Financing for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of
Women
The situation in the Netherlands
Contribution of the Nederlandse Vrouwen Raad (NVR; Netherlands Council of Women) to the
52nd session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 2008
Paper by Margreet de Boer
Agreed upon by the NVR General Assembly on February 14 th 2008.
In the online-discussion of the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) of the UN, the
central theme ‘Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women is divided in
several sub-themes:
1. public finance, including gender responsive budgeting and the participation of women in
the budgetary process
2. bilateral and multilateral cooperation, including development aid / cooperation
3. funding and support for women’s organisations
The sub themes are intrinsically interlinked and jointly present an integrated approach to
gender equality and sustainable development through the full and equal participation of
women in the various sectors in society.
In this contribution the NVR, as umbrella organisation of 46 women’s NGO’s, emphasizes the
national policies in the Netherlands.
The paper addresses the current situation in the Netherlands itself: the neglect of gender
sensitive budgeting, the precarious situation of women’s NGOs and the consequences
thereof for empowerment of women and gender mainstreaming.
The pivotal role of the Major Group women in international development will be briefly
addressed under sub theme 2.
For this paper, the main issues are:
a. gender responsive budgeting in general policies
b. public resources for specific policies aimed at the advancement of women
1
c. participation of women and women’s group in the budgetary process (as a specific area of
policymaking)
d. the funding of women’s groups and NGOs working on the advancement of women, both
in the fields of gender equality and of sustainable development as a whole.
The paper will subsequently pay attention to:
I.
The international context of conventions, consensus papers and other relevant
documents;
II.
The Dutch policy, the views of the Dutch government and the actual situation
III.
Good practices from elsewhere
IV.
Comments and recommendations of the NVR
A paper like this can only give a brief analysis. Where possible references to other
documents with more complete information and in-depth analysis are included in footnotes.
I. The international context of conventions, consensus papers and other relevant documents
Although the Convention on Elimination of All forms of Discrimination of Women (CEDAW)
does not specifically address budgets and funding, it implicitly implies State-obligations on
this subject, by requiring all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination of women.
This means that where the failure of the State to allocate appropriate resources is frustrating
effective implementation of the Convention, it has failed to comply. CEDAW also requires
that women are able to participate on equal terms with men in decision-making about the
budget (art. 7)1.
In its General Recommendation 6 the CEDAW Committee recommends that states should
establish and/or strengthen effective national machinery, institutions and procedures, at a
high level of Government, and with adequate resources, commitment and authority to advise
on the impact on women of all government policies; to monitor the situation of women
comprehensively; and to help formulate new policies and effectively carry out strategies and
measures to eliminate discrimination.
Also in some other General Recommendations, as well in recommendations to individual
states, the CEDAW Committee explicitly refers to the need to take budgetary measures (see
f.i. General Recommendation 24, par. 17).
In its last Concluding Comments regarding the Netherlands, the CEDAW Committee
recommends that the Netherlands ensure that non-governmental organizations are able to
effectively contribute to the continuing implementation of the Convention. It recommends
also that the State party conduct an assessment of the effect and impact of its new funding
scheme to non-governmental organizations and consider revising it in the event that nongovernmental organizations are negatively affected in their ability to monitor governmental
compliance with the Convention.
Also other conventions, such as the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR) emphasize the obligation to allocate sufficient resources for the realisation of
human rights, including women’s rights, as well as the right for women to participate in the
decision making.
The Beijing Platform for Action emphasizes that funding has to be identified and mobilized
from all sources and across all sectors. As Governments have the primary responsibility for
implementing the strategic objectives of the Platform for Action, they are called upon to
make efforts to systematically review how women benefit from public sector expenditures,
adjust budgets to ensure equality of access to public sector expenditures, and achieve the
gender related commitments made in other United Nations summits and conferences.
At the national level, the Beijing Platform for Action calls for sufficient resources to be
allocated to national machineries for the advancement of women as well as to all institutions,
as appropriate, that can contribute to the implementation and monitoring of the Platform for
Action. Governments are also called upon to create a supportive environment for the
Diane Elson: Budgeting for Women’s Rights, Monitoring Government Budgets for Compliance with CEDAW,
UNIFEM, 2006, p. 13.
1
2
mobilization of resources by non-governmental organizations, particularly women's
organizations and networks, feminist groups, the private sector and other actors of civil
society, to enable them to contribute towards this end 2.
At its fiftieth session in 2006, CSW called (amongst other things) for mobilization of
adequate funding for national mechanisms for gender equality, through national, regional
and international resource mobilization and gender responsive budget processes in all
sector areas, and allocate adequate funding for women-specific measures3.
At global level gender equity and the empowerment of women are acknowledged as key
denominators for development and incorporated in relevant policy documents and
agreements. The Monterrey consensus (2002) on Financing for development for instance
refers to “social and gender budget policies” as a pre-requisite for sustainable policies.
The Johannesburg Platform for Action / WSSD declaration (2002) calls for inclusion of gender
aspects in the indicators and mainstreaming gender perspectives in all policies and
strategies. The full and equal participation of women as a major group in society is part and
parcel of Agenda 21 (1992) and the Millennium Declaration (2000) includes a separate
development goal (MDG 3) on gender equity.
UNIFEM in 2006 started an endorsed program with the following aims:
- To strengthen the capacity of governments to apply a gender analysis to planning,
monitoring and evaluating the impacts of revenue raising and expenditure allocation at
national, provincial and/or local levels. This process will enhance the outcomes of
critical social, economic and poverty alleviation programmes for women.
- To develop and implement strategies for women’s participation in economic decisionmaking through their engagement in budgetary processes.
- To engender economic governance processes by increasing their transparency, holding
global and national actors accountable to their policy commitments to women.
II. The Dutch policy, the views of the Dutch government and the actual situation
a. gender responsive budgeting in general policies
The Netherlands have two-track policy regarding emancipation: gendermainstreaming where
possible and specific policies aimed at the advancement of women where necessary. This
principle was laid down in the governmental position paper on gendermainstreaming (2001).
Gender sensitive budgeting4 was mentioned as one of the instruments for gender
mainstreaming. Following this, three pilots were conducted at three ministries. In 2003 the
ministry of Social Affairs evaluated the three pilots of gender sensitive budgeting at national
level5. In the report on the pilots, the ministry stresses the importance of gender sensitive
budgeting as part of the gender mainstreaming: “Also an analysis of the budgets can
uncover any inequalities and thus creates the opportunity to modify the policy and allocate
budgets differently. In this way budgeting from a male/female perspective can thus
contribute to the political desire for “accountability”, the need for transparency of budget
processes, the striving for equality in society and the need for efficient policy
implementation. (..)An analysis from a male/female perspective can identify positive effects,
but also (unintended) negative effects. This ensures that emancipation policy is more than
just words, but also strives towards concrete and transparent results.” And further: “Analysis
2
Information on the Beijing Platform for Action extracted from the Report of the Expert Group Meeting on
Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women, Organized by The Division for the
Advancement of Women, 2007, par. 16-17. See:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/financing_gender_equality/EGM%20Report%20Final.pdf
3
Ibidem, par. 22.
4
In the earlier documents the focus was on gender budget analysis. For this paper, gender budget analysis is
meant to be part of the broader term gender sensitive budgeting.
5
Budgeting from a male/female perspective: An account of three pilots in the Netherlands, Ministry of Social
Affairs and Employment, 2003
3
from a male/female perspective, whereby criteria, objectives and effects are identified taking
into account the male/female perspective, helps to improve the efficiency and effectiveness
of policy. It is therefore possible that such an analysis will result in modification of policy
objectives and a corresponding change in budget(s).” The report also mentions international
documents regarding gender sensitive budgeting, and states: “The Netherlands attaches a
great deal of importance to these gatherings and decisions, and has
therefore immediately initiated the further development of budgeting from a male/female
perspective as part of the Gender Mainstreaming cabinet position paper.”
One of the conclusions of the report is: “This first concept must be developed further to a
usable instrument, in which expenditures, activities, results and development are the key
factors.” And : “Furthermore, it is important that attention continue to be paid to
male/female perspective in all phases of the budget cycle. If the different effects on women
and men have been examined when preparing a policy measure, there should also be an
assessment of how things develop in practice during the implementation phase.”
By order of the ministry of Social Affairs, an instrument for gender sensitive budgeting was
developed, which was published in 20066.
From 2004-2006, the Inspection Commission on Emancipation (Visitatiecommissie
Emancipatie, VCE) assessed whether and how the ministries implemented the policy of
gender mainstreaming. In its final report on the ministry of finance, this Commission came
to the conclusion that the ministry of does not take steps in the process of gender sensitive
budgeting. The commission recommends to explicitly involve gender and ethnicity in the
interdepartmental policy assessments that the ministry of finance conducts on a regular
basis at other departments; and to take up the further development of the instrument of
gender sensitive budgeting, and the integration of gender sensitive budgeting into the
existing budgeting system which is used by all ministries (the so called VBTB-system). The
ministry of finance should take the lead in this process. Besides that, it should be considered
how to integrate gender sensitive budgeting more structurally in the work of the ministry of
finance itself.7 Also in the overall report of the Inspection Commission the further
development of the instrument of gender sensitive budgeting is recommended; here with the
addition that if the ministry of finance does not take the lead in this process, the
intergovernmental structure for emancipation should do so8.
In October 2007, the minister of finance did send a letter to parliament, responding to the
recommendations of the Inspection Commission on Emancipation. The minister states that
within the policy assessments and the budgeting system, attention is already being paid to
gender and ethnicity, when relevant. The minister does not see any added value of the use of
the instrument of gender sensitive budgeting.
In September 2007 the government presented its new policy (2008-2011) on the
advancement of women9. In this new policy, the government mentions 5 conditions for
successful gendermainstreaming, which derive from the 2001 position paper on
gendermainstreaming. The 5 conditions are: commitment of the top (both political and of
the civil service); clear assignation of responsibilities; presence of expertise; use of
instruments and presence of objectives and resources. The policy paper mentions that these
conditions are in line with international documents. It is up to the individual ministries to
carry out the policy of gendermainstreaming 10. Unlike the position paper of 2001, the new
policy paper does not mention gender sensitive budgeting.
6
Marktplan diversiteit and E-Quality: Instrument voor doelgericht begroten, Methode voor het uitvoeren van
een Gender Budget Analyse, 2006
7 Emancipatiebeleid en gender mainstreaming bij het ministerie van Financiën, Eindrapportage
visitatie 2005-2006, Visitatiecommissie Emancipatie, January 2007, p. 12-13.
8 Een beetje beter is niet goed genoeg, emancipatiebeleid en gender mainstreaming bij de rijksoverheid,
eindrapportage visitaties 2005-2006, Visitatiecommissie Emancipatie, January 2007, p. 47.
9
Meer kansen voor Vrouwen, emancipatiebeleid 2008-2011, Ministry of Education, 2007.
10
Ibidem, p. 7.
4
As far as known, no gender budget analysis have been made at national level since the pilots
in 2001/2002.
On regional and local level, some gender budget analysis have been done during the last
years. For example, the sports-budget of six local governments were assessed11.
b. public resources for specific policies aimed at the advancement of women
In September 2007 the government published a policy assessment of the emancipation
policy, which was then coordinated by the ministry of social affairs.12 This document shows
that in 2006, an amount of € 12,5 million was spend on emancipation by the emancipation
office of the ministry. This amount does not cover expenditures of other ministries, and of
other divisions within the ministry of social affair. It also does not include funds from
Brussels, which were distributed by the ministry, and neither the local budgets.
From the total amount € 2,5 million was spend on organisational costs (mostly staff) and €
7,5 million on subsidies (see under d.)13.
In the policy paper on the advancement of women 2008-2011 is indicated that for the new
impulse in the emancipation policy an extra amount up to € 10 million in 2011 will be made
available within the budget of the ministry of education, which is the coordinating ministry
for emancipation. The amount is both for the emancipation of women and for the
emancipation of homosexuals. The extra resources will be used to give a new impulse to the
policy on the advancement of women on national, regional and local level, to anchor
emancipation within the various policy domains and to strengthen the emancipation process
in society.14 How the budget will be divided is not exactly clear yet, but what is clear is that
most of the budget will go to local governments, and even less budget will go to projects of
women’s groups and subsidies on national level. The subsidy system will be altered (see d.).
When the policy paper was discussed in Parliament, the budgets and subsidies were
questioned. At this moment it is not clear what the final outcome of this discussion will be.
c. participation of women and women’s group in the budgetary process
In the new policy paper on the advancement of women, the scope of the theme ‘participation
of women in decision making’ is explicitly narrowed down to ‘more women at the top within
government, education and private sector’15. No attention is paid to the role of women in the
development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies.
In practice, participation of women’s groups (civil society) is no regular part of the process of
policy making. Whether it is done, depends from ministry to ministry and is often triggered
by action of the women themselves. Sometimes, government takes the initiative to consult
women’s organisations regarding policy proposals. For example: in the summer of 2007 the
ministry organised two consultation meetings for the new policy on the advancement of
women. Also women’s organizations were asked to participate actively in the activities of the
Inspection Commission on Emancipation. The Ministry of the environment invited women’s
organizations several times for different types of consultations. This is also true for the
Ministries of Development Cooperation and Defence.
But many ministries do not take initiatives to consult women’s organisations.
Women’s groups or organisation are not at all involved in the budgetary process.
11
Marktplan Diversiteit and E-Quality: Doelgericht begroten in de sport, Gender Budget Analyse bij zes
gemeenten, 2006.
12
Beleidsdoorlichting Emancipatie, 2007.
13
Ibidem, p. 42.
14
Meer kansen voor Vrouwen, emancipatiebeleid 2008-2011, Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 6-7.
15
Meer kansen voor Vrouwen, emancipatiebeleid 2008-2011, Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 6.
5
Note: on some policies, the expert centre E-Quality is consulted (although most of their
advices are given after the policies have been developed). This can not be considered as
participation of women or women’s group, as E-Quality is part of the national machinery,
and no women’s NGO.
d. the funding of women’s groups and NGOs working on the advancement of women
Up to 2004, various Dutch ministries supported specific NGOs and expert organisations
working on the advancement of women. These NGOs, labelled as institutional mechanism for
the advancement of women (Emancipatie Ondersteunings Structuur, EOS) received structural
funding, which enabled them to conduct projects aimed at the advancement of women, to
empower women and to monitor the governmental policies.
Most NGOs in which women organised themselves , including the umbrella organisations
NVR and Tiye, were not considered part of the EOS and excluded from institutional support.
Since the mid-nineties, also in the funding system, women were seen as target group, rather
than equal partner in their own development.
In the period 2002-2004, the Dutch government cut the structural funding of most of the
women’s NGOs. As a result of this, some organisations closed down: e.g. the Clara
Wichmann Institute (Expertise Centre on Women and Law), the Mr. A. de Graaff Foundation
(Institute on Prostitution Issues), and the Women’s Alliance (foundation supported by women
NGOs). Others, like ZijActief, KVO had to downsize to such an extend that they can hardly do
their “work”. This did not only result in a loss of expertise on women’s issues, but also
diminishes the network with both grassroots women’s organisations and professionals in
e.g. the field of trafficking and women and law.
The government maintained the structural funding of two organisations: the International
Information Centre and Archives for the Women’s movement (IIAV) and E-Quality, the
Expertise centre on gender and ethnicity. These organisations are professional NGOs with a
specific government assignment (national machinery) and do not act as representatives of
women in the Netherlands.
From 2004 to 2008, civil society could apply for limited project funding within the specific
scope and criteria of the governments own priorities.16
Aside from the funding system, the ministry granted a subsidie at the CEDAW-Network for
consulting women’s groups and NGOs and conducting a shadow report on the
implementation of CEDAW. This project ran from 2005-2007.
In 2006, the Coordinating ministry for the Advancement of women did spend € 7,5 mln. on
subsidies: € 1,7 mln to the International Information Centre and Archives for the Women’s
movement (IIAV) and € 1,8 mln. for E-Quality, the Expertise centre on gender and ethnicity.
An amount of € 5 mln. was spend on subsidizing projects.17 It is unknown which part of this
amount has gone to professional organisations that have women as target group, and which
amount has been paid to projects of women’s organisations themselves.
In response to the concerns showed by the CEDAW Committee, the Dutch government
announced the evaluation of the existing grant system by the end of 2007, and a possible
change of this system in 2008.
Although the evaluation has not been conducted yet, the policy paper on the advancement of
women 2008-2011 announces a review of the funding system. The new system has not yet
been published, but it has been made clear that the government wants to decrease the
See also: Taking Women’s Rights Seriously?, an examination of The Fourth Report by the Government of The
Netherlands On Implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW), 2000-2004, Written by Margreet de Boer en Marjan Wijers on behalf of the NJCM (Dutch
Section of the International Commission of Jurists, www.njcm.nl) and the ‘Netwerk VN-Vrouwenverdrag’
(Dutch CEDAW-Network), 2006
and: Did the Beijing Platform for Action accelerate progress?, Dutch Beijing +10 NGO report, 2005
17
Beleidsdoorlichting Emancipatie, 2007, p. 42.
16
6
budgets for ‘knowledge-infrastructure’ (the information centre IIAV and the expertise centre
E-Quality), and to abolish the grant system of thematic project funding. Women’s NGOs
acting on national level will most likely loose all opportunities for getting funding for their
activities by the Dutch government. This may have the consequence that more organisations
will close down, as private persons in the Netherlands tend to favour organisations working
in development aid and on environmental issues. Private foundations do sometimes fund
projects aimed at the empowerment of women, but do not fund any ‘political sensitive’
projects or activities, including monitoring governmental policies.
Instead of the existing (grant) system, the ministry will divide most of the budget amongst
local governments. These budgets will be labelled for activities in the field of advancement
of women. But it will be up to the local government how to spend the money: for own
activities, for hiring professional bureaus, and/or by funding activities of local women’s
groups.
During the last ten years, most regional and local governments abolished their emancipation
policies and emancipation structure, including grants for local women’s group. It is
completely unclear if and how local governments have the capacity and the political will to
use the budgets they will receive (also) for the funding of local women’s groups.
With respect to sub theme 2 (development cooperation) the emphasis traditionally is on
providing gender expertise through the gender department of the ministry of foreign affairs
(DSI/ER) and through support to developing countries via gender & development offices at
the respective embassies. In the aftermath of the Millennium Declaration and the 2nd World
Water Forum of The Hague, and in line with the agreed European strategy on gender equity,
the Dutch ministry of Development cooperation has been responsive to the integrated,
implementation oriented and needs based approach of Dutch women’s NGOs. Substantial
financial support was granted to the development and implementation of the Women for
Water Partnership in which 18 major women’s networks spanning all five continents and with
a rank and file of millions of grassroots women world wide work together on achieving the
Millennium Development Goals on women’s terms and through water & sanitation
interventions. Thus a strong enabling environment was created for women to play their role
in sustainable development at both policy making and implementation level interconnecting
the local, national and international dimension of development. It has proven to be a
powerful tool for women’s empowerment strengthening their role as agents of change.
III. Good practices from international bodies and other countries
a. gender responsive budgeting in general policies
Gender budgeting in Italy
In December 2003 the European Parliament Resolution on Gender Budgeting- analysis of
budgets according to a gender perspective- was issued. The “Schedule for Equality between
women and men”18 includes the support to “evaluation of gender impact and gender
budgeting” among key-actions.
Italy shows several examples of the application of gender analysis to public budgets that
have taken advantage from the input given by the EC, overcoming the lack of national laws.
In 2003 Provinces of Genoa, Modena and Siena have signed an agreement for the exchange
of best practices and the diffusion of methodology of analysis to other institutions.
The interest generated by these initiatives has brought to the enlargement of the agreement
and to the creation of other protocols of municipalities connected to it: from 2003 to today
several provinces and municipalities have taken part to the agreement for a total of 10,5 mil
published by E.C. 1/3/2006 and pointed out in the Pact for Gender Priority” attached to the conclusions of
Council of 22nd-23rd March
18
7
inhabitants. 19The territory networking in Italy has generated interest also at European level
because it represents a systematic and coordinated approach among institutions in the
application of Gender Budgeting at local level.
Gender budgeting in Australia
The Australian women’s budgets are the longest surviving in the world, established in the
mid 1980s. They were established inside government and coordinated by the gender
machinery; considerable work was done by all the ministries to establish gender budget.
They were official budget documents, released on budget day and providing accountability
on spending. They have served their purpose in articulating gender biases, but were later
abandoned in favor of gender audits and program budgeting because of their elaborateness.
d. the funding of women’s groups and NGOs working on the advancement of women
Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP). 20
In Tanzania – as in many other African countries- gender equity and mainstreaming is
initiated and stimulated by women’s NGOs and financed by developmental aid through
Western Donors. Tanzania has a very active gender programme including gender budget
analysis, a biannual grassroots gender festival, women’s empowerment campaigns and
developmental programmes. TGNP is also an active member in the NVR initiated Women for
Water partnership, a world wide consortium of large women’s organisations and networks
combating poverty and empowering women through water & sanitation interventions in
communities practising a functional networking approach of equal participation of all
stakeholders.
The relative success of the Tanzanian initiative can be explained by the TGNP approach of
and ability to building alliances from the start involving notably the Ministry of Finance (with
respect to gender budgeting), by rooting strongly in society (f.i. gender festival) and by
bridging the gap from policy to practice by providing clear solutions for grassroots women
and an enabling environment for them to implement their solutions in a functional
networking setting (Women for Water approach).
The comprehensive approach practised by women’s networks is rarely seen in other sectors
in society. TGNP shows what results can be gained when proper funding is provided
The Asia Foundation21:
Gender budgeting is a tool to enable women’s groups to become an active player in society
and take development into their own hands. The Asia Foundation gender budget’s work is
based on the idea that gender budget initiatives that focus on good governance involve “the
informed participation of three interconnected sets of stakeholders: reform-minded elected
officials at the national and local levels, functioning government institutions staffed with
responsive and technically qualified individuals, and active, well-informed coalitions of NGOs
and people’s organisations capable of articulating demands based on felt material needs and
basic human rights.
Women for Water partnership is a concrete example of supporting the Major Group Women
as Agents of Change.
19
Notification for the assignment of a European Scholarship for a research project on “Gender Budgeting” In
memory of Fiorella Ghilardotti. Municipality of Genova, Italy, 2007
20
Debbie Budlander: Review of Gender Budget Initiatives. Community Agency for Social Enquiry
Women for Water partnership (WfWfW): www. Womenforwater.org
21
Debbie Budlander: Review of Gender Budget Initiatives. Community Agency for Social Enquiry
8
IV. Comments and recommendations of the NVR
In general:
Former UN Secretary General Khofi Anan eloquently addressed the existing gender inequality
in all countries in the world including our own: “an imbalance that goes against the very
profound principles of the United Nations and which should not have existed in the first
place..” .
In its 52 years of existence the CSW has not managed to redress this imbalance. The
emphasis has been on policy development and action plans, pilots and role models. An
integrated approach aimed at implementation at large, specifying the distinct roles of
different major groups in society (women, youth, scientific society, thematic NGOs, (local)
authorities etc.) and providing the enabling environment and means to act out their different
roles, has yet to follow.
The same goes for the Dutch government.
Gender equity and gender mainstreaming is a social process of paradigm change and
shifting gender roles. It is a process, not a project, requiring long term commitment, a
strong enabling environment and concerted action from different sectors in society. The
Netherlands is notorious for its excellent policy making and well-funded pilots; unfortunately
also for its lack of continuity after the initial pilot stage.
Pilots should not be mistaken for proof of advanced policy implementation while in effect
they are no more than strongly promoted try-outs, their success being enforced by strong
support, financial and otherwise.
Long-term support and facilitation of actors is needed to significantly advance the gender
cause throughout society.
The political and economic position in the Netherlands does not bring any obstacles to fulfil
all requirements deriving from international documents on human rights and the
advancement of women. From the Netherlands, the maximum can be required. Maximum
efforts and maximum results. The commitment therefore cannot stop at outlining the 5
conditions for successful gender mainstreaming21 and subsequently leaving the
implementation unconditionally to the various departments that – by the very nature of
considering themselves gender neutral – are often gender biased.
a. gender responsive budgeting in general policies
It is disappointing and alarming that the new Dutch policy on the advancement of women
neglects gender sensitive budgeting and emancipation effect analysis, and moreover, that
the minister of finance denies the added value of gender sensitive budgeting, and refuses to
further develop the instruments and to integrate gender sensitive budgeting as a substantial
part into the existing tools and instruments.
The political will to apply gender responsive budgeting in general policies is minimal. Unless
a government seriously commits itself to gender responsive budgeting, gender
mainstreaming remains a marginal and slow process.
Regarding emancipation policy in general; the Dutch government emphasizes a two-track
policy: gendermainstreaming where possible, and specific policies where necessary. The
same two tracks can be followed regarding gender sensitive budgeting.
NVR recommends that:
- Gender sensitive budgeting should be explicitly mentioned as one of the tools for
gender mainstreaming.
- More gender sensitivity should be integrated into the budgeting systems that are
used by all the ministries (like the VBTB-system) (mainstreaming gender sensitive
budgeting)
- The specific gender sensitive budgeting tools should in principal be implemented by
all ministries in assessing budgets and policies. In view of the time and money
consuming nature of the exercise, the NVR recommends a practical approach to
9
incorporate GRB: implementing the tool first and foremost in areas where society
experiences a gap and where women are most affected.
- The government should make sure that gender sensitive budgeting is explicitly
integrated in the existing instruments of subsidizing
- Civil servants of all ministries should be trained in gender sensitivity in general, and
gender sensitive budgeting in particular.
b. public resources for specific policies aimed at the advancement of women
NVR welcomes the increasing national budget for the advancement of women (although it is
not clear yet how much the budget will increase, as it has to be shared with the
emancipation of homosexuals).
Financing for Gender Equality is not just about adding more resources to existing efforts; it
is also about how resources are divided as a whole.
The NVR recommend a more balanced distribution of resources and a costs-benefit
analysis involving criteria on social return on investment and spin-off of empowerment
of women (outCOME instead of ourPUT)
Decentralisation is one tool for implementing gender equity policy in society. However,
decentralisation without proper central coordination and facilitation will result in inefficiency
and waste of resources. Subsidizing local organisations and initiatives can be very useful
when it comes to the actual empowerment of women; when it is about developing strategies,
coordinating, monitoring and evaluation, and especially implementation and up scaling of
effective methodologies, a more central approach is more likely to be effective.
NVR recommends that decentralisation of funding is complemented by facilitation of an
adequate national structure to ensure coherence and continuity in policy and
implementation.
c. participation of women and women’s group in the budgetary process
Participation of women as ‘major group’, of women’s organisations and of NGOs regarding
the development, implementation and monitoring of policies that effect them, is no (longer)
part of the governmental policy. The same goes for the budgetary process.
Although the government states that ‘civil society’ is very important, in practice the State is
acting more and more as a monopolist when it comes to the development, implementation
and monitoring of policies, including policies for the advancement of women,. NGOs and
women’s organisations can play a role in carrying out the governmental policies, but not in
developing or evaluating them. NGOs experience that the government is far less open for
ideas from outside and for critical feed back than it was in the past.
The NVR recommends that, in order to create a balanced society, all ministries should
actively involve women and women’s NGOs in the development, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of policies and budgets.
We urge the Dutch government to actively further develop stakeholder participation
and especially the full and equal participation of the Major Group women, both in their
national and international policies and action plans, thus granting women the
possibility to administer their skills and strengths and move from target group to actor
in their own development.
d. the funding of women’s groups and NGOs working on the advancement of women
As a consequence of the funding system which is in place from 2004 onwards (funding for
projects which are in line with governmental priorities and under strict guidelines and
conditions), women’s NGOs are no longer able to contribute to gender equity and
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mainstreaming from their own perspectives, priorities, and skills. Some organisations lost
the funding for their core business and closed down. Other organisations marginally survive
by making the shift toward a project-organisation, and use the existing funding for useful
activities, in which sometimes part of the ‘old’ activities could be included. On the whole,
women’s NGOs are less able to play their role in shaping a gender sensitive society, and to
monitor policies and developments in society.
NVR wants to emphasise that, although it is up to the government to set priorities and
provide the framework within which the various major groups in society (including
authorities) operate, it is important that the government enables women’s groups and NGOs
to set their own priorities, and work from their own perspectives. Supporting women to
organise themselves autonomously has a value in itself; it contributes to the empowerment
of women and to creating a gender balanced society for equitable and sustainable growth.
With the abolishment of funding on national level, the women’s movement will be further
weakened. The advancement of women requires a strong civil society, with strong women’s
groups and NGOs. A rich country as the Netherlands can and should provide the funding for
this.
NVR recommends: To achieve the objectives regarding the advancement of women,
including both the participation of women and women’s groups in policy-making and
monitoring, and the contribution of women’s groups to the actual empowerment and
participation of women in all sectors in society, a grant system should include:
On national level:
- Funding of institutions which collect and analyse information on women’s issues,
provide gender disaggregated data, and make this information available for women,
women’s NGOs, governmental institutions and relevant professionals. Such institutions
are an important part of the national machinery..
- Structural funding of networks and (umbrella-) organisations for
- providing practical expertise and facilities to smaller and/or local women’s
organisations
- strategic cooperation and exchanging experiences
- acting as women’s NGO towards the government: development and evaluation
of policies/strategies/action plans, monitoring compliance with (inter)national
standards (watchdog function)
- Funding of projects and activities of women’s groups, NGOs and other organisation
which are contributing to the actual advancement and empowerment of women.
Funding criteria should formulated in these terms (contribution to the actual
advancement and empowerment of women), rather than unilaterally being defined by
government (short term) priorities.
On local level:
- Structural funding of women’s organisations for
- stimulating and structuring involvement of individual women
- acting as women’s NGO towards the local government: monitoring (proposed)
policies
- Funding of projects and activities of women’s groups, NGOs and other organisation
which are contributing to the actual advancement and / or empowerment of women.
To conclude
In the beginning of this paper, we emphasised that the sub themes of this paper are
intrinsically interlinked, and jointly present an integrated approach to gender equality and
sustainable development through the full and equal participation of women in the various
sectors in society.
To underline this interlinking once more, the NVR ends this paper with the summarizing
conclusion that gender responsive budgeting is a powerful and necessary tool to redress the
gender imbalance; that participation of women and women’s NGOs is a condition for it, and
that sufficient funding for women’s NGOs is needed to facilitate this participation.
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