Budgeting for Change: Women’s Groups and the Advancement of Gender Budgeting in Europe Dr Angela O’Hagan Glasgow Caledonian University

Gender Budgeting: Concept and Origins Assumption that budgets are gender-neutral Examination of public resources for impact on women and men Redistribution of resources to advance equality Gender impact assessment and gender poliy analysis reveal different and unequal outcomes for women and men from public spending decisionsAssumption that budgets are gender-neutra; Feminist economics perspective Beijing Platforms for Action UN, Commonwealth Secretariat

Gender Budgeting Feminist policy change in action As feminist policy change gender budget analysis seeks Improvement of women’s rights, status or situation relevant to men’s; Reduction of gender-based hierarchies; Avoids distinction between public and private spheres; Focuses on women and men; Can be identified with recognised feminist movements, (Mazur, 2002). Consistent with the “transformative project and nature of feminism” (Figart, 2005). Gender budgeting is a “gender status”* policy concerned with women as citizens and participation in the democratic process; and a “class-based” approach to policy making concerned with the redistribution of resources (*adapted from Htun and Weldon, 2010).

Goals of Gender Budgeting (Sharp and Broomhill, 2002; Sharp, 2003) Improving government accountability Policy Change Mainstreaming gender in public policies

Transparency - Democracy - Participation Opening up political and policy process Transforming relationship with the state Focus on institutions and not women as ‘the problem’ Focus on state as a legitimate focus for policy change “feminist practical politics in action” (Sharp and Broomhill, 2002, p.42) GB advocates as “policy entrepreneurs”

Engaging the state UK Women’s Budget Group Scottish Women’s Budget Group Plataforma Ya! Austrian Budget Watch Group

UK Women’s Budget Group Established late 1990’s Over 200 individual members - academics, activists, analysts Formally constituted; management committee; policy advisory group; In-depth analysis of UK Treasury Annual Budgets, Autumn Financial Statements, etc.; Quantitative and qualitative analysis; Extensive briefings Engagement with HM Treasury under previous government but not since 2010 Increasing campaign profile e.g. Plan F and manifesto analysis

Scottish Women’s Budget Group Established 1999/2000 Maximising political opportunities - constitutional change 60+ members; small core group, not formally constituted Analysis and challenge to annual Draft Budget and Spending Plans Commentary on economic and public policy, including welfare reform Instrumental in establishing Equality Budget Statement Outsider group with insider access to Ministers and policy process through Equality Budgets Advisory Group

Plataforma…! Established “Plataforma [para asesoramiento de] impacto de género ya!” Legislative impetus at sub/national level Global financial crisis Ministry for Equality established Public challenge to Ministry of Finance/Central Government for equality impact of the Budget Umbrella structure/ Coalition of feminist organisations, regional networks from across Spain, organised at national level targeting government spending and policy actions at all levels - national budgets; elections at all levels Visible ‘protest’ element

Austrian Budget Watch Established 2001 Voluntary, unresourced Expert analysis, publications Visible protest element - Femme Fiscale

Changing faces across Europe European Gender Budgeting Network <15 countries across Europe, beyond EU Range of non/feminist NGOs at national, regional and local level Transnational organisations - UN Women e.g. Ukraine, Turkey, Balkans Range of theoretical and conceptual approaches - democratic participation, wellbeing, austerity, effective government, gender equality

Future research directions Using Feminist Institutionalist concepts and methods along with insights from social movement literature Characterise feminist engagement on gender budgeting Identify types of groups, strategies, contextual factors Identify key policy venues, significance of legislative levers, and other factors influencing policy change Assess engagement with other political actors within core executive, key institutions and outside government actors including political parties