Hearing on “Gender Budgeting: State of Play and Way Forward” Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) European Parliament June 20, 2018 Dr. Elisabeth Klatzer elisabeth.klatzer@gmx.net

Introduction First European Parliament resolution on gender budgeting - building public budgets from a gender perspective (2003) Since then major progress throughout the world and in European countries Is the EU keeping pace with international developments?

Gender Budgeting as international Standard in Public Finance Management work OECD recognized Gender budgeting is a key tool for implementing gender equality International Monetary Fund (IMF) engages with GB 2016 international review: Gender Budgeting: Fiscal Context and Current Outcomes Properly designed gender budgeting improves government budgeting systems

Gender Responsive Public Finance Management Institutions and Practices “Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is good budgeting.” (Janet Stotsky, International Monetary Fund)

Clear Legal Obligations Legal basis obliging EU institutions and Member States to gender equality and preventing discrimination, including in budgetary policies: Article 2 and 3, TEU Article 8 and 11, TFEU Art. 23 Charter of Fundamental Rights CEDAW, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women Beijing Platform of Action etc. Political Commitments to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at Member States level as well as by the European Commission

Obligations: Sustainable Development Goals Specific indicator on Gender Budgeting included in the list of SDG indicators Indicator 5c.1: Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment Criteria for 5c.1. indicator: Criterion 1: Address well-identified gender equality goals; have adequate resources allocated and executed within the budget Criterion 2: Extent to which Public Financial Management system promotes gender-related or gender-responsive goals Criterion 3: Criterion 3. Allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment made public

Gender Budgeting – living up to the standards Gender budgeting is an application of Gender Mainstreaming in the budgetary process. It means a gender based assessment of budgets incorporating a gender perspective at all levels of the budgetary process and restructuring revenues and expenditures in order to promote gender equality. (Council of Europe)

Gender Budgeting – living up to the standards (2) fg dfsa dfs Integrating gender perspectives at all stages of the budget and planning processes Gender budget analyses Involving inside actors and external stakeholders Changes based on gender analyses

A range of standard GB tools 9 ex ante Gender impact assessment Budget baseline analysis Gender needs assessment Gender Responsive Budget Call Circulars Gender Budget Statements concurrent Performance setting Participatory Budgeting Resource Allocation Gender Responsive Budget Incidence analysis ex post ex post GIA Spending review Gender Performance Audit Gender Responsive Audit Reports Source: OECD 2016, own adaptations

Wide and extensive practice of Gender Budgeting throughout Europe See: Gender Budgeting in Europe. Developments and Challenges Angela O’Hagan & Elisabeth Klatzer (2018), editors Wealth of contributions from the European Gender Budgeting Network (EGBN) Extensive experience in many public administrations EU lagging far behind

EU is lagging behind & falling further back In last MFF Gender Budgeting was not systematically applied to EU budget 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) proposal by the European Commission even further steps backwards: Gender Equality not visible as a priority No “Gender Mainstreaming in the Budget Process” (see Council of Europe standard definition of GB) Gender Equality even further disappearing see ESIF proposals see Rights and Values Programme 2021-2027 Increasing Funds to gender blind areas and areas fundamentally detrimental to promoting peace and equality see tremendous increases of EU funds for militarization and weapon’s industry see e.g. stronger links of funding to structural reforms, but not to gender equality progress (we agreed that following speakers will provide more details on this …)

EU is lagging behind. How to catch up? Implement legal obligations through out budget processes Full implementation of Gender Budgeting in MFF in annual budget process in all Funds Not as an option, but as a key requirement

Recommendations FEMM Committee to take a leading role in making sure the European Parliament does not approve any budget which doesn‘t meet internationally recogized standards of good governance and Public Finance Management & Gender Budgeting Set up an ad hoc advisory group of experts on Gender Budgeting to support work in MFF negotiations Adopt an own initiative report on Gender Budgeting in the new MFF Building on existing reports and expertise

Key challenge and target European Parliament to take a leading role in making sure EU approves MFF & regulatory package ONLY, IF it meets EU treaty obligations towards gender equality and international standards and obligations of good governance in Public Finance Management & Gender Budgeting