Gender Budgeting Recommendations for Advancing Gender Equality

Opinion on Gender Budgeting Meeting in the Advisory Committee on Gender Equality December 16, 2022 Ministry of Employment 1

Background & Purpose A clear political commitment to Gender Equality in the EU Commission, in combination with persistent calls for progress among MS and stakeholders at EU level. Good practices of gender budgeting at national, regional and local level in MS and of gender equality integrated in national Resilience and Recovery Plans. Recommendations to enhance implementation of gender budgeting in the EU. Ministry of Employment 2

Point of departure Gender equality is a core value of the EU and a fundamental right. It is an essential part of the solution to the challenges Europe is facing today. Gender budgeting is an indispensable tool to advance gender equality. By restructuring the budget, public resources are used in a way that can increase gender equality and thereby increase the efficiency and effectiveness of budgets and policies. Ministry of Employment 3

Good practices Methodology at EU level, to be used at programme level in MFF 2021-2027 Good practices at MS level Austria Belgium Czech Republic Finland Portugal Spain Sweden Ministry of Employment 4

Recommendations at EU and MS Level The Commission and the European Council adopts an official definition of gender budgeting, as defined by the Council of Europe. The Commission makes an official and clear political commitment to gender budgeting, including to systematically further gender budgeting in the MFF. The Commission ensures that the pilot methodology to track gender equality expenditure in the MFF 2021-2027 is fully implemented, and further enhanced. The Commission ensures that it has structure, resources and capacity to ensure effective steering, coordination and monitoring of gender mainstreaming in the EU budget, including strengthening collaborations with EIGE. Ministry of Employment 5

Recommendations EU & MS Level (contd) Member States adopts formal decisions which stipulate a commitment to systematically work with gender budgeting in national budgets. Member States operationalise gender budgeting in steering documents, with explicit and concrete requirements and specific guidelines and instructions. The Commission and the Member States ensure systematic and strategic capacity building, trainings and use of methodological tools on gender budgeting. The Commission and the Member States arrange upscaled exchanges on gender budgeting work. Ministry of Employment 6

Recommendations EU & MS Level (contd) Member States monitor and evaluate efforts and outcomes of gender budgeting at national level. The Commission and the Member States conduct studies on the reforms required to introduce gender budgeting and conduct external and independent evaluations of gender budgeting efforts. The Commission and the Member States further develop its strategic collaborations with experts on gender budgeting in civil society and women s organisations. Ministry of Employment 7

Recommendations Local & Regional Level: The Member States governments support gender budgeting efforts at local and regional level, including by funding such efforts. Member States, at all levels of government, support systematic and strategic capacity building, including methodological tools, to support implementation of gender budgeting at local and regional level. Member States, at all levels of government, consult and use available tools and resources, such as the European Women s Lobby s on line platform for gender budgeting, and EIGE s Gender Budgeting toolkit. Member States local and regional governments sign and implement the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life, by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) Ministry of Employment 8

Recommendations RRF: The Commission enhances its capability to develop gender responsive financial instruments, with a view to ensure gender equality perspectives in future response packages. Member States define and apply methods and instruments that allow for gender equality analysis in the implementation phase of the national Recovery and Resilience Plan. Member States collaborate with gender equality experts, including from civil society organisations, to ensure that gender equality aspects are included in planning, implementation and evaluation of the activities funded within the RRF framework. Ministry of Employment 9

Recommendations RRF (continued) Member States ensure capacity building at all levels of government for staff responsible for implementation of activities funded by the national Recovery and Resilience Plan. The Commission follows up and evaluates the use of RRF funds in Member States from a gender equality perspective, including assessments of Member States adherence to the RRF regulation and requirement to promote gender equality and address gender equality challenges. The Commission provides targeted investments to close the identified gaps in equality between women and men. Ministry of Employment 10

Thank you! Comments and Discussion welcome Contact information: cecilia.asklof@gov.se elisabeth.white@gov.se Ministry of Employment 11