In the rich man’s world
(“Money, money, money”, ABBA)
Feminism entered the State by elbowing. Once inside, the battle has to rage on. Among the disputes that arise, the budget has to be at the center of the scene. Both so that the cuts do not occur in gender policies, and also to appropriate the planning instrument that orders public spending. One and another battle go hand in hand. Feminists who insist on discussing public investment in gender equality know that relevance is technical and political. The recent approval of the 2023 budget is an opportune moment to rethink both dimensions.
Money to transform the world
Regarding the technical dimension, it is necessary to discuss what are the capacities that the State has to plan the path towards gender equality: the budget is a key instrument in this regard. The medium and long-term objectives dialogue with this law every year and with the intentions of a management, intentions embodied in the values of the main economic variables and in the priorities of human rights. This is where the relevance of discussing gender inequality lies within the framework of the most important instrument for the future of public policies and their financing. The budget with a gender perspective (PPG) monitors which areas are defined as a problem —gender violence, for example— and how many resources are available for policies that contribute to closing gender gaps. If the ACOMPAÑAR program of the Ministry of Women —which provides psychological support and financial assistance to victims of gender violence— seeks to assist 106,176 people, the amount of money has to be consistent with that purpose. If not, it’s wet paper.
The gender perspective in the budget is a fundamental change in the way of budgeting policies for several reasons. Let’s go with two. The first is that it strengthens the objective of equity, because the labeled policies contribute to closing gender gaps. The second is that it has positive effects on all management by encouraging the use of data for policy planning and aligning action with further objectives.
Let’s do a little immediate history. Until the arrival of the Equal Opportunities and Rights Plan of 2018, there is no allusion to the incorporation of the gender variable in the planning of budget policies. From that moment, the process of labeling policies that close gender gaps began to be diagrammed: the result was a budget for 2019 that was more consistent with that purpose. In 2021 and with a new management, the message of remission of the budget – the letter that the Executive sends when it presents it to Congress – made clearer the efforts to give relevance to gender equality as a budget policy. The greater strength of the arguments in favor of policies that close gender gaps is consistent with the greater number of policies that contemplate inequality.
That brings us to the concrete improvements in practical terms that gender budgeting could bring to the entire budgetary apparatus. More data, more predictability, and more coordination are needed to use it effectively. For example, the training to learn about the new PPG techniques —which are already open to the entire Public Administration— are improvements in technical capacities, both in terms of budgeting and knowledge of gender inequality. Furthermore, many of the policies designed with a gender focus are based on evidence of inequality. In Argentina we are far from designing evidence-based policies, but there are concrete examples of feminist policies —such as the Emergency Family Income in the pandemic— that improve planning practices, incorporating data into the design. Giving the cultural battle also involves questioning the prevailing logic, especially in fundamental instruments.
And we come to our fundamental demand, equity. The one that exclaims SOS with the most force Equity is the foundation of all efforts to put management at the service of gender equality, growth and social inclusion. If the ACOMPAÑAR program does not have the necessary resources from the start, it will have to dispute them: what can be read as an internal negotiation, are actually women and LGBTI+ people who do not have access to the benefit. Equity is a pillar of development and the effective distribution of resources is the way to give it content.
Policies are activated with political will and with resources that support them
No technical dimension can function without attending to a political dimension. Good public policies exist. There is the decision to support a public policy or the will not to do so. The budget expresses a certain relationship of forces. In this sense, far from delving into the direction of a greater gender perspective, what we are witnessing this week is a setback with respect to that brief immediate history. The recently approved 2023 budget reduces in real terms the money allocated to many policies that address gender inequality, such as the expenses derived from compliance with the Brisa Law, the right to economic reparation for minors under 21 years of age who are victims of violence of gender, or the ACCOMPANY Program that we mentioned at the beginning. The dimensions that show the greatest drop are those of Gender Violence and Sensitization and Training in gender: blows to the conquests that will not go unnoticed.
Added to this discouraging outlook is the attitude of the opposition, which for the second consecutive year refuses to discuss and reach a consensus, downplaying the instrument that orders resources to improve people’s lives. It deserves another column, or it deserves all the columns that have been written and will be written about it. The severity of these episodes does not cover the text that has just been approved: we witness a sanction that in numbers and in reality means an adjustment in gender policies. The Budget has to be a compass that leads us to more gender equality.
The three pillars for a management to work involve data to know what to tackle, planning for how and money to carry it out. At times when the north is blurred, we have to hold on to what we already built. The gender perspective in the budget is governed by data, includes the design of policies and counts how much money there is to reduce gender inequality. Politically, it aspires to redistribute resources to improve people’s lives, and technically, to improve management and strengthen the capacities of the State. It is something that today we cannot leave out of play.
Fundar Gender Analyst.
Source: Ambito
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
