Abstract 
of the speech at the conference on “Gender Budgets, Financial Markets, Financing for Development”, February 19th and 20th 2002 at the Heinrich-Boell Foundation in Berlin.

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“Women as well as men are actors and stakeholders in economic and social development and yet the agency of women as a dynamic force in development remains constrained and often hindered. Women often juggle their working time between the market sector and non-market economic activities. In recent decades, increasing numbers of women in most countries have taken on the role of income earners . This is evident in the increased female share of paid employment in industry and services - (23% to 38% for Italy during the period 1980-97; 34% to 49% in Slovenia for the same period; and 24% to 44% in Sri Lanka) (UN 2000). Women are also preponderant in farming and in informal sector small-scale and microenterprises. When compared to men, women spend, on average, 50% to 70% as much time on paid, market work, but nearly twice as much time on unpaid work.

Yet, women’s voices and lived experiences have been largely missing from debates on finance and development. Macroeconomic policies continue to take for granted these non-market economic activities that mostly take place within the household and the community, thereby implicitly assuming that women’s (unpaid) labour can be stretched unlimitedly, as Professor Diane Elson described it.

Examining the interaction between market and non-market activity is crucial for a full assessment of the gender implications of the development process and the means of financing it. Financing development involves the transfer of funds between countries, sectors, institutions, households and individuals, through the wide range of institutions and structures that serve as channels, intermediaries and/or facilitators for savings and investment activities. The policies and actions of governments, multilateral institutions and the private sector can alter the options, constraints and opportunities faced by men and women whether as participants in the market economy or as contributors to the non-market economy. Economic decisions of governments and international bodies influence not only the mobilization of resources but also the distribution of access to and control over these resources and their use allocation.

It is important to develop an enabling environment for financial sector growth that empowers women, promotes equitable income distribution and protects workers’ rights and the environment. A growing number of countries today, has taken a positive step in this direction by implementing a gender budget analysis, thereby addressing an important need for a more gender-sensitive allocation of public sector budget towards investments in education, health, nutrition and social security programs (UNIFEM 2000). These are collaborative ventures of civil society, especially NGOs, UNIFEM, the Commonwealth Secretariat and government that provide a mechanism for women to hold their governments accountable to them as citizens and voters (UNIFEM 2000, Budlender 2000).

Implementation of international conference commitments, national policy statements and obligations under human rights treaties can be linked to government spending and revenue raising decisions. Moreover, gender-sensitive budgetary analysis provides a deeper understanding of the gender-based inefficiencies and inequalities that exist within the government and society and a systematic way of addressing them through public finance."

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Aktualisiert: 13.02.2005