Gender budgeting.
A fresh start for growth and employment?

When the Scottish gained independence from the British Parliament, it gave them a chance to a fresh start of the country's economy and financial politics. They decided for a policy that would increase employment, contribute to the GDP and on top of this - lead to sustainable fertility rates. What magic trick would do it all? The female workforce and citizens. Gender budgeting can contribute to your local development.

Simply speaking, the Scottish Parliament decided to gender mainstream their budget.The long term advantages?

• Higher female employment rates
• Increase in women's contribution to GDP
• Fiscal contributions
• Sustainable fertility rates

The name is Gender Budgeting

Sylvia Walby, Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University and UNESCO Chair in Gender Research, gives basic examples on how taxes aiming at supporting growth in the knowledge economy benefit men and women differently;

This example shows that men benefit from tax reductions in the ITsector and both men and women benefit from investment in higher education.

This example shows that men benefit from VAT and women benefit from income tax.

The technique to discover which taxation is beneficial for men and which taxation benefits women, can be used in local municipalities, as well as in regional and national parliaments.

The idea of gender responsive budgets developed out of a growing understanding that macroeconomic policy can contribute to narrowing or widening gender gaps in areas such as income, health, education and nutrition and make the living standards of different groups of women and men better or worse.

The Commonwealth Secretariat concludes that by eliminating gender discrimination in the labour market, in salaries and benefits, national income would increase. They exemplify research from Latin America where elimination of gender inequalities in the labour market could increase women's salaries with 50 per cent and national output with 5 per cent (Gender Budget Make Cents 2002, p. 24).

Economic loss, educated women are held at the substitute

The European Pact for Gender Equality adopted in March 2006 in the Brussels European Council stresses the need to eliminate the gaps between women and men in employment and payments in order to fully benefit from the European workforce and its potential (Presidency Conclusions Annex II. 23-4 March 2006).

For cities that doubt they have the finances to invest in childcare, a study (2002) on working mothers committed by the German Deutsche Bank should convince all interested in an increase in the tax incomes. The studyfound that public investment in childcare, which enables mothers to return to the labour market, could increase the public revenues. The estimated required expenditure on childcare was 7.4 billion EUR but the estimated generated incomes were 9 billion EUR in additional taxes and 16.6 billion in additional contributions. All because of the increase in the mothers'employment (European Commission's Network of Experts on Employment and Gender Equality Analysis Note: the Economic Case for Gender Equality 2008, p13).

Another positive economic outcome associated with gender diverse workforce is the growth advantage towards homogenous workforces. The McKinsey Women Matter Report (2007) selected 89 large European companies and those with the highest levels of gender diversity did better than the average in their sector counting operation results, growth and equity.

The EGGE -European Commission's Network of Experts on Employment and Gender Equality issues express in their Analysis Note: the Economic Case for Gender Equality (2008) that it is possible to make an Economic Case for gender equality as an investment with the aim to promote growth and employment. The EGGE clearly sees that gender equality contributes to economic development. First of all, increased women's participation in the labour market; second, women's economic independence contributes to growth and consummation of goods and services; third, women contributing to the welfare state through the integration into the fiscal system. But the EGGE also states:

"However, although there is clear evidence of an Economic Case for gender equality, it is also important not to ignore the moral or social dimension to equality and this still remains an important justification. Indeed, gender equality has many non-economic benefits in the form of reductions in child poverty and enhanced personal freedom for example".

Building of an inclusive sustainable society for the future that can attract not only single men and women but also families is something that should interest all cities to look into gender budgeting.

The cost of unequal education

Research on growth and education (mainly from developing countries) shows that countries with a lower ratio than 0.75 of female-to-male enrolment in primary or secondary education can expect a lower level of GDP. In fact, the difference is about 25% lower than in countries in which there is less gender disparity in education. Investing in education accessible for both men and women just won another argument (Gender Budgeting - An Overview by the European Women's Lobby 2004).

The EGGE holds the view that the low utilisation of educated women can be seen as a prime example of the incoherence in policy making in the investment in education. All EU Member States are prepared to fund high levels of education for both women and men, yet when it comes to allowing both women and men to make full use of these qualifications some Member States retain barriers that inhibit women's ability to deploy these investments (EGGE Analysis Note: the Economic Case for Gender Equality 2008, p. 10). In other words, gender inequalities can have a negative impact on the greater economy and national income; a burden the whole society has to bear. Introducing gender budgeting will improve the targeting of resources and enhance budget efficiency and output.

What free choice do the Baltic states provide if it is narrowed down to either work or family?

The EU is based on the principles of free movement and freedom of choice. European citizen should be able to freely move within the EU and not meetany greater problems.The problem is though,that when women are forced to choose between the different standards of child care and parental leave, then the free choice and the free movement is not free or equal anymore.

The different regulations and benefits of child care or sexual and reproductive health make the European women less movable. What free movement is there, if only half of Europe's population has the true possibility to freely move and freely choose where to live and work? This is important for all citizens to take part in the free movement, be regarded as full citizens with full payment, child care and parental leave; otherwise the population of Europe will decline.

A final attraction about gender budgeting is its contribution to a modern city where young families from all over Europe would like to live and work in. Can the cities and regions in the Baltic States really afford in the long term the consequences of not offering the same economic rules for men and women, with its obvious benefits for the entire economy and social life? Can we afford a future of a persistent decline in fertility rates, a slow growth and misuse of all competence and knowledge when the alternative is growth, development and sustainable fertility rates, a society for the future.