There is no doubt that gender equality has permeated national and international political agendas. It is laudable that there is now a plethora of policies on gender equality in addition to multitudes of strategies and action plans. This attests to the good intentions of decision-makers and the awareness that gender equality is key to society’s development. However, very few of these plans are accompanied by a genuine assessment of what resources are needed to ensure full and effective implementation. Indeed, even fewer actually receive the necessary funding. The challenge today is to secure financing for gender equality.
Some 120 MPs gathered in the wings of this year's session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women to review the extent to which women’s issues receive appropriate financing around the world. The majority of participants agreed that insufficient funds were earmarked to gender programmes although opportunities do present themselves. For the MPs in attendance - men and women from over 50 countries - it was first of all a question of political will; MPs needed to mobilize rather than shy away from taking new and strong measures. One idea discussed was innovative earmarking. For example, given the linkage between alcohol over-consumption on the one hand and violence against women on the other hand, governments could earmark alcohol taxes to finance measures to combat violence against women.
Women also need to have their voices heard, in the parliament but also in society, as voters, as consumers and as income providers, hence the importance of having more women in parliament and ensuring a better representation of their rights.
Discussions also focused on the development of gender-sensitive national budgets. These do not necessarily imply more funding for women but a better allocation of funds within the national budget. Indeed, gender-sensitive budgeting is not a matter of women’s needs or interests; it is a means of examining the budget and the policies behind it, to see who is being served and who is bearing what share of the tax burden. Gender-sensitive budgeting helps parliamentarians better serve their constituencies, providing them with tools that enable them to know how the budget which they pass is serving the interests of the different categories of people they represent, including women.
The main conclusions of this one-day meeting were conveyed to the Commission's plenary by its Chairperson, Senator Monica Xavier of Uruguay.
