of the policy focus of the government. Over time the initiatives at the state and territory level of government changed formats and were generally scaled back.

When Labour was elected at the federal level it published a newly formatted Women’s Budget Statement from its first budget in 2008-09. These women’s budget statements did provide some assessments as to whether the government’s commitments to women and gender equality were being achieved (Sharp and Costa 2011).

C. Results of the GRB Initiatives In the first phase of implementation the Women’s Budget Statements served as an important awareness raising instrument amongst government bureaucrats on the impact of their policies on women. This was particularly important as the long held belief of so-called gender neutral policies was pervasive within government. By questioning the gender neutrality

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of policies the WBS allowed for an environment prone to the enhancement of advocacy for more effective gender mainstreaming. In the second phase of implementation the budget papers of the OSW became increasingly less critical and more an exercise in departmental self‐justification (see Sawer 2002 p.51). Gender budget exercises also raised awareness within the bureaucracy that government resources has an impact on the role of women as decision makers in the community (see Sharp and Broomhill 2002 p.10) and as a result female representation in government bodies, such as boards and committees, increased. In this respect especially, the Australian experience at both the federal and territory level was assessed as “constituting a relatively homogeneous ‘inside government’ model” (Ibid p.5).

One of the biggest successes of this GRB initiative is the building of government’s capacity at the national and sub-national level for gender mainstreaming as well as the development of a culture for ‘insiders’ to provide critical analysis of policies and budgets. However, these ‘femocrats’ were both the strongest and weakest link to the WBS in Australia. Namely, the initiative was highly dependent on the gender machinery but with limited civil society involvement and was therefore left without opposition, which proved to be crucial in the period when the changing political context led to the decline of the WBS (ILO 2006).

The Australian gender budgets achieved a mixed result in relation to their potential to foster greater government accountability… “especially in the area of developing better data and indicators of progress at the programme level” (see Sharp and Broomhill 2002 p.12). By using the WBS, the gender machinery succeeded in changing policy options and especially budgets allocated for their implementation (i.e., increased annual spending on childcare).

Gender budgets proved to be even more effective vehicles for monitoring the implementation of those policies and legislation specified in the government policy statement on women (Ibid).

Nevertheless, the critics mainly objected to the limited utilisation of the standard WBS forms for assessing the gender impact that became more marked with expenditure cuts and the changes in taxation under neoliberal policy settings. Others complained about the structure of the budget statement (encompassing ineffective analysis of the impact of expenditure) and the length of the WBS (too long, hard to read and written in a language not friendly to citizens).

1.2. Canada A. History and Background of the Initiative Canada is promoted as being a world leader in gender equality. The beginning of the gender equality path dates back to 1970 when the Royal Commission on the Status of Women was established and produced a report On the Status of Women in which one of the recommendations was to establish an Office of the Coordinator for the Status of Women (nowadays known under the name Status of Women Canada – SWC) in 1971. Subsequently, the National Action Committee (NAC) was established at the beginning of 1972 as a coalition of 23 women’s groups. The efforts of the SWC coupled with those of the NAC made it possible for the equality of the sexes to be included in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which is part of the Canadian Constitution established in 1982.

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In addition, it ensured what today is to believed to be the most effective way of improving the status and wellbeing of women: ensuring their full, equal and effective participation in decision making by establishing women’s caucuses in the three largest political parties. The political participation of women effectuated immediately with the adoption of the Federal Plan for Gender Equality in 1995. With this plan the Federal Government of Canada established the incorporation of a women’s perspective in governance as a central priority in foreign and domestic policy on gender equality and women’s rights.

B. Content and the Process of Implementation Gender Based Analysis (GBA) is the instrument used in Canada for gender responsive policy making. GBA is an analytical tool used to examine a new or existing policy, programme or initiative for potential impact on diverse groups of women and men, girls and boys. A key component of GBA is questioning and challenging our assumptions, with the goal of better understanding the complex realities experienced by diverse groups of Canadians (SWC website). In recent years Status of Women Canada has adopted the term ‘GBA+’, using the ‘plus’ as a way to emphasise that GBA is a tool that also examines diverse factors beyond gender, such as age, education, language, geography, culture and income.

As part of the Federal Gender Equality Plan, Status of Women Canada took on a Gender Based Analysis capacity building role across the Federal Government of Canada. However, the body that primarily produces gender based analysis (GBA) nowadays is the Policy Directorate which (i) helps to include gender equality considerations in current and new policy initiatives and (ii) generates knowledge and tools on gender issues and GBA practices (Hélène Dwyer-Renaud 2008). Each of the departments in the line ministries are also trained to perform gender based analysis of new policy proposals that are then sent to the Ministry of Finance for review and budgeting. The Ministry of Finance in Canada also has financial analysts trained in producing gender based analysis. They use a reporting template that requires gender impacts to be reported and briefing documents prepared for the Minister of Finance on matters to be considered in the budget.

The GBA is performed through a number of steps. The first is to prepare a preliminary assessment of the impact of gender equality, which is followed by the setting of gender sensitive policy outcomes, goals, objectives and indicators. This is based on research and consultation with all relevant stakeholders. The gathered data is used for the development of policy options and recommendations on the best policy option to the decision making body for design and adoption. The implementation process is monitored using the indicators framework set at the beginning of the GBA process and the gathered data is used for evaluation.

In 2009 the Standing Committee on the Status of Women in the House of Commons of Canada organised an oversight hearing for the introduction of Gender Responsive Budgeting in the country. The Committee issued a report that took into account all of the gender equality mechanisms that were employed in Canada that were are important for the operationalisation of a GRB initiative. The central position was given to the GBA activities of the Federal Government together with the gender disaggregated data produced by Statistics Canada in collaboration with the SWC. The report revealed that “moving towards a higher level of technical competence in gender based analysis” is not enough and recommends that “Finance Canada adopt a gender responsive approach to the federal budget and for

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institutionalisation of accountability mechanisms” (11th Report of the Standing Committed on the Status of Women). However, up until today this recommendation has not taken effect and the GBA has proven to be insufficient to produce gender responsive budget by itself.

This did not discourage the activists in the non-governmental sector, which had promoted early forms of gender responsive budgeting since 1993. The Canadian non-governmental organisation the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom had an initiative that concentrated on defence expenditure and the opportunity cost of reallocating it to the social sector. The goal of the WILPF is “the establishment of an international economic order founded on meeting the needs of all peoples and not on profit and privilege”. As such, the Canadian Women’s Budget stressed the link between military expenditure and environmental destruction and that social and economic security should be basic rights; it further stressed the consequent need “to shift from a ‘war economy’ to a ‘peace economy’ in order to preserve the environment and human life” (WILPF 1993 1).

In 1995 another Canadian civil society group the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) promoted an alternative federal budget through a coalition of community, labour, environmental and social advocacy organisations. This initiative has continued up until today. In 2013 the alternative federal budget noted that, “If the overall tax level were simply restored to what it was in the mid-1990s Canadian governments would have $90 billion more per year to invest in the public services essential to the collective health and wellbeing” (Alternative federal budget, 2013). However, it should be noted that GRB has not been fully incorporated into its main body of research, although there are a number of areas where the alternative budget specifically addresses gender imbalances, discriminatory situations and it specifically addresses women’s unpaid care work within the context of continuous cuts and changes in the social health and care provision (ILO 2006).

C. Results of the GRB Initiative There are not many resources available for assessing the successes or failures of the GRB initiative in Canada. One of the few sources that do exist is the Report of the Auditor General of Canada in 2009. This report was produced to evaluate the implementation of the GBA commitments set forth in the Federal Gender Equality Plan. It examined progress towards meeting the federal commitment to implement GBA in seven departments: the Department of Finance Canada, the Department of Justice Canada, Health Canada, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), Transport Canada, and Veterans Affairs Canada. The assessment found considerable variation in the extent to which the selected departments had developed and implemented a GBA framework.

In 2009 it was reported that the Department of Finance had established a GBA section and added it to the Department’s intranet, giving examples of analyses. The Department reports on progress towards GBA implementation in the Tax Policy Branch through its annual Departmental Performance Report. The Department of Justice reviews whether a bill complies with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, more specifically sections 15 and 28 that deal with equality rights, before it is tabled in Parliament. However, the audit could not find evidence that the GBA process had been implemented consistently in the Department in 2009.

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The audit found evidence that gender based analysis had been adequately integrated into policy development for only 4 of the 68 initiatives: 2 at the Department of Finance Canada and 2 at Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. Although the departments considered gender impact for 30 initiatives the Auditor General found that the extent of the research they had performed varied greatly and that they were not able to show that they had integrated the gender impact into the various policy options considered. The Department of Finance Canada performed statistical analyses or fiscal simulations to assess the gender impact of 11 initiatives; however, from the evidence the Department was able to provide it was not clear how the research and analyse supported the policy options. The Department stated that the policy options and their gender impact had been presented in the form of briefing notes addressed to the Minister of Finance for use in the discussion (Report Spring 2009).

1.3. South Africa A. History and Background of the Initiative South Africa is one of the most widely used examples for a gender responsive budgeting initiative. Just after apartheid within the democratic reform of the country gender equality was adopted as a core value. This value was immediately adopted into the country’s governance processes and enshrined in the 1996 Constitution of South Africa. South Africa’s definition of and goals towards achieving gender equality are guided by a vision of human rights which incorporates acceptance of the equal and inalienable rights of all women and men.

This ideal is a fundamental tenet under the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 from 1996).

What is rather specific to the case of South Africa is the strong political commitment to gender equality which led the government to set gender sensitive national priorities, to adopt a gender sensitive policy framework and build national gender equality machinery. The national machinery for the advancement of gender equality in South Africa is encompassed in the Office on the Status of Women and the Commission on Gender Equality, a network of Gender Focal Points (GFPs) and various organs of civil society.

To achieve gender equality priorities a legislative framework was adopted and designed “to root out gender discrimination and to promote women’s rights and empowerment by the prioritisation of the basic needs of South Africa’s poorest citizens through improved access to health, welfare, housing, water and education; by the growth in the number of women occupying senior positions in government and by the advancement of the democratisation of all institutions of the state and civil society” (South Africa’s National Policy Framework for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality: 4). The gender equality legislation is in accordance with the Gender Policy Framework, which aims to establish a clear vision and framework to guide the process of developing laws, policies, procedures and practices that will serve to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women and men in all spheres and structures of government as well as in the workplace, community and family.

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B. Content and the Process of Implementation South Africa was one of the first countries in the world to have a GRB initiative in 1995. The Women’s Budget Initiative developed in phases. In the first phase 1995-1998 the initiative was jointly launched by two NGOs and members of parliament united in the South African Women’s Budget Initiative (SAWBI). Unlike the GRB initiatives in Australia and Canada, which were predominantly dependent on the capacity of the civil service, the SAWBI is a research and advocacy initiative focused on national and sub-national budgets but using the capacity of civil society, government and parliamentarians engaged in advocacy. “The SAWBI approach was to contact experts in academia and the NGO sector to carry out an analysis of different sectors that had been identified as reflecting particular inequalities by looking at the sectoral policies and the corresponding budgetary allocations for those policies. Once the research had been produced it was agreed that parliamentarians would advocate for the relevant changes” (Budlender et al 2002).

“In its first three years the initiative produced an in-depth analysis of the budgets of all departments of the national sphere of government, as well as analysis of several related issues” (Budlender 2012). The analysis was produced by sector specialists who attended workshops to impart budget analysis skills and economists or accountants with budget analysis skills who attended workshops to impart sectoral and gender knowledge.

The analysis by the South African Women’s Budget Initiative was conducted for both national and sub-national level budgets. The analysis was done in four sectors (welfare, education, housing and work) and the two crosscutting themes of taxation and public sector employment.

The five-step approach to GRB analysis was used. Step 1, describe the situation of women and men, girls and boys (and their sub-groups) in relation to the chosen sector; Step 2, assess government policy (understood to include programmes, projects and activities) in the sector as to whether it addresses the gender gaps and issues identified in step 1; Step 3, examine whether the allocated budget is adequate to implement the gender sensitive policies, programmes, projects and activities identified in step 2; Step 4, explore whether the allocated budget was spent as planned and what ‘outputs’ were delivered through the budget (analogous to monitoring and auditing) and Step 5, assess whether the delivered outputs succeeded in reducing the gender gaps identified in step 1 (analogous to evaluation).

This framework makes SAWBI the most institutionalised GRB initiative. Its contribution is particularly appreciated in the analysis of general or mainstream expenditure as they account for more than 99 per cent of government spending. As other GRB initiatives, the SAWBI also has its own development dynamics. In the first five years the framework only focused on analysing the gender impact of expenditure. Later, based on assessments of the achievements of the initiative, the SAWBI framework was extended to incorporate analyses of the revenue side of the budget. This included an assessment of direct and indirect taxation, donor funds and customs and excise ( Sharp 2003; Budlender et al 2002 and Budlender et al 2002a).

In the second phase of the initiative it was decided, based on an evaluation, that the WBI should not attempt to produce annual updates for all government departments and so, in accordance with its principle of accountability, each government department should report annually to the parliament and civil society on how it allocated and spent money as well its affect on different groups of women and men, girls and boys in society. SAWBI in this

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respect remained “to explore the boundaries of the still developing field of GRB analysis and to explore the gender and budget implications of new issues as they emerged in public debate” (Budlender 2012).

C. Results of the GRB Initiative The SAWBI is often cited as one of the most successful initiatives because it drew support from both state (parliament and government) and non-state actors (civil society and international agencies). As a result, the SAWBI “has provided a major role model for development of gender responsive budgets” (see Sharp 2003 p.6). This initiative has specific value as it did not miss any significant opportunities for promoting gender equality through public expenditure as well as through public revenue.

The greatest success of the initiative is the inspiration it has provided for the development a comprehensive gender equality policy framework and institutional capacity. What is more, the openness of SAWBI to change and progress allowed for integration of other categories of analysis besides gender, such as race and the rural-urban divide, that were facilitated through the framework’s focus not only on national but also local budgets within the context of inter-governmental fiscal policy. The institutional capacity building was coupled with training facilitated through the Gender Education and Training Network.

“The materials were developed through a series of interactive workshops in which key researchers, gender trainers and adult educators came together. The materials were composed in modular form, with the intention that someone designing a workshop would be able to pick and choose the modules most relevant for their purposes” (Budlender 2012).

Another major achievement of SAWBI has been the strengthening of the system for the collection of gender disaggregated data by the National Statistical Office, which was facilitated by the requirement for government officials to disaggregate output indicators when drafting submissions for the budget. Finally, the initiative has achieved concrete success in changing budget allocations to the Department of Trade and Industry for small medium and micro enterprises (ILO 2006).

During implementation the SAWBI faced many challenges, such as the frequent change of government (especially at the provincial level), that endangered the impact of the GRB analysis on policy making, the not so effective lobbying and advocacy to follow through the recommendations of the analysis using the SAWBI framework and the limited ownership of the initiative amongst civil servants; the perception of SAWBI as being an ‘activist issue’ continues to prevail (ILO 2006).

The South African experience supports the lessons learned in Australian that gender budgets can only bring about change in budget allocations if there is significant political pressure from both inside and outside of government. This in turn led the authors of the Report on the Progress of the World’s Women to recommend that the most effective way to hold government accountable for the gender impact of its budget is to have both an inside government and a community based gender budget exercise (see UNIFEM 2000 p.13).

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European Case Studies 1.4. Austria A. History and Background of the Initiative In Austria gender equality ideas started to spread from labour relations. The country adopted the Equal Treatment Act in 1979 (regulating equal pay in the private sector) but started equal treatment advocacy just ten years later in 1990, whereas the same principles were introduced in public sector in 1993. In 1998 the Austrian Constitutional Act was amended to meet the demands of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discriminations against Women (CEDAW) and allow for opportunities to implement the EC Directives: 2000/78/EC, 2000/43/EC and 2002/73/EC. In terms of gender equality machinery, since 1993 Austria has had the Equal Treatment Board in Parliament that deals with gender equality legislation. At the government level there are the Inter-Ministerial Working Group for Gender Equality and the Inter-Ministerial Working Group for Gender Mainstreaming. Within each ministry Equal Treatment Commissioners are appointed to counsel federal civil servants and employees and to monitor all cases of gender discrimination that are brought to their notice. Finally these commissioners are members of the Equal Treatment Boards of the ministries that were established to monitor and to further the career advancement of female civil servants. The Government also established the Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Section at the Federal Chancellery, which is responsible for gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting together with the Inter-Ministerial Working Group on Gender Mainstreaming.

B. Content and the Process of Implementation In spring 2001 an independent group of economists and social scientists from universities and other research institutions organised a working group known as BEIGEWUM: Austriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first gender budgeting initiative. The group aimed to raise awareness and provide information about gender budgeting in order to motivate both government and NGOs to pursue the issue further. They collected information on gender budgeting and its international development and explored the gender specific effects on the Austrian national budget. In 2004 BEIGEWUM also produced a training handbook which was to be an important knowledge management resource for GRB in the later years of GRB reform in Austria.21 In response to the demand for more assistance in the practice of gender budgeting, BEIGEWUM organised conferences and published the results of their work (BEIGEWUM 2004).

In 2002 the Ministry of Finance took the first steps towards gender budgeting by conducting a gender disaggregated data analysis of Austrian income tax. The Austrian Federal Government followed with a decision in March 2004 to implement gender budgeting, which was translated into a policy option in 2005 when the Budget Law was amended to introduce gender budgeting as a means of gender mainstreaming. With this the comprehensive budget reform in Austria commenced when Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) was 21 Available at http://www.beigewum.at/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/200408_genderbudgeting_handbuch. pdf accessed on 1 September 2013.

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integrated as a key element to be applied for each budget bill from 2013 onwards. In the explanations for the relevant budget drafts there is a chapter on ‘Gender Aspects of the Budget’ for each department (ministry), in which selected gender analyses are presented (Klatzer et al 2010). The reform enshrines a medium term expenditure framework, accrual budgeting and accounting and performance budgeting (Steger, G. 2012).

“In the budget management of the Federation the fundamental principles of outcome orientation, especially considering the objectives of the effective equality of men and women, […] are to be observed.” Austrian Federal Constitution, Article 51 clause 8.

As a first step each ministry was requested to analyse the gender impact of one category of its budget allocation. The Ministry of Health and Women’s Affairs was the first to establish a gender budgeting working group as part of the gender mainstreaming implementation process and started a pilot analysis of expenditure on the drug policy.

The Austrian institutional framework links performance budgeting (including GRB) directly to the budget process. As of 2013 the Austrian federal budget systematically defines which ministry gets what resources and at the same time declares which results will be delivered by the respective ministry for that budget year. At the same time the federal ministries are obliged to implement effective equality for women and men as one of the principles of outcome orientation for managing the budget of the federal public administration. The Federal Budget Law 2013 comprises detailed regulations on outcome oriented administration (elaborated in the Strategy Report on the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework) including consideration of the objective of effective equality of women and men. In the future equality aspects will be an explicit factor throughout the management cycle of administrative action, from planning to implementation to evaluation. In annual planning the gender equality outcomes and outputs are set out in the Annual Federal Budget Statement in the budget chapter and global budget level as well as in the Explanatory Budget Documents on the detailed budget level. An additional purpose of gender equality outcomes and outputs is to provide members of parliament and citizens with more information on and insight into the priority areas of each ministry in the respective financial year.

The process of gender budgeting starts with the formulation of gender equality targets and the related indicators for measuring success in implementation; it then continues with an analysis of the current impact of the budget with regard to the distributive effects of allocations to women and men and/or specific groups of women and men. In this system the Ministry of Finance (MoF) plays a pivotal role, as it sets the formal standards for the presentation of performance goals in the budget. The outcomes and outputs for each ministry are defined by the respective line ministries. The Chancellery has a monitoring role (in addition to helping ministries to formulate outcomes and outputs) and the Court of Auditors has an evaluation role (to assess ex post if the outcomes and outputs were delivered) and reports to Parliament and the public.22 The political commitment to gender budgeting was crowned with the amendment of the Austrian Constitution (Article 13 clause 3) that has been in force since 2009 and which states that “the federal state, the ‘Länder’ and the municipalities must aim at achieving the actual equality of women and men in budget processes”. With this Austria became the first country 22 Based on the Inter-Ministerial Working Group on Gender Mainstreaming information is available at <http:// www.bka.gv.at/DocView.axd?CobId=46719>, last accessed 1September 2013.

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to have embedded gender budgeting and make it legally binding for all public administrative bodies (Klatzer et al 2010).

This constitutional amendment opened a reform platform for the ‘Lander’ as well, although some of them had done pioneering work even before the change in the Austrian Constitution was adopted. Hence, at the local level Upper Austria, Vienna and Burgenland, have adopted detailed strategies for the introduction of gender budgeting into its operations. Since January 2005 Vienna has appointed gender budget representatives and from August 2005 all budget documents of the City include a gender component that follows uniform standards and methods for generating the gender budgeting chapter of the budget.

“Although their design is simple – in essence, it involves sex counting – they are implemented regularly and systematically” (see Klatzer et al 2010 p.57). In Upper Austria, based on the pilot project, ‘Gender Budget Analysis in Upper Austria’, which was funded by the EU (Mayrhuber et al, 2006), gender mainstreaming commenced and encompassed training, knowledge management (through the production of guides and manuals), the establishment of equality targets in every department and the collection of gender disaggregated data (based on Klatzer et al 2010 p.59).

C. Results of the GRB Initiative The Austrian GRB initiative generated lessons from the very beginning. While the BEIGEWUM raised awareness and contributed to capacity building and knowledge management, the budget analysis from 2004-2009 had further results. It is important to note that activities to date at the federal level have been limited to pilot projects. Most notable was the one launched by the Chancellery to integrate gender budgeting into the Federal Human Resources Plan using the Central Staff Management tool, which focused on a fair distribution of top positions within federal services under income regulation between women and men. There was also the budget analysis of the use of funds in research and the social policy.

Although policy recommendations were instructive the application of the results of gender budgeting analyses had not been taken further (Frey et al 2007; Biffl et al 2006). The results are mainly attested but vary due to the lack of uniform binding quality standards, but also the active strategic management and design of the process (Klatzer et al 2010).

The Federal Government’s Strategy Report, drawn up for the first time in 2009 on the basis of the budget reform, takes account of the implementation of various gender budgeting activities (Bundesministerium für Finanzen 2009). According to Klatzer et al (2010), the Strategy Report summarises all gender specific pilot measures of individual ministries, whether already implemented or planned, according to their budgetary subdivisions (see Bundesministerium für Finanzen 2009 Pp. 77–84).

“Forty two percentage of the listed subdivisions, which basically correspond to the ministerial or departmental structure, report ongoing or planned pilot projects of various sizes in the area of gender budgeting” (see Klatzer 2010 p.52).

Based on the analysis of the report, Klatzer et al evidences a limited understanding of the need for introducing gender budgeting within the framework of an outcome oriented approach and foresees difficulties due to the lack of clear cut distinctions between the promotion of women, gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting, in both theory and

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practice. At the same time, the pilot studies are commended for the impact they had on gender desegregated data gathering.

On the basis of these experiences gender budgeting is to be rolled out in all departments from 2013. A major challenge in this respect remains the linkage of gender budgeting to outcome oriented administrative management (Klatzer 2009).

1.5. Belgium A. History and Background of the Initiative The origins of the Belgian Gender Budgeting Initiative are related to the international conference ‘Gender Responsive Budgeting: a Global Vision to Strengthen Economic and Financial Governance’ organised during the Belgian Presidency of the European Union. The conference was organised in cooperation with the OECD, UNIFEM and the Nordic Council of Ministers and influenced both policy debates in the EU23 and in Belgium mainly by using the conference proceedings.24 The initiative to commence with the GRB exercise in Belgium was given by the Secretary of State for Development Cooperation where decision makers considered it hypocritical to request aid recipients to apply gender budgeting while not adopting it in Belgium. The initiative was formally adopted during the Council of Ministers that same year; it was lodged within a larger gender mainstreaming project that was also inspired by another international conference (the Beijing Conference) and EC regulation which allowed for the establishment of an institutional mechanism for equal opportunities. At that time a special structure, the so-called ‘Mainstreaming Cell’, was set up under the responsibility of the Directory of Equal Opportunities of the Ministry of Employment. It consisted of ‘flying in’ academic gender experts to work closely with in-house staff of all federal administrations and cabinets who were specifically assigned to aid the implementation of gender mainstreaming (Michielsens 2001).

This led to 2007 when Belgium passed a very ambitious law25 aimed at integrating the gender perspective into all policies. The approach was aimed at realising the equality of men and women and the introduction of the gender perspective to all phases of the policy making process (Agenda setting - Analysis – Definition of policy options - Implementation - Evaluation).

23 The European Commission set up a working group made up of national experts on gender budgeting within the Consultative Committee on Equal Opportunities, whose aim was to draw up a document for reporting the experiences in the area, provide methodical guidelines and identifying the necessary institutional requirements for implementation at the Community level and within the Member States; the European Parliament adopted a Resolution on gender budgeting: Building Public Budgets from a Gender Perspective in 2003.

24 UNIFEM (2002), Gender Budget Initiatives: Strategies, concepts and experiences. Conference ‘Strengthening Economic and Financial Governance Through Gender Responsive Budgeting’, Brussels, 16-18 October 2001.

25 The Law of 12 January 2007 was aimed at monitoring the application of the resolutions from the World Conference on Women that was held in Beijing in September 1995 and at integrating the gender perspective into the whole of the federal policies (B.M. dated 13 February 2007).

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B. Content and the Process of Implementation The gender budgeting initiative in Belgium was intended to explore the feasibility of applying gender budgeting within the federal budget. The development of the GRB initiative in Belgium had two phases. In the first phase 2001-2007 federal civil servants underwent training which included awareness raising and the transference of knowledge on the approaches and tools for gender responsive budgeting. This was followed by action research structured around Rhonda Sharp’s GRB model: (i) gender specific expenditure, (ii) equal opportunities expenditure in public sector employment and (iii) general or mainstream expenditure.

In terms of implementation, the GRB exercise was conducted by two the academic experts who visited all administrations and cabinets in order to take stock of any possible prior or ongoing initiatives regarding any of the three types of expenditure or government revenue.

The experts also noted the type of gender disaggregated data, both quantitative and qualitative, that was available and accessible and gauged the eagerness of the department staff to become more thoroughly involved in an exercise of gender budgeting (Nathalie Holvoet, 2003).

The second phase of implementation of the Belgian GRB initiative commenced with the adoption of the Gender Mainstreaming Law in 2007. The Law calls for the “integration of the gender perspective into the whole of its policies, measures, budgetary preparations and actions in order to avoid or correct inequalities between women and men” (Article). It also sets a new implementation mode by introducing the credit system through which “credits are given to actions which are aimed at achieving the equality of women and men, identified by department, public service with separate management, public enterprise and institution of public interest in a gender note attached to each draft of the general expense budget”.

This model was piloted again over the period 2007-2010 and became compulsory for all public bodies and each Federal Public Service in 2011. The administrations had to incorporate the information requested through the budgetary forms sent to the Federal Public Service Budget and Management Control into their budgetary proposals. This obligation was also mentioned in the Circular relating to the directives on the preliminary draft of the 2011 budget (Manual for Application of Gender Budgeting).

The Gender Institute organised a series of five seminars in 2008 (one conference and four thematic seminars) that brought together Belgian and European experts, members of private offices, parliamentarians and civil servants (Christiensen 2011). The aim was to raise awareness and to inform and train the political and administrative authorities directly involved in the implementation of gender mainstreaming. The Institute also played a crucial role in knowledge management, as it prepared the manuals intended to support the concrete integration of gender into policies: Gender in Public Procurement (2007), Gender Mainstreaming (2009) and Gender Budgeting (2011).

C. Results of the Initiative The assessment of the pilot project for gender mainstreaming that was implemented in the first phase 2001-2007 revealed that in some instances ministries were already applying some rudimentary GRB analysis as it was necessary for their own work, but without labelling it as GRB (Villagómez, 2006). The Belgian GRB initiative generated some important lessons

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about the availability and the limits of gender disaggregated data that affect the analysis of budget from a gender perspective; it also raised questions about budget transparency and efficiency beyond the gender focus (Ibid).

In 2003 Holvoet noted that the Belgian project was another inside government GRB initiative that provides evidence that the political location of the initiative critically determines its scope. Being a federal country, the GRB analysis of the “impact of the tax reform merely focused on the first order effects by disaggregating the financial benefits resulting from different tax reform measures, while leaving unveiled the more important second order and longer term effects on decision making patterns within the household, on the allocation of men’s and women’s labour in the paid and unpaid economy and on expenditure and consumption patterns” (see Holvoet 2003 p.14).

As suggested by Budlender (2000) and Sharp and Broomhill (2002), more deep-rooted analysis necessitates a higher level of independency that entails the involvement of actors outside of government, including civil society organisations and research institutes. The Belgian initiative also revealed that Belgian federal bureaucrats felt very uncomfortable with the need to experiment and to tailor methodologies and instruments to specific circumstances, which according to Holvoet, “run counter ruling bureaucratic culture” (Ibid).

1.6. France A. History and Background of the Initiative At the beginning of the new millennium in 2000 the French Parliament called on the Government to present annual evidence of the financial effort made to promote women’s rights and gender equality. This gave rise to the ‘jaune budgétaire’ or the yellow appendix to the budget concerning women’s rights and equality. Yet it was in 2004 that the legal basis for the principle of gender mainstreaming was adopted as a general policy principle through the enactment of the Charter for Equality between Women and Men. The Charter made the ministries and local and regional authorities responsible for the provision of tangible results on the progress achieved within the gender equality arena and plans for further achievements in this field over the subsequent three years. This signalled the introduction of results oriented budgeting within which gender responsive budgeting was also introduced as an important pillar in 2008 through the Yellow Budget Paper Act: ‘jaune budgétaire’.

B. Content and the Process of Implementation The GRB initiative in France was also developed in two phases. The first phase commenced in 2000 when the Parliament adopted the Budget Act through which the French government established the obligation to attach an annex to the draft budget presenting the funds allocated for the promotion of gender equality. This annex allows each ministerial department to present a detailed breakdown of all actions taken to promote gender equality. Although the first edition of this annex did not include all of the French Ministries it did include the appropriations made to promote gender equality by the regional councils.

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The second phase started in 2008 when the Yellow Budget Paper was produced as a monitoring tool for the Parliament and as a self-assertion tool for government (which uses it to display the results of its policy reflected through budgetary appropriations). With the Yellow Budget Paper each department is also asked to explain its approach to gender equality and submit the indicators that it considers most relevant in the area for which it is responsible.

Unlike the budget annexes of the first period that allowed for a detailed breakdown of expenditure, the Yellow Budget Paper provides information on the impact that gender neutral policies have on men and women in French society. The Yellow Budget Paper therefore acts as a gender mainstreaming tool that steers the overall direction of government action in such a way that it eventually leads to gender equality (GRB: A study of initiatives). The Yellow Budget Paper has three important categories: (i) information on the reconciliation of work and family life, (ii) information on the promotion of equality within the public administration and (iii) a summary of budgetary allocations specifically aimed at women and the promotion of gender equality.

C. Results of the Initiative The GRB initiative further enhanced gender equality policy in France. As a result of the reform, the Ministry for Gender Equality and Equality in the Workplace is required to submit to Parliament an annual Gender Equality Programme that sets forth the objectives and indicators in this policy area. Moreover, the ‘jaune budgétaire’ includes a review of the measures provided for in the Charter and allows for the gender mainstreaming approach in all public policies.

Finally, the Yellow Budget paper raised the issue of the quality of gender statistics. At the beginning many of the ministries provided only qualitative information, due to the lack of gender disaggregated data, but in the process of implementation such databases were build and the Yellow Budget Paper became more quantitative. Another benefit that has resulted from the GRB initiative in France is the cooperation between the administration (ministries) and the academia, which is demonstrated by references to the academic or commissioned reports on which policies and or programmes are based. In this sense, the academic community provides is an important input by guiding and monitoring diverse issues (Ibid).

1.7. Spain A. History and Background of the Initiative The Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995 and the European Union equality regulations represented the main pressure factors for boosting state feminism in Spain (Lombardo, 2004). Before the Spanish Equality Laws were adopted the gender equality plans had been the main policy instrument employed to implement public policies on gender equality in Spain. The institutional mechanism for gender equality was encompassed by the Women’s Institute (responsible for the development of gender equality policy) and the Cabinet, which adopted the policy (Bustelo and Ortbals 2007).

Gender equality policy plans guided gender mainstreaming reforms up until 2007 when the Equality Law, requiring public administration to mainstream gender into the adoption,

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implementation and budgeting of all policies, was adopted. This includes ex ante evaluation of the potential impact of laws from a gender perspective and that legislative proposals promote gender equality.

The gender equality machinery was also strengthened after 2007 under the auspices of the Equality Law through the creation of gender units within all ministries (Title VII, Article 77), compulsory gender training for all public administration personnel followed by an exam (Title V, Article 61), the establishment of an Equality Policies General Secretariat and the Ministry of Equality in 2008. In addition, Spain established separate equality agencies for each of the inequalities regulated under Article 13 of the EC Treaty with the exception of sexual orientation.

B. Content and the Process of Implementation In 2006 Villagómez noted that Spain had the most complete GRB initiative in Europe.

Contrary to all previously presented cases the Spanish one is not initiated at the central level but at the regional level of government. The home of the first GRB initiative in Spain was the Basque Government, which in 2001, through the Basque Women’s Institute Emakunde, attempted to mainstream the gender perspective into the budget at all levels of the Basque administration. This gender mainstreaming was included in the Third Plan of Affirmative Action for Basque Women: ‘Gender Perspective in Public Policy’. The initiative was chosen in order to have a partial approach at the beginning. It selected, specific programmes were initiated within the departments for gender analysis of expenditure such as culture, industry, trade and commerce, the interior, territorial development and environment, health, and transport and public works. The aim of the gender analysis was to explore the impact that programmes had on gender equality and to formulate recommendations conducive to changing these identified inequalities.

The method used by the Basque Government was the Gender Aware Benefit Incidence Analysis designed by Diane Elson. It was adapted to the reality of the Basque country by Rona Fitzgerald to allow, in particular, for the participation of feminist groups (and other women’s groups). It consisted of estimating the distribution of public resources assigned to men and women in each programme through a calculation of the unity cost of the provided service multiplied by the utilities used by each group (McKay and Fitzgerald 2003).

In addition to this regional experience, the sub-regional government of Córdoba (Diputación Provincial de Córdoba) in Andalusia also carried out a GRB initiative. This initiative was in accordance with the Second Equal Opportunities Plan for the province, which set out the strategy for gender mainstreaming in all areas and included GRB as one of the tools.

To achieve the goals of gender mainstreaming an institutional mechanism was set up to encompass the Gender Mainstreaming Commission and gender focal points in all areas of Diputación works. The GRB initiative in Andalusia was implemented in steps. The first step was to raise awareness amongst officials, women’s NGOs and local researchers through a two-day workshop. The second step was to develop a methodology for GRB mainly based on Rhonda Sharps three categories of expenditure framework. The third step was to institutionalise the practice of GRB.

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The GRB initiative in Andalusia has now been continuously implemented for ten years. The Gender Impact Assessment Commission uses the G+ Programme, which is a working methodology developed by the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration within the Regional Government of Andalusia. The aim is to focus and concentrate efforts on those budget programmes with the greatest powers, responsibility and capacity to achieve gender equality (Gender Impact Assessment Report, 2012). The G+ programme sets out a series of specific objectives such as (i) achieving cultural change within an organisation in order to enable it to integrate a gender focus into its actions, (ii) define a set of tools and methodologies for analysing the real situations targeted by budget programmes, (iii) draw up simple strategies for measuring the gender impact of budget programmes and (iv) design a methodology for the efficient incorporation of a gender perspective into everyday management (Ibid).

Each year the Gender Impact Assessment Commission produces a report that is made up of three stages: (i) identification and classification of programmes according to their capacity to impact on the obstacles preventing effective equality between men and women, (ii) drafting and fulfilment of Strategic Guidance Documents and (iii) monitoring and assessing the results.

C. Results of the Initiative Due to the variety of GRB initiatives in Spain at the national level gender experts and activists appreciate the gender impact assessment of the 2009 Budget Law. It has been assessed as a good first step, yet in need of improvement as, for instance, it does not include the gender impact of tax systems and does not analyse the invisible unpaid work that women perform when caring for dependant or ill relatives (Lombardo, 2009). According to research performed through the EQUAPOL Project, the Spanish decentralised model has given regions a degree of autonomy that has enabled some of them to make progress in gender mainstreaming ahead of the national level of government (Clavero and Daly 2004).

In this respect the Basque exercise provided evidence that a lack of proper gender disaggregated data may seriously affect the GRB process. Based on the first pilot analysis, the methodology changed through the introduction of gender indicators within the budget proposal for each area in order to be able to follow the actual use of the public resources managed by the local administration. However, the greatest weakness of the Basque GRB initiative can be found in the administration, which has an incomplete and sometimes very fragmentary knowledge of the beneficiaries or end users of their policies; sometimes it does not know their inner composition or the detailed use of the transferred resources (Jubeto 2008).

On the other hand, the Basque example demonstrates that the recommendations of GRB analysis do not necessarily need to advocate for more funds but rather for more equitable access to resources, employment within the same departments and further research into the gender differentiated impact of programmes.

The results of the GRB initiative by the regional government of Andalusia (Junta de AndalucĂ­a) have been assessed as very positive. As a result of the GRB analysis total budget expenditure was cut by 1.4%, whereas expenditure on gender equality priority programmes increased by 2.7% and their share of sub-regional government total expenditure amounted to 57.7% in 2010 (Campano 2012). However, one downturn was noted in the lack of participation of civil society in the GRB process.

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1.8. United Kingdom A. History and Background of the Initiative In the United Kingdom, as in France, gender equality legislation was introduced through the Equal Pay Act adopted in 1970 and followed by the Sex Discrimination Act in 1975, which was amended in 2006 through the Equality Act. The latter places the statutory duty on all public authorities to pay due regard to (i) eliminating unlawful discrimination and harassment and (ii) promoting equality of opportunity between men and women.

The institutional framework for gender equality was conceived in 1969 when the Women’s National Commission was established as an official and independent advisory body charged with providing the government of the United Kingdom with the views of women on economic and labour relations related issues. Later, as the legislative framework was completed, the gender equality mechanism was coupled with the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (which had a monitoring role), the Women and Equality Unit (WEU) that was headed by the Minister for Equality (responsible for gender equality policy development) and the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) (involved in the promotion and practical implementation of gender equality issues). The Equal Opportunities Commission is an independent, non-departmental public body funded by the central government budget and research foundations.

In 1989 the UK Ministry of Finance made the commitment to use the gender budgeting approach in consultation with the WBG, which in October 2000 in the OECD questionnaire on Gender Mainstreaming, Competitiveness and Growth was described as a “key feature with respect to gender”. With very limited funding and on an unpaid basis the WBG has managed to sustain the GRB work up until today by investing the time and effort of its members.

B. Content and the Process of Implementation The first gender budget work was initiated in 1989 by the Women’s Budget Group. The think tank was composed of gender advocates from various sectors and leading academics. The WBG originally began by publicly commenting on the effect that the national budget under the Thatcher government was having on women (ILO, 2006). The Project focused on two New Deal projects that provided training and employment support to men and women: the New Deal for Lone Parents Project and the New Deal 25+ Initiative.

The Group’s potential increased dramatically when the Labour Party was elected in the mid nineteen nineties. This was the result of both personal contact between the new ‘rulers’ and because the new government was more open to addressing disadvantage through consultation (British Council 2005). Under the Labour Government the WBG launched a new project in 2003: the Gender Analysis of Expenditure Project. The project was conducted by Her Majesty’s Treasury in collaboration with the Women and Equality Unit and launched in 2003 as a pilot initiative. The aim was to apply gender budget analysis to public expenditure allocated for addressing labour issues. The initiative looked at the gender impact of programmes in the Department of Work and Pensions and in the Department of Trade and Industry.

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The WBG started work on a pilot with the UK Ministry of Finance (HM Treasury) using a methodology comprised of two main components. The first, the Departmental Expenditure Limit for two departments (the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)) was disaggregated into gender specific and mainstream expenditure and then the gender impact of mainstream expenditure was analysed. The second component analysed gender disaggregated expenditure of selected programmes under each of the two departments in parallel with a gender disaggregated analysis of the needs and outcomes of the existing and potential beneficiaries (HM Treasury and DTI 2004).

However, another analysis of the WBG made a huge contribution to the evolution of the GRB initiatives worldwide: the analysis of the impact of Working Family Tax Credit on gender equality. In this analysis attention was paid to a series of factors including the individual income of men and women, household income, bargaining power and the distribution of resources within households, labour market incentives and the ability of men and women to prosper in the future if their household circumstances were to change (Himmelweit 2002). The analysis suggested that the effects any employment incentive should be targeted equally at men and women so that payment for work is equal for both sexes and that a sharing of the caring and earning roles between parents is encouraged (WBG, 2000).

C. Results of the Initiative The gender budget analysis of the New Deal programmes in the UK revealed that only 8% of funding for these programmes went to lone parents, of whom 95% were female. Yet 57% of funds went to young people, of whom only 27% were female (WBG website). The data generated through the budget analysis allowed for the WBG to be able to influence government policy. Consequently, members of the WBG meet regularly throughout the year to discuss key work areas and formulate responses to the Budget aimed at influencing the UK Government to produce and publish a pre-budget statement each year during the course of November (Villagómez 2006).

The following policy changes were the result of the effective use of in-depth gender budget analysis “giving couples the choice of recipient of the Working Family Tax Credit (WFTC), allowing couples who share full-time employment hours and caring responsibilities to claim the full-time premium in the Working Tax Credit (WTC), payment of the Child Tax Credit to the main carer (and taking into account the) effect on second earners in the new WTC compared with WFTC” (WBG brochure). However, in 2005 Budlender emphasised that although almost all GRB initiatives have failed to address unpaid labour in a comprehensive manner perhaps the initiative with the strongest focus on the care economy is the UK WBG, which has mainly focused on the long-term impact of labour market incentives resulting from tax credits.

According to HM Treasury and the Department of Trade and Industry, the main benefits of the UK GRB initiative were the enhanced public sector awareness on the importance of analysing expenditure from a gender perspective and the initiative’s potential to inform policy.

The project also helped to enhance the government’s capacity to perform gender budget analysis of expenditure and served as a reference point for future work in the same area (British Council 2005).

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Currently the WBG is working on an analysis of the impact of austerity measures on women.

One of the WBG’s biggest concerns is that the government’s plans will create an economy dependent on a low-skilled workforce with limited options for advancement or secure employment. “People are earning low wages, especially low-paid women workers, and are working hard but not getting on” (WBG, 2013). Instead they are trapped in poorly paid, precarious employment (TUC, 2012).

South East Europe Case Studies 1.9. Macedonia A. History and Background of the Initiative Equality is mentioned in the Preamble to the Constitution of Macedonia; Article 9 provides more detail and regulates that citizens have equal rights and freedoms regardless of their sex, race and the colour of their skin, national or social origins, political or religious beliefs or their material and societal position. This sets the basics for the gender equality framework that has been coherently imposed through other documents.

The first is the National Strategy for Equality and Non-discrimination, which is a document aimed at improving the status of the most vulnerable groups in Macedonian society and continuous development in achieving equality and non-discrimination. It encompasses objectives and activities to be achieved in the mid and long-term periods and provides a framework for the adoption of one year action plans to regulate the time frame, expected results and the qualitative and quantitative indicators for measuring the success of implementation.

The second is the National Strategy for Gender Equality 2013-2020. This strategic document has been adopted in order to enhance equal opportunities for men and women over the period 2013-2020. This strategy builds on the National Action Plan for Gender Equality 2007-2012 and in this regard provides a framework for continued efforts in the country towards achieving gender equality. Through this document the importance of gender equality is elevated as it provides cross-sectoral and horizontal perspectives for achieving universal social and political priorities.

The third is the Law on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men (hereinafter LEO), which was adopted for the first time in 2006 in order to regulate the basic and special measures for establishing equal opportunities for men and women in the country. In 2012 the LEO was amended by extending the list of situations where discrimination might occur, regulating the basis for discrimination as well as introducing conceptual reforms such as gender responsive budgeting. It also defined specific obligations for central and local level institutions in regard to gender responsive budgeting (under Article 11 and Article 14) and required the establishment of a consultative advisory inter-sectoral working group on gender equality within which a specific sub-group on GRB was to be established.

In this regard, the Law on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men approximates Macedonian legislation with that of the EU and regulates the institutional network.

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It also regulates the competences encompassed by the Department for Equal Opportunities (hereinafter DEO), which was established within the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy in March 2007; the Gender Focal Points (GFP) appointed in the line ministries, who are also called Coordinators on Equal Opportunities within the ministries; the Parliamentary Commission on Equal Opportunities for Men and Women, that is tasked with monitoring the legal regulation proposed by the government from the aspect of gender equality and implementation of the National Strategy for Gender Equality; the commissions on equal opportunities for women and men (EOC) established within the local self-government units, which develop and adopt local action plans on gender equality, and the coordinators for equal opportunities for women and men within the local self-government units, who coordinate the work of the EOCs and also report to the Ministry of Social Policy and Labour on specific gender mainstreaming activities that occurred at the municipal level.

B. Content and the Process of Implementation GRB work commenced in 2008 under an initiative of the DEO. It was supported by the UN Women Regional GRB Programme to carry out the first sectoral government led pilot initiative on GRB. Implementation of the GRB initiatives can be divided into two phases.

In the first phase several pilot activities were implemented involving different stakeholders: MLSP, the Macedonian Parliament, the coordinators for gender equality in the selected line ministries and local self-government units. During this period these state institutions worked on awareness rising amongst relevant stakeholders on the importance and benefits of the application of this concept. Major focus was given to the development of the capacities of the involved stakeholders on the concept of gender mainstreaming into budgetary processes and gender budget analysis. Another aspect was the exchange of experiences within the SEE region related to the identification of entry points for and the application of GRB practices as well as lessons that drew especially on gender mainstreaming and budgeting in Austria. Civil society organisations were also encouraged to apply different tools for GRB analysis in several sectors, such as public service delivery, health policy and domestic violence. The first supported GRB analyses were on the use of gender responsive budget analysis in the assessment of the impact that health policy measures (diagnosis related groups) had on the unpaid work of women and the costing of domestic violence using GRB methodology. Parallel to the launch of these two activities and in cooperation with the MLSP a GRB analysis at the national and local level for the purpose of identifying entry points for GRB in the Macedonian context were undertaken. The DEO identified key interventions for six programmes to be analysed in the portfolio managed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy: two cash assistance policies from the social protection portfolio of the MLSP and four active labour market measures and their corresponding budgets. It also established a GRB task group and developed its capacities.

The methodology for GRB analysis utilised some of the well known GRB tools developed by Diane Elson (gender aware policy appraisal and gender disaggregated incidence analysis). By applying these tools the task group produced an analysis that generated important findings and recommendations, including the need to devise measures that target the inactive population (where women comprise the majority) and not only those registered as unemployed, the need to strengthen the participation of women in training that actually leads to jobs and the need to strengthen monitoring and evaluation of the different programmes using

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gender indicators. This work at the central level was, with the assistance of NGOs, extended to the local level. In the municipalities of Bitola and Tetovo the delivery of public services was analysed, while in two municipalities were even more forthcoming and adopted a gender equality strategy (as in the case of the City of Skopje) and local action plan for gender equality (as in the case of Bitola).

The awareness raising and capacity building from the first phase resulted in policy changes and the introduction of GRB responsibilities at the local and central level. The adoption of the new LEO in 2012 marked the commencement of the second phase of implementation of the GRB initiative in Macedonia. The new LEO included Article 11 which reads, “The state administration bodies are obliged to incorporate the principle of equal opportunities for women and men within their strategic plans and budgets; to monitor the effect and impact of their programmes on women and men and to report within their annual reports”.

Furthermore, under Article 14 the same responsibilities are extended to the local self-government units. In a rather participatory manner, using the working group approach, in the same period the Government developed the Strategy for Gender Responsive Budgeting (hereinafter SGRB), which was adopted in July 2012. SGRB defines the framework, which includes strategic areas, objectives and activities, for the systematic introduction of gender responsive budgeting and meeting the aforementioned obligations under the Law. The SGRB is focused on three strategic areas: (1) the introduction a gender perspective into the programmes and budgets for the budget beneficiaries at the central and local level, (2) to improve the legal framework for the inclusion of gender responsive budgeting and (3) strengthen institutional mechanisms and instigate the capacity building required for the incorporation of gender perspective into the creation of policies and programmes and their related budgets.

The SGRB has been in force since 2012 along with the change in the budget circular for central level budget users. Its operationalisation was assisted by the introduction of the gender aspect for the budget analysis of revenue and expenditure, using gender indicators in the budget circular and the commitment to report on budget execution using gender disaggregated data. The Ministry of Finance selected the following institutions to pilot the GRB methods: the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy together with the Agency for Employment and the Ministry of Agriculture. They are required to select a programme for GRB analysis and develop gender sensitive output indicators to enable the measuring of the effect of the programme for men and women.

The institutions selected by the circular were mentored in this process in order to ensure that all relevant actors were involved and actively contributed and that the proposals fully complied with the requirement. The exercise used ‘Budget statements’ to justify the indicators. This pilot process was supported by a GRB manual and mentoring of the ministries and the Agency for Employment. In addition, a working group made up of representatives of the ministries and the Agency used the ‘Budget statements’ as the basis for the preparation of the methodology to be used for the application of GRB analysis, which is now in the final phase of development.

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C. Results of the GRB Initiative The Macedonian case demonstrates that external factors, in particular integration to the European Union and the technical assistance provided by UNWOMEN, can significantly contribute to the institutionalisation of GRB within the policy and institutional framework.

The concrete results visible in the country in this respect are as follows: the introduction of responsibilities for central and local level institutions to provide gender analysis of programmes, projects and budgets, to provide gender indicators and report on gender equality results and adoption of LEO, the National GRB and gender equality strategies as well as the Gender Equality Strategy of the City of Skopje and the amendment to the budget circular.

It also provides room for the systematisation of conclusions so that important policy and institutional changes can be achieved. The capacities of a number of civil servants (strategic planning and budgeting units) at the central and local level have been increased in order to advance GRB implementation along with those of members of parliament, counsellors and civil society organisations to monitor or advocate for these processes to take place.

Although initiated by international organisations, the GRB initiative in Macedonia also suggest that ownership of the processes by the national institutions is crucial to the success of gender responsive budgeting activities. Namely, the pilot initiative Gender Budget Analysis of Social Protection and Active Employment Policies in the Republic of Macedonia provided several recommendations that were addressed in the 2012 Operation Plan of the ALMM. In other words, women from the age group 29-49 were defined as a target group for employment policies. The Operation Plan also committed to taking gender into account during the selection of applicants from all target groups and tasked the equal opportunities coordinators in all local self-government units to reach out to more women from local communities and to inform them about the opportunities and conditions for employment, and directly assist them with the applications to the newly introduced ALMM. The pilot GRB analysis of the impact the health policy measures (diagnosis related groups) on the unpaid care work of women also resulted in policy changes, introduction of standards for the provision of homecare services and the registration of several home-care service providers that substitute the unpaid care of women.

1.10. Albania A. History and Background of the Initiative The equal rights of women and men are enshrined in Albaniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Constitution, adopted in 1998 (Article 18). The country ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1993 and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Optional Protocol in 2003. The European Union plays a crucial role in the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s policy development in relation to gender equality. Namely, with the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement in 2006 Albania commenced approximating its legislative framework with the equal opportunities framework of the EU. Law No. 9970 on Gender Equality in Society, which entered into force in 2008, regulates the equitable relationship between women and men. It aims to (a) ensure effective protection against gender based discrimination, (b) define measures to guarantee equal opportunities for men and women in order to eliminate gender related

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discrimination and (c) specifies the responsibilities of state authorities at all levels to draft and implement normative acts and policies that support gender equality.

Two other laws explicitly regulate gender equality in Albania: Law No. 10221 on Protection against Discrimination, adopted in 2010, and Law No. 9669 on Measures against Violence in Family Relations (LMVFR), adopted in 2007 (with amendments in 2007 and 2010).

Finally, the National Set of Harmonised Indicators on Gender Equality and the Status of Women adopted by the Government of Albania in 2010 is an official tool for monitoring progress in the implementation of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gender equality policy by imposing the commitment for Periodic National Reports on Gender Equality and the Status of Women in Albania.

The national gender equality machinery in Albania encompasses the Council of Ministers, which approves the National Strategy and Action Plan for the achievement of Gender Equality in Albania and the National Council for Gender Equality, which advises the government on setting the direction of state policies on gender mainstreaming and gender equality and ensures gender mainstreaming in all areas. It is headed by the Minister and is comprised of nine deputy ministers and three civil society members. The National Council for Gender Equality has an important role in the promotion of gender responsive budgeting, establishing the Gender Equality Employee Structure and the collection of gender data.

The Law on Gender Equality in Society identifies the Ministry that covers gender equality issues as the responsible authority. The Ministryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main function is to monitor the implementation of relevant laws and the application of the principles of non-discrimination and equality between men and women. The Minister carries out these functions with the assistance of specialised structures, namely the Directorate for Equal Opportunities and Family Policies (DEOFP) (Kristin Jacoba Van der Leest, Rezart Xhelo and Dolly Wittberger 2012).

DEOFP has been in operation since 2006 with the mission to promote gender equality and the participation of women in economic, political and cultural spheres and to formulate policies for the prevention or reduction of gender based violence. DEOFP is comprised of two sectors: (i) the Sector for Gender Equality and Measures against Violence and (ii) the Sector for Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rights and Protection.

At the Parliamentary level, the Committee on Labour, Social Affairs and Health is responsible for women and family issues, in addition to labour relations, social affairs, social insurance and health.

The Anti-Discrimination Commissioner examines complaints about discrimination by individuals, groups of individuals or organisations on issues of discrimination that include gender as well as gender identity, pregnancy, sexual orientation, family or marriage status and parental responsibility.

Gender Equality Employees (GEEs) are a fundamental part of the national mechanisms at the central (ministerial) and local government unit level. GEEs support the mainstreaming of gender equality issues into policies, programmes and plans, and monitor the implementation of gender equality commitments at the central and local level.

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B. Content and the Process of Implementation The flagship GRB initiative in Albania is participatory budgeting introduced in the second phase (2007-2010) by the Municipality of Elbasan. Through this method, women and men aim to influence local decision making and the allocation of public resources in order to better reflect the needs and priorities of the community. The initiative is at the same time in accord with Law No. 8652 on the Organisation and Functioning of Local Governments, which obliges local government units and the respective councils to hold public consultations before passing the local budget.

Participatory budgeting has been implemented in two major phases in Elbasan. The first phase between 2004 and 2007 was aimed at involving the community and defining priority issues to be included in the annual municipal budget. The second phase, supported by UN Women, between 2007 and 2010 was aimed at introducing a new dimension to the process through the active engagement of community women and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rights advocates.

During the first phase the Municipality introduced the participatory budgeting concept and engaged different government and civil society actors to support its implementation. During the second phase of the participatory budgeting process, the City administration partnered with two local womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s organisations to conduct a gender analysis of participatory budgeting at the beginning of the process. The latter helped to identify bottlenecks with regard to the participation of men and women, and also served to highlight how public expenditure has benefited women and men differently (Kristin Jacoba, Van der Leest, Rezart Xhelo and Dolly Wittberger 2012).

Through this analysis officials gained a better understanding of how to make the process more inclusive for women and for this reason the Municipality invited the public o participate by using local media and other outreach methods (door-to-door, by phone and leaflets posted widely, including venues frequented by women). The facilitating organisations arranged preparatory meetings with women citizens aimed at better preparing women to articulate their concerns during the official meetings (Ibid).

UN Women also supported analytical work in Albania using the GRB methodologies in the area of domestic violence. The purpose of the costing of domestic violence was to assess the cost related to domestic violence in Albania i.e., the cost accrued for all actors, such as the state police, district prosecutor, judicial district courts and the victims/survivors involved in addressing domestic violence. Furthermore, the project increased the awareness of all actors on the costs of domestic violence and further promoted the respective prevention and protection actions (Centre for Civic and Legal Initiatives, 2013).

Finally, with the support of UNIFEM, in 2008 an analysis of the Law on Social Services and Social Assistance was produced in the municipalities of Elbasan and Kukes, which included a beneficiary assessment of the implementation aspects of the Swedish 4R method. Based on this analysis, the Law was amended in March 2011 to allow for increased access for women in need at the local level (National Report on the Status of Women in Albania, 2012).

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C. Results of the GRB Initiative The results of this GRB initiative in Albania were rather commendable. At the beginning the participation of women in the town hall meetings was only 10% to 30% yet by 2010 of the 1,241 there were 569 women (45%), including marginalised groups such as mothers with children with challenging disabilities, divorced women, widows, survivors of domestic violence and Roma women (Ibid).

What is more, the GRB initiative improved the representation of women as community commissioners in 2009 (11 out of 23). These 11 female commissioners exercised their vote in the Central Community â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Government Commission and thus increased the decision making powers of women in determining priority issues to be presented to the Municipal Council.

Such priority issues were then passed to the Municipal Council where budget discussions took place; as the meetings were open this provided another opportunity for the women and men of Elbasan to participate in and monitor the process.

Finally, an important result was the decision (number 465) of the Council of Ministers in July 2012 on gender mainstreaming in the Medium-term Budgeting Programme. The Decision provided for a number of actions to be taken in the budget making process such as the definition of gender equality objectives, products and targets; the establishment of gender equality criteria for Regional Development Funds, the alignment of gender budgeting with the National Strategy on Gender Equality and the extension of gender budgeting across all line ministries.

1.11. Serbia A. History and Background of the Initiative The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia guarantees the equality of women and men, and the implementation of the policy of equal opportunity. Within the framework of the EU integration process in February 2009 the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the National Strategy for Improving the Position of Women and the Advancement of Gender Equality. The main objective of the strategy was to define a complete and harmonised state policy for the purpose of eliminating discrimination against women, improving their position and integrating the gender equality principle into all spheres of the functioning of institutions within the system.

It represented one of the elements of the broader modernisation and democratisation of society in order to achieve faster and more equal and efficient development of society in accordance with the policy of equal opportunities proclaimed under the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia (UNIFEM, 2009). Gender budgeting is recognised in this Strategy as one of the systemic preconditions for achieving gender equality in Serbia. The implementation of the strategy was fostered through an Action Plan that was adopted in September 2009 for the period 2010-2015 and a Gender Equality Law that was adopted in December 2009.

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The institutional framework for implementation of the gender equality policy was encompassed within the Gender Equality Directorate of the Government of the Republic of Serbia that was established in July 2008 within the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and gender equality mechanisms at the local level.

B. Content and the Process of Implementation Although GRB has been regulated since 2009 by the Strategy for Improving the Position of Women and the Advancement of Gender Equality, in Serbia gender budgeting initiatives are still limited to pilot projects that are mainly supported through donor funding. One of the first gender budgeting initiatives that commenced in Vojvodina was in the form of a project

by Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Studies and Research from Novi Sad. This group of academics conceptualised a project centred on knowledge management for gender budgeting (including theories, concepts, texts and lectures) that gradually developed into a course within postgraduate gender studies. Other initiatives sprang from this budget analysis by public authorities at the provincial level, led by the Provincial Secretariat for Labour, Employment and Gender Equality26, as well as NGOs working at the local level, such as the Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Entrepreneurship Academy and the Association of Businesswomen (PAĹ˝).

The strategy applied in the Province of Vojvodina (supported by UNIFEM) was to first to build capacities for implementing gender analysis. Hence, training courses were organised to familiarise stakeholders with the concept of gender budgeting. An international expert was engaged as a methodologist in order to adapt the methodology applied in Sweden to the purposes of analysing and improving the programmes of the Provincial Secretariat for Labour, Employment and Gender Equality from the perspective of gender equality. For the purpose of gender budget analysis of the programmes of the Secretariat firstly all necessary data on the selected programmes was gathered; in the course of which a good level of cooperation was established with the Office for Roma Inclusion, the Guarantee Fund of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and the Development Fund of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (UNIFEM, 2009). This was followed by a survey of the beneficiaries of the programmes. The applicability of the methodology developed in Sweden was confirmed through this analysis and led to the preparation of a strategic plan for mainstreaming gender into the policies of provincial bodies.

In the second phase of implementation the Secretariat for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality issued a call for participation to which the Provincial Secretariat for Education, Administration and National Minorities and the Provincial Secretariat for Health, Social Policy and Demography responded. These secretariats implemented several crucial activities: (i) capacity building of their employees concerning gender sensitive analysis, (ii) the gender sensitive analysis of identified programmes (through data gathering and focus group discussions with beneficiaries), (iii) capacity building on gender responsive budgeting for employees working in the provincial financial secretariat and (iv) knowledge sharing through conferences where the results of the work on introducing gender equality into policy making and budgeting in the Province of Vojvodina were presented.

Under another pilot initiative in Stara Pazova three local experts worked with the municipal gender equality mechanism. The methodology of the project included survey and focus 26 Now renamed as the Provincial Secretariat for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality.

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group discussions with men and women and small business owners in order to assess their needs and the problems they face in their work. Based on the findings, a report was produced and policy recommendations provided and these shaped the proposed activities and objectives integrated into the Sustainable Development Strategy of Stara Pazova adopted in late 2009 (Ivanovic, 2009).

In the towns of Kragujevac and Valjevo ‘Gender Barometers’ were produced to present the skills, needs, expectations and willingness amongst women and men to engage in certain economic activities; it was important to feed this information into the planning of subsidies and support mechanisms. The study provided evidence on which long-term strategy development and budgeting could be made.

For the purpose of GRB capacity building, during the course of 2011 the Serbian office of UN Women also produced ‘A Practical Tool for Gender Responsive Budgeting in Three Steps’; it focuses on local self-government policy making and budgeting using examples from budget initiatives in Central Serbia and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (Vladislavjevikj. A, 2011).

C. Results of the GRB Initiative The results of the GRB initiative in Vojvodina were numerous. Most notably, it had an impact on the provincial policy framework on gender equality, including gender budgeting. The conducted analysis provided policy recommendations for improving the selected programmes from the perspective of gender equality. More generally, in August 2009 the Executive Council of Vojvodina adopted the Decision that (i) provincial bodies shall undertake activities to integrate gender equality into all of the strategies, programmes, projects and other activities they are implementing; (ii) shall maintain gender disaggregated data on their programme beneficiaries, (iii) the Provincial Secretariat for Labour, Employment and Gender Equality shall develop a strategy for the gender mainstreaming of all of the activities of provincial bodies in order for this approach to become a regular practice of the aforesaid bodies and shall secure all necessary technical assistance and support from other provincial bodies.

Furthermore, the GRB initiative is reported to have increased the capacities of the employees of the Provincial Secretariat for Labour, Employment and Gender Equality in the field of conducting gender analyses of programmes, while the raised awareness of the importance of integrating the gender perspective into the budgeting process has been increased among the members of the provincial Assembly and the employees of the provincial secretariats and funds. Through its activities related to the gender analysis of programmes and the drafting of recommendations the Secretariat established very good cooperation with other secretariats and institutions in Vojvodina. It also established cooperation with civil society organisations involved in gender budgeting initiatives in local communities of Vojvodina (Association of Businesswomen and the Academy of Women’s Entrepreneurship) and developed supplementary analyses and promotion of women’s employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship (Centre for the Support of Women). There were also two concrete outputs: the publication of the analysis on programmes in the field of employment in the publication ‘Towards Gender Budgeting in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina’, and the ‘Gender

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Mainstreaming Manual’ of the Swedish Gender Mainstreaming Support Committee.27 In Stara Pazova the Strategy for Sustainable Development that was adopted as a result of the pilot GRB initiatives included two programmes and eight subprograms targeted at women, support to women’s entrepreneurship and the local gender equality mechanism.

1.12. Bosnia and Herzegovina A. History and Background of the Initiative Bosnia and Herzegovina has been a signatory party to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (UN CEDAW) since 1993 and has prepared four reports (the fourth and fifth reports were combined) to the UN CEDAW Committee. Unlike other countries in the region provisions of the Convention are included in the legal system of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on the basis of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the ‘General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina’ signed in Dayton in 1995).

However, the gender equality policy framework of Bosnia and Herzegovina is, like in the other South East European cases, strongly influenced by the EU accession agenda. Hence, the Law on Gender Equality (OG 16/03) regulates promotes and protects gender equality and guarantees (the EU promoted concept of) equal opportunities for all citizens, both in the public and in the private spheres of life. It further regulates the collection, recording and processing of gender disaggregated data and obliges the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to ‘create a programme of measures to achieve gender equality in all spheres and at all levels of government’, which includes the gender approach to planning and spending budgetary funds.

In 2006 the country adopted the Gender Action Plan (GAP) that operationalised the implementation of the Gender Equality Law. It included a separate chapter (number IV) on gender budgeting with specific recommendations to be used as a platform for gender budgeting work by government institutions. Currently, adoption of the new GAP (2013-2017) is in Parliamentary procedure.

The institutional mechanisms for gender equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina encompass the Gender Equality Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which comes under the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees BiH; the Gender Centre in the Federation of BiH (GC FBiH) and the government Gender Centre of Republika of Srpska (GCRS). The adoption of the GAP gender equality mechanisms jointly launched a range of activities related to the implementation of chapter IV, dedicated to GRB. These included the collecting of documents on international and regional experiences, analysing GRB literature and documents prepared by the Council of Europe and the European Union on the creation of public budgeting with a gender perspective, work on the initial gender analysis in selected sectors, identification of the basic problems linked to the introduction of gender budgeting in BiH, preparing and performed training packages on GRB and work on raising awareness and lobbying done in 27 Secretariat for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality, (2011) “Towards Gender Budgeting in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina”, Novi Sad.

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collaboration with international and local NGOs on the initiative to introduce GRB in the budget process in BiH (Pobric and Car, 2009). The activities aimed at the introduction of GRB in BiH were from the beginning supported and implemented in close cooperation with UN Women funded projects.28

B. Content and the Process of Implementation The GRB initiative in Bosnia and Herzegovina is carried out at the national, entity and local (municipal) level. At the national and entity effort has been invested in preparation for the introduction of the gender equality perspective into the budget planning process and documents. In this context, gender mechanisms29 have cooperated with the ministries of finance30 at the state and entity level of Government. The RS Government adopted the programme ‘Application of Gender Responsive Budgeting in the Budget Reform Processes in RS/BiH’ in September 2012. The Government conclusion stated that the Information Gender Centre of RS and the Ministry of Finance of RS have been directed to carry out activities to introduce the gender perspective into the budget system in RS. In addition, the Economic Policy of RS 2013 includes GRB as one of its priorities and analysis and recommendations were given to include gender into the Budget Instructions. In accordance with these commitments the Gender Centre of RS and the Ministry of Finance of RS have cooperated on an analysis of the budget documents and preparation of a GRB guide for budget users.

In the other BiH entity, the Federation BiH Action Plan for the Introduction of GRB in the pilot institutions in the FBiH related to employment31 was adopted in 2010, based on the GCFBiH report. “The Results of the Gender Analysis of the Regulations Governing the Budgeting Process with Recommendations”. The main long term goal of the Action plan was to introduce gender responsive budgeting in BiH within the framework of programme budgeting in the area of work and employment. As a result, most relevant programmes and documents of the pilot institutions were analysed/adapted to better reflect the needs of women and man in these areas.

Currently, a new Strategic Action Plan for GRB in the FBiH is in procedure. According to this strategic plan, new institutions will be included in GRB activities, so that a substantive number of FBiH institutions will have gender consideration in their selected programmes.

The Ministry of Finance of the FBiH issued budget instructions to the pilot institutions, with gender equality considerations included, for the first time in 2012. The Budget Framework Paper (preliminary budget) for the FBiH for 2014-2016 contained a chapter on GRB.

28 UN Women ‘Gender Responsive Budgeting in South East Europe: Advancing Gender Equality and Democratic Governance through Increased Transparency and Accountability (2006-2009)’ and the UN Women Promoting Gender Responsive Policies in South East Europe (2011-2013) Project funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA).

29 The Agency for Gender Equality of BiH, the Gender Centre of the Government of RS and the FBiH Gender Centre.

30 The Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH, the Ministry of Finance of RS and the Ministry of Finance the FBiH. 31 The Ministry of Labour of the FBiH, the Ministry of Finance of the FBiH, the Ministry of Development, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, the Employment Institute of the FBiH, the Ministry of Agriculture, Water-Supply and Forestry of the FBiH.

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The next planned steps were to try and introduce gender a equality aspect and indicators into the newly developed Budget Management Information System (BMIS) in order to contribute to the establishment of gender indicators in the budget planning processes at all levels of government in BiH. At entity level the focus of GRB initiatives in BiH was also placed on agriculture and employment. In RS, the RS GC supports the implementation of the Action Plan for the Improvement of the Position of Rural Women (2010-2015), using GRB as a tool. The sectoral gender budget analysis of agricultural and rural development conducted in Republika Srpska managed to be exported as a model to other countries in the region (i.e., Macedonia). The aim of the study was to review and identify entry points within the agricultural and rural development sector for the introduction of gender budgeting, to produce gender responsive budget analysis of the sector and to develop methodology for the introduction of GRB methods in the operations (policy making and budgeting) in the two sectors. The methods used in the analysis were the following: (i) a gender disaggregated beneficiary assessment of budget priorities, (ii) sex disaggregated public expenditure analysis, (iii) gender sensitive policy analysis, (iv) a gender aware budget statement, (v) gender aware medium term expenditure framework and (vi) sex disaggregated public revenue analysis.

At the local level significant steps have been undertaken in the introduction of GRB in BiH with a significant number of municipalities32 supported in conducting gender analyses of municipal documents, budgets and programmes. UN Women collaborated closely with the USAID Governance Accountability Project (GAP)33 in supporting municipalities to align their programmes, policies and budgets with the needs of women and men. In four of the municipalities (Vogosca, Teslic, Ljubinje and Bugojno) GRB coordination groups were established and assisted by GRB experts to conduct gender analyses of two pilot programmes.

The Government of the Municipality of Novi Grad in Sarajevo undertook a gender analysis of two selected municipality programmes: Stimulus for Economic Development and Sports.

The specific recommendations from the gender analyses were addressed in the 2013 budget planning cycle.34 A further six pilot municipalities (Doboj, Modrica, Samac, Brod, Derventa and Vukosavlje) were supported by the RS Gender Centre and UN Women in establishing local GRB teams and conducting gender budget analyses using the local level GRB methodology that focused on rural women; this innovative methodology was developed within this initiative. The same methodology was used in another GRB initiative in the FBiH in the municipalities of Tesanj and Gracanica, led by the NGO VESTA. In this context, it is important to mention the Localising Gender Project funded by the UN Women Gender Equality Fund and implemented by GC FBiH and SNV.35 This project contributed to the development of Local Gender Action Plans in the municipalities of Novi Travnik, Orasje, Doboj Jug, Sapna and Zepce.

32 Gračanica, Tešanj, Novi Grad Sarajevo, Doboj, Modriča, Šamac, Brod, Derventa, Vukosavlje, Vogošća, Teslić, Ljubinje and Bugojno 33 The USAID/SIDA/EKN GAP Project was implemented between 2004 and 2012 in BiH and provided support to 72 municipalities in their efforts to reform their public services, including public finance.

34 Second Project Progress Report to ADA for the period December 2011- November 2012.

35 The Netherlands Development Organisation.

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Academia in Bosnia and Herzegovina has made a major breakthrough in mainstreaming gender on a scholarly level. The Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIPS) of the University of Sarajevo has introduced the concept of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) into its Gender Studies Masters Programme curriculum. The recognition of GRB as a teaching approach and the successive development of corresponding courses for university level students will ensure that there is an increase in the number and quality of experts in the field. In the long run this should have a positive influence on overall GRB reform in BiH making a significant step towards greater gender equality and social fairness.

C. Results of the GRB Initiative As a result of the GRB initiative in BiH several important results have been achieved at all levels of government, but more comprehensive and profound initiatives are yet to come.

The biggest result of the pilot GRB initiative in BiH is directly related to the implementation of the Action Plans36 supported by the Gender Centre of the FBiH and the Gender Centre of the Government RS and the impact they had on the political will and the creation of a favourable environment for GRB work.

Within this context, significant results have been achieved in terms of introducing the GRB concept and methodology in a number of institutions involved in the implementation of Action plans.37 Gender responsive budgeting is now part of economic policy in RS and the Ministry of Agriculture in RS increased the level of funds allocated for subsidies for rural women as a direct result of the GRB initiative: 129 applications were granted in 2012 compared with 4 in 2009. The ministries of finance in BiH have intensified their collaboration with gender mechanisms in order to apply GRB in the budget processes and documents in BiH; future university economics and gender studies graduates will now have increased knowledge about GRB as a result of the introduction of GRB at Masters level studies at the University of Sarajevo, while macroeconomic teaching at the Economic Faculty in Sarajevo and the Summer Gender School at the University of Banja Luka and East Sarajevo will further enhance this process.

36 Action Plan for Improvement of the Position of Rural Women in RS (2010-.2015) and the Action Plan for the Introduction of GRB in Pilot Institutions in Employment in the FBiH (2010-2012).

37 Action Plan for Improvement of the Position of Rural Women in RS (2010-2015) and the Action Plan for the Introduction of GRB in Pilot Institutions in Employment in the FBiH (2010-2012).

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2. LESSONS LEARNED Gender responsive budgeting initiatives are born by women activists, fostered by international organisations and enforced by politicians. The case studies of implementation of GRB initiatives around the world demonstrate that women activists are the most significant actors in realising, conceptualising and promoting gender responsive budgeting as a gender mainstreaming tool. However, in some socio-political contexts (such as the SEE) donors had an important role in diffusing GRB ideas. Nevertheless, without the political commitment of heads of states (as demonstrated by the signing of CEDAW, and the European Charter of Human Rights) and the senior public officials to accept GRBs impact on the reform of the public finance systems as well as policy development systems the success of the application of this gender mainstreaming tool would have been limited. Sharp (2012) emphasises that the experience of countries implementing ‘inside government’ gender sensitive budget exercises suggests the need for strong institutional arrangements that assign power to women’s policy coordinating offices in these exercises.

This chapter presents the lessons learned from the cases exampled above. It provides synthesis analysis of the key approaches and achievements but also the challenges ahead for the implementation of GRB initiatives in Europe and in South East Europe and across the world.

2.1. Comparative Analysis of GRB Approaches used in the Case Study Countries The different case studies presented in the previous chapter show certain commonalities.

The comparative analysis of GRB approaches is synthesised around the following:

2.1.1. Awareness raising Considering that the Gender Responsive Budgeting initiative was a novelty in terms of all economic and political concepts around the world, in Europe and in SEE the primary approach taken by the different actors in the GRB process was awareness raising. The approach encompassed conceptualising what is ‘gender’ and what is ‘budget’ and how the two unite in the concept of ‘gender budgeting’. What is more, awareness raising was a crucial tools for ‘gender budgeting’ the entry points where and when they can be used and by whom. By analysing the different examples given in this book one can conclude that a significant part of the GRB initiative in all case study countries was devoted to the efforts to raise awareness about the basics of GRB amongst important stakeholders as well as in some cases among the wider public.

Awareness raising took different forms ranging from working with local activists on spreading the idea and message to producing outreach material such as leaflets (in Albania), videos (in Vojvodina), organising debates and events (in South Africa) or providing commentary about the budget and its gender implications in the media (NGOs and academics in Australia).

Rhonda Sharp noted in 2009 that the major GRB impact initially “was to just genuinely raise awareness that there were differential gender impacts across the policy spectrum”.

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Raising awareness on the gender impact of budgets implied that the issue was important enough to become part of the ‘regular agenda’, as shown by the global and the European examples. However, in the UNIFEM Regional Programme for GRB in South East Europe rightfully points out that “awareness raising was not an end in itself, but a necessary precondition for rallying political and bureaucratic support for carrying out research and advocating for concrete changes in policies, allocations and processes” (UNIFEM, 2010).

2.1.1.2. Capacity Building Capacity building has been another common approach used in all of the case studies showcased above. In SEE a variety of capacity development strategies were applied from targeted capacity development such as the government gender machinery (in Bosnia and Herzegovina) and the GRB task force (in Macedonia) to women’s associations and external researchers (in Serbia and Albania). A custom tailored training design was developed for this purpose using regular stakeholder functions as the cornerstone of any additional skills building and recognising opportunities and limitations at the individual, institutional and broader environmental level (Ibid). The success of the GRB initiative in Canada is also considered to be a result of the capacity building efforts of the Status of Women Commission, as part of the 1995 Federal Plan for Gender Equality.

The advantages of this approach are that it contributes to awareness raising, especially those that bring together diverse audiences. Such capacity building efforts also allow for such diverse audiences to engage in dialogue, learn about each other’s constraints and areas of expertise and build partnerships.

2.1.1.3. Broad based Partnerships The GRB initiatives showcased above demonstrate that whenever a broad based partnership between stakeholders is established the initiative is more sustainable and successful.

Namely, the Australian and South African experiences were the most relevant where the absence of civil society engagement in the prior and the bigger public officials’ commitment in the later appear crucial to the sustainability of the GRB initiative (in the case of Australia) and effectiveness (in the case of South Africa). In South East Europe UNIFEM noted that “establishing partnerships was a means to an end”.

Engaging different partners in the GRB initiative where “every partner has a particular role to play towards achieving the goals of a GRB intervention” (Ibid) makes the choice of partners of exceptional importance to the results of the GRB initiative. Bosnia and Herzegovina is an example of partnership between donors and national stakeholders (Ministry of Finance and activists) and this partnership accounted for the success of GRB as a tool for more efficient and more equitable policy and budget making.

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2.1.1.4. Methodological Tools used While GRB initiatives vary across countries according to their scope, institutional location, format and political engagement in the budget there is a great deal of commonality in the conceptual frameworks and tools of analysis they utilise. Along with gender many initiatives use the conceptual categories of socioeconomic class, age, race, ethnicity and location. In addition, Sharpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s different categories of expenditure (see UNIFEM 2000 p.116) have been widely used for framing the mainstreaming of a gender perspective into expenditure, such as in South Africa, Belgium, Macedonia and Australia. Similarly, Budlenderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 5 step approach to gender budget analysis is used in Africa and Asia. Reform of the budgeting system also allows for performance budgeting act as the entry point for GRB, such as in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Finally, participatory budgeting is a tool in which gender based analysis plays an important role as along with consultations; in Albania and Spain it was used as an entry point for engendering the respective local and regional budgets.

2.1.1.5. Level of GRB Intervention (Central, Regional and Local) Budget is an instrument for the implementation of policy which might be developed and implemented at the local, regional or central level depending on the political system and territorial and administrative division in the country. The cases from the previous chapter illustrate that GRB initiatives may be pursued ate the central (Austria, Canada, UK and Macedonia), regional (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Spain) and local level (Albania).

2.2. Comparative Analysis of Achievements 2.2.1. Improved Statistics One of the biggest achievements of the GRB initiative is found in the area of improving the availability and use of gender disaggregated data for policy analysis and budgeting. As gender statistics are a necessary basis for any important budget analysis the generation of new or the better utilisation of existing data has become a top priority for the teams implementing GRB initiatives around the world. The womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s budgets of the Australian national, state and territory governments, for example, published budget documents that used a range of published and agency gender disaggregated data and successfully raised awareness of the importance of gender disaggregated data for policy and budgetary analysis (Sharp and Elson, 2012). In Macedonia the Law on Equal Opportunities was changed in order to allow for the regulation of the commitment for all institutions to publish gender disaggregated data.

Gender budgets have contributed to the improvement of statistics and indicators when they have successfully engaged performance budgeting systems (Ibid). Over the past decade, many countries have introduced performance measures for their budgets.

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In South East Europe the most notable example is Bosnia and Herzegovina, which uses programme budgeting and measures of performance that can be used to assess the effects of the implementation of government programmes.

2.2.2. Improved Budget Decision Making Process Decision making processes are an indicator of the democratic capacity of a country and gender responsive budget initiatives have demonstrated that they can act as avenues to improve democracy and equality in several ways. One is to engage a wider range of societal actors in policy development and budgeting. This has notably been achieved in Albania and Spain through GRB initiatives. Another is through participation aimed at improving representation for oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interests within budgeting and policymaking. This is particularly important as budgetary politics influences the distribution of resources that are dominated by powerful groups. Participatory budgeting ensures the alignment of policies and budgets to incorporate the problems of the less powerful who are faced with unpaid care and labour into policy and funding as in the case of South Africa (Budlender 2002). Finally, by introducing gender sensitive budget circulars important mainstreaming of gender through the budgetary policies may be achieved (as in the case of Macedonia).

2.2.3. Improved Policy Implementation Policy reforms over the last two decades have focused on results and more importantly influenced budget policy, which now demands the recasting of budgets in terms of the outputs and outcomes that they are expected to generate and the setting of targets. The GRB initiative is consistent with performance (output oriented) budgeting and in some cases has been integrated through such reforms. In Albania the Government adopted an indicator framework through which monitoring of achievement of planned results is conducted.

In this respect it is important that gender budget analysis is integrated into the policy and budget documents so that policy implementation is consistent with the results focus of gender responsive budgeting. This is paramount especially when the results in achieving gender equality and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s empowerment can be done with existing resources through improved allocations. Thereof, the GRB initiative contributes not just to the effectiveness of policy implementation but also to achieving greater policy implementation efficiency.

2.3. Comparative Analysis of the Challenges and Limitations of GRB in the Case Study Countries The case studies presented above show that GRB processes evolve change and therefore progress and/or regress in different time periods. GRB initiatives are faced with challenges and limitations over time and this sub-chapter explores some of them based on the comparative analysis of the various examples of gender responsive budgeting work.

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2.3.1. GRB is more than Allocations Specifically Targeted at Women A great volume of time and efforts by GRB activists is spent on dispelling the idea that specifically targeted allocations for women and girls or men and boys are important but rather present a small proportion of the total budget. Therefore, GRB analysis should be focused on other general expenditure as none of them are gender neutral and may impact significantly on the livelihoods of women/girls and men/boys. However, some countries still persist with focusing on gender specific targeted allocations.

2.3.2. Importance of the Wider Economic Context When pursuing a GRB initiative one should always have in mind the macroeconomic strategy of the country as it is a guiding document on how you can shape the budget to achieve gender equality goals. The history of the development of GRB initiatives around the world has shown us that you cannot achieve anything more than the strategy allows, so it is important to plan your gender responsive budgeting exercise well so that you may achieve what you wished for. Such important lessons can be drawn from the case of Australia, which demonstrates that under a neoliberal framework it is much more difficult to get increases in expenditure through the budget, but there is space for action. Other economic and reform processes are also paramount to the success of the GRB initiative. As the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina shows we can transform challenges set by budget reforms (programme budgeting as a tool for increasing transparency, accountability and participation) and make effective use of the same to promote gender equality through the national budget.

2.3.3. Importance of Politics Another rather crucial factor is politics. In all of the case studies presented above the emphasis was rightly put on the political commitment within government to pursue GRB initiatives.

Costa, Sawer and Sharp (2012) argued that gender focused institutions can play a vital role in supporting critical actors and in enabling critical acts in the policy process. In Australia and Canada it was the women activists outside government that influenced the decision to establish gender institutions which were then crucial for the adoption of vital legislation for gender equality. On the other hand, the European examples show that everything commences with critical acts (the commitment to international legal documents that promote gender equality or even more equal remuneration) and national regulation. For South East Europe the road to GRB is paved with critical acts from the EU, but also gender focused institutions which together with donors contributed to the conceptualisation of the GRB tools for the policy and budgeting systems of the SEE countries.

The case studies show that the use of champions (or pilot sectors, areas and departments) has also been assessed as a successful strategy for further diffusing the GRB concept, developing experience and drawing lessons. But what has been proven to be most effective is the wide participation and consultative process within government and amongst civil society on these issues. The government needs to have the capacity and commitment to conduct a gender budget exercise, but what it also needs is a strong movement outside government to pressure for changes to the budget and policies.

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2.3.4. The importance of Revenue and Expenditure Analysis Comparative analysis of the case studies reveals that most used was the analysis of expenditure, whereas limited attention was paid to the revenue side of the budget. This was partly due to the fact that the GRB tools derived from Australia and South Africa used gender aware appraisal of tax policy in the later stages due to the lack of data, expertise and political factors. In 2005 UNIFEM identified another factor as the different roles of revenue generating instruments in industrialised and developing countries and the fact that in the former there are stronger revenue and safety net systems.

3. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Although globally most GRB initiatives are focused on gender budget analysis without promoting budget change in order to achieve gender goals there have been some cases. As the previously elaborated, South Africa and the United Kingdom went beyond the analysis stage and changed the way budgets are formulated, thus making them more responsive to the needs and concerns of men/boys and women/girls (Budlender 2005; Hofbauer 2003). The gender responsive budget exercises around the world also illustrate that one GRB model is not the only strategy and that the same model cannot be applied forever in one country.

Evolution is as much needed as adaptation to the economic and political system of a country. This is especially important as the economic and political climate changes rapidly. The reforms over the last two decades have reduced the role of government, while the financial crises imposed austerity measures that substantially decreased the opportunity for the allocation of more funding for women’s issues. This should be taken in consideration especially in the current phase of implementation of the GRB initiative and in the design of each GRB exercise according to the country conditions.

What other fundamental issues should be taken into account when designing and implementing a GRB initiative? In the handbook ‘Gender Budgeting: Practical Implementation’, Quinn identifies that first of all one should understand gender: “Knowing how gender and gender relations are constructed and perpetuated in society and in the institutions and processes of government, and that a mainstreaming approach is required if we are to redress gender inequality and work toward an equal society is a necessary starting point” (Quinn, p.11).

To this UN WOMEN add an important pre-condition for effective implementation of a GRB initiative: “The need to have a gender equality policy in the first place, particularly working at the local (municipal) level, in some cases requires developing new policy documents where gender related requirements and commitments that are specific for local authorities need to be made” (UNIFEM p.11). Without political commitment the GRB initiatives are doomed to be unsuccessful.

“Genuine political commitment is demonstrated by political leadership and oversight, which in turn means setting the vision and ensuring the commitment that gender equality stays on the long-term agenda” (Quinn, p. 12).

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Most of the European case studies demonstrated that political leadership can take different forms but that most often it is embodied through the minister for gender equality. The common wealth case studies on the other hand identify the Commission for the Status of Women as a feminist institution and a critical factor for establishing an institutional framework for achieving gender equality within government at the central, regional and local level.

“Such gender focused institutions may include women’s movement organisations, women’s wings within political parties, women’s policy machinery in the bureaucracy, parliamentary institutions with a gender mandate and, importantly in the case of developing democracies, international agencies and donors” (see Costa, Sawer and Sharp 2012 p.4).

The gender focused institutions must build capacity within government and amongst civil servants for them to recognise the need for gender mainstreaming, but also to apply the gender mainstreaming skills in the course of their work. Moreover, the gender focused institutions must build capacity outside government amongst civil society so that they can put additional pressure on government to achieve the gender equality goals. Finally, to measure the success or failure of the GRB initiative it is necessary to establish data requirements and systems for monitoring the gender equality goals.

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115. Michielsens, Magda. 2001 ‘Mechanisms and Structures in favour of the Equality between Men and Women, particularly ‘Mainstreaming’, Pp. 21-29 116. McKay and Fitzgerald. 2003. Manual. Presupuestos Sensibles al Género en la Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco. Emakunde (web <www.emakunde.es>).

117. Monica Costa, Marian Sawer and Rhonda Sharp. 2012. Women Acting for Women. International Feminist Journal of Politics 118. Overview of gender equality issues in the United Kingdom available at: <http:// www.gender-equality.webinfo.lt/results/uk.htm> (last visited on 17/06/2013).

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Authors Prof. Azra Hadziahmetovic Prof. Dr. Azra Hadziahmetovic is a full professor at the Faculty of Economic of the University of Sarajevo, where she has taught Macroeconomics, Economy of Europe, economic Diplomacy, System of National Accounts, International Economy, Analysis of Foreign Trade, Tax Systems in the EU, World Economy. She authored and co-authored nine textbooks and over 100 scientific papers. She is a member of the WTO Academic Network, Economic Science Section of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of BiH, as well as numerous expert and professional associations. She visited Switzerland, Japan, UK, Egypt, Italy, Austria, Germany and the USA participating in different forms of education.

In parallel with university career, held different offices – Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, member of the country’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a World Bank governor, and an alternative governor of the International Monetary Fund. Since 1998 she was directly elected and she still serves as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dr. Tatjana Đurić Kuzmanović Full Professor at the Higher School of Professional Business Studies, Novi Sad for Management of Family business, Business Surroundings, European and national economy. Studied of development and economics at Faculty of economics, University of Belgrade, and obtained Ph.D. in Economics 1992. In 2004 obtained Post-Graduate Diploma in Feminist Development Economics, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague.

Teaching at the Master Program International Gender Research and Feminist Politics 2008 - 2009-2010 on European Studies: Economic Policy and Gainful Employment, Introduction to Feminist Economics at Rosa Mayreder College, Wien; Postgraduate interdisciplinary course on Gender and economics, Master Program Feminist economics and Gender Budgeting at University of Novi Sad (2004/05); Women’s Studies and Research Center in Novi Sad, Belgrade, Kotor; Summer school of Gender equality Gender Centar and University of Banja Luka (2011, 2012), Istočno Sarajevo (2013).

As gender economics expert was co-author (with Dokmanović Mirjana) of the Guidelines for introducing gender budgeting on national level in Serbia (2012) and was included in preparation of National Plan for Women for Serbia. Independent Study Project (ISP) advisor for World Learning’s School for International Training (SIT) Study Abroad program on Gender, Transformation and Civil Society in the Balkans (2003) and Director of the Center for Documentation, Publishing and Research on Youth (CIDID), Belgrade (1984 – 1986).

Main research: feminist development economics, gender and globalization, gender and development, gender budgeting.

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Prof. Elisabeth Klatzer Elisabeth Klatzer, PhD in Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Master in Public Administration, Harvard University; extensive experience working in research, civil society and consultancy in the field of Gender Responsive Budgeting, Public Finance Management as well as gender and economic policy; co-founder of the European Gender Budgeting Network; work experience on GRB includes Austria, Turkey, occupied Palestinian Territory, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Ukraine, Tajikistan, FYR Macedonia; 12 years of experience in public administration, including the position Gender Mainstreaming Counsellor in the Federal Chancellery in Austria, involved in the integration of GRB in the Austrian budget reform; publications on GRB, European integration, economic governance and feminist economics; currently among others project leader of a research project on “Promoting Gender Responsive Budgeting/Gender Mainstreaming through research and research dissemination, gender responsive policies and strengthening institutional and management capacities“ in cooperation with Ugandan universities.

Dr. Marija Risteska Marija Risteska holds PhD in political science. She is the founder and works as Senior Analyst at the Centre for Research and Policy Making. Her research work is in the area of public administration reform, public management, good governance, policy transfer and European integration. She teaches public policy, comparative public administration and public management at Faculty of Political science and Diplomacy FON University.

She has contributed to four specific public sector reforms in Macedonia on public policy development, strategic planning, and better regulation. Marija Risteska has 10 years of consulting experience with the EU and all UN agencies. In addition to gender budgeting, Marija worked in the following areas of gender equality: mainstreaming gender in policy making and mainstreaming gender in project management. She is author of the following gender equality related publications: Macedonia in “Good practices and challenges on the Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) and the Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. (156): A comparative study “ ed. Adrienne Cruz, ILO, 2012; “Gender and employment ”in Achieving gender equality in Macedonia (р.36-50) CRPM, 2009; „Gender Pay Gap in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, ILO, 2011; and “Perspectives of rural women - Rural women baseline study”, UN Women, 2012.

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305-055.1/.2:336.14(075.8)

GENDER responsive budgeting : textbook for universities / Azra Hadžiahmetović ... [et al.] ; [translation Senada Kreso, Ivona Kristić, Sanja Onešćuk-Tahirović]. - Sarajevo : University Press, 2013. - 259 str. : graf. prikazi ; 24 cm

Authors: str. 256-257. - Bibliografija uz poglavlja.

ISBN 978-9958-673-18-4 1. Hadžiahmetović, Azra COBISS.BH-ID 20750854 -------------------------------------------------