By: Jonna Monaghan
Gender budgeting offers a framework, as well as a concrete tool for making decision that support all population groups. Interest in gender budgeting in Northern Ireland is growing, as can be seen in research by Ulster University, which highlights that policy makers at both regional and Council level and community and voluntary sectors believe it is a tool that could support effective budgeting and decision making. Training led by Ulster University and Northern Ireland Women’s Budget Group has highlighted that understanding gender budgeting also helps in understanding budgeting and financial decision making more widely, as well as clarifying how public decision making impacts on gender inequalities. The All Party Group on UNSCR 1325, Women, Peace and Security, for which Women’s Platform provides the secretariat, has also advocated for gender budgeting in decision making, focusing in particular on underlining that gender budgeting supports equitable and effective decision making. However, there has so far been no public sector gender budgeting pilot in Northern Ireland.
Internationally, gender budgeting has been advocated by civil society, and a growing number of countries are now adopting gender budgeting at government level. Women’s Platform and Women’s Support Network were very grateful to have the opportunity to attend the UN Commission on the Status of Women conference in March 2024, which focused on poverty and social protection, and provided access to significant learning and good practice relevant to the women’s sector in Northern Ireland. There were a number of sessions focused on gender budgeting, including a side event organised by Women’s Platform, in collaboration with Women’s Support Network and Northern Ireland Women’s Budget Group. The common theme across sessions was that gender budgeting is helpful and can increase buy in to gender responsive decision making from all officials and decision makers, but requires leadership, commitment and ongoing development. In almost all countries, access to the right data was an issue, even when gender budgeting is an adopted government policy.
In Australia, gender budgeting is part of federal policy as well as policy in several states, and gender impact assessments must be undertaken on major policy proposals, as well as proposals that affect disadvantaged population groups or gender segregated sectors of the economy. The government’s view is that integrating gender budgeting has helped increase a focus on women and gender equality in decision making overall, and there is political will to drive policy change. A key issue is resourcing, and experience to date underlines that building support within finance Departments and Ministries is essential to change this.
The Malaysian civil society organisation Engender has had success in engaging financial decision makers, and building capacity with officials across government Departments. This has strengthened interest in improving decision making processes, and as a result, gender equality has gained more prominent interest in Malaysia. Engender contributed to paid paternity leave, which was introduced in 2023, by highlighting how no paternity leave was adding pressure on women and mothers, as well as women dominated industries, and disadvantaging men and children in a number of ways, in particular developing positive relationships. Malaysia first introduced gender budgeting principles in 2005, which underlines that change takes time, and requires ongoing commitment.
At European level, the European Women’s Lobby has advocated for feminist economics and gender budgeting in EU institutions, as has the European Institute for Gender Equality. There has been an emphasis on a care economy as a practical way forward at European level, and gender budgeting was explored during the last European Commission. However, the Commission appointed following EU elections in 2024, despite the return of Ursula von der Leyen as President, is much less focused on gender equality, and agreed priorities reflect a more right leaning approach. This underlines how political structures and trends can affect both commitment to gender budgeting and how it may be used, and also shows that civil society must play a key role in retaining focus on the core aims of gender budgeting.
As a specific European example, gender budgeting has been explored in Albania with the support of UN Women for over a decade, and has been a mandatory budget requirement since 2017. This has contributed to a greater focus on women’s position in society, as well as changing budget processes. Albanian officials attending CSW in March 2024 stressed that improving access to data is vital to create change, and also noted that engagement with civil society must be an ongoing priority. This reflects evidence collated by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which promotes gender budgeting as a mechanism for better outcomes, and is building an evidence base to support government level implementation.
These brief examples indicate that there is clearly scope for achieving better budget outcomes for all through gender budgeting. It is also clear that civil society plays a key role in keeping up momentum, and also ensuring access to evidence. This expertise is being developed in Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland Women’s Budget Group has a clear leadership role in building capacity, as a starting point for practice. The current budget position in Northern Ireland underlines why change is urgent, and now is therefore a vital time to build both capacity and interest, as well as commitment. Women’s Platform will support this work through access to learning from elsewhere, which can act as signposting to experience and good practice, but ultimately, local practice needs to build on local needs, and the women’s sector has ample evidence to show why change is needed, and how it can be achieved.