Budgets convey values

Gender analysis leads to better budget decisions.

by Jody Dallaire, Dieppe Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunity between Women and Men

This column used to be written by the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women, until the New Brunswick government decided to abolish the Council's funding on March 31, 2011. The decision — made without any public consultation whatsoever — was announced a year ago in the 2011-2012 provincial budget.

Any hopes that the 2012-2013 provincial budget would restore funding to this independent voice for women in New Brunswick were dashed when this year's budget was unveiled. Perhaps the government will make it a priority next year.

A budget is a statement of the values most important to a government (or organization). Let's look at the recent federal and New Brunswick government budgets from a gender perspective.

Although governments seem to feel pressure to do right by women, obviously they are unclear how to do gender analysis.

This year the New Brunswick and the federal budgets both mentioned the word woman/women. This is progress. In past years there was no mention of the word women/woman in the budget documents at all.

The federal budget mentions women in two contexts. First, it proposes creating an advisory council of leaders from the private and public sectors to get more women appointed to corporate boards. Second, it proposes addressing family violence in aboriginal communities by investing in shelter services and violence prevention programming to ensure they are available in these communities.

The New Brunswick government's budget discusses the role of the Women's Issues Branch within government. It also includes, for the first time ever, a line item where funds are allocated for pay equity adjustments. As well, the budget sees increased funding allotted to early childhood care and education. Both of these initiatives, if done properly, can have a positive impact on the lives of women.

It is obvious that both levels of government are feeling some pressure to do right by women in their respective budgets. It is also clear, nonetheless, that they don't understand how gender budgeting should be done.

I am no expert on gender budgeting myself. I did however have the opportunity to attend a workshop, earlier this year, on the subject with Canadian expert, Charlotte Thibault. The workshop was organized by the Regroupement féministe du Nouveau-Brunswick (New Brunswick's francophone feminist association). Gender-based analysis does not mean simply using the word women in government budget documents or including a couple of initiatives that will benefit women.

The process needs to go much further than this. Budgeting for gender means analysing how budget decisions will affect men and women differently. For example, will increasing the age of retirement have the same impact on men as women, given that women and men have different experiences during their work life? Will cuts in public services affect men and women the same or differently? Are the programs government cut used mostly by women or by men?

Thibault eloquently outlined the advantages of using gender-based analysis in the budget process. Gender-based analysis leads to more effective and efficient use of public funds by making sure that public funds are invested in ways that meet the needs of different segments of the population. Gender budgeting can also evaluate how the tax system works, to determine if women and men are treated fairly, or if discrimination exists.

Some governments have successfully used gender based analysis as they introduced program cuts. For example, Lichtenberg, Germany, conducted a citizen engagement process and gender analysis before downsizing the number of public libraries. The city found that men and women used library services differently and that the services available were not adequately meeting the needs of men and boys. As well as making cuts, the city also decided to make changes, so that the remaining services better met the needs of both men and women. Hence, visits to the library increased rather than decreasing over time.

Gender budgeting can be used in times when governments are introducing austerity measures and can also be used to determine which type of program will best be able to achieve a certain objective.

Let's take the federal government's worthwhile goal of increasing the number of female representatives on corporate board. Is the goverment's path the most efficient? A more sensible approach might be to adopt legislation similar to that being considered by the European Union (EU) and currently in place in Norway. There, the law requires that 40 percent of corporate boards must be of one gender (so at least 40 percent women and at least 40 percent men).

Although women-friendly initiatives were discussed in both the federal and provincial budgets, the muted consideration is still a far cry from the gender budgeting needed to make sure that government policies and decisions adequately meet the needs of both men and women.

Let's hope that next year's budgets will introduce the notion of gender budgeting with a pilot project or two. Let's also hope that next year's provincial budget will include funds for an advisory council on the status of women.

 

© Copyright 2012 Jody Dallaire, All rights Reserved. Written For: StraightGoods.ca