[Ftffacilitationteam] Statement on Financing Gender Equality

[RosaenCasa en aol.com]

Dear colleagues,
 
As mentioned in a prior message, here in New York we are preparing for the  
Financing for Development (FfD) High Level Dialogue (HLD) in the  General 
Assembly of the UN.  A number of women's organizations have drafted  a statement to 
circulate at the HLD highlighting some points related to the FfD  agenda:  
mobilizing domestic and international resources, trade, ODA, debt  and systemic 
issues.  Being that Ana was to be here this week and my  involvement in the 
process, I am forwarding this statement and appealing to you  that we, the 
Facilitation Team of the FTF, endorse this  statement.  
 
The statement is not comprehensive---it is highlighting some points to  
emphasize to Member States and delegates on gender.  Mainly, the message  is---this 
is how you could engender your resolution on FfD at the GA.   There is 
nothing on gender in the resolution at the moment and we want to push  some points 
with delegates.  They cannot and will not digest a 10 page  policy paper---they 
prefer easy points to digest and hopefully incorporate into  their 
statements, resolution inputs and their policy presentations.  This  document will also 
be used to build on later in the FfD process leading up to  the UN Commission 
on the Status of Women (next March) process which  has as its theme, Financing 
for Gender Equality, and the lead up to the 6th-year  of the FfD conference 
in Doha, Qatar next year.  
 
IF YOU APPROVE OF ENDORSING THIS STATEMENT, SEND A QUICK  O.K. MESSAGE.  
Please reply tomorrow noon.  If you don't reply,  I'll assume that you are o.k. 
with it as well.
 
Tomorrow if everyone is o.k. with it, we'll add our name to the list of  
endorsements.  Other women's groups are also reviewing the statement to add  their 
name tomorrow.  
 
Thanks,
 
Rosa
 
 

Financing for Gender  Equality*  
Statement to the United  Nations General Assembly  
High-Level Dialogue on  Financing for Development 
October 23,  2007 
Introduction 
In the Monterrey Consensus adopted at the International  Conference on 
Financing for Development in 2002, UN Member States made a number  of commitments to 
mobilize and allocate resources for achieving sustainable  development, 
poverty eradication, gender equality and the empowerment of women.  They committed 
to mainstreaming “the gender perspective into development  policies at all 
levels and in all sectors�[para 64], and to reinforcing national  efforts aimed 
at formulating “social and gender budget policies� [para 19].  Current 
preparations for the follow-up review Conference scheduled to take place  in Doha in 
2008  provide an opportunity to assess progress in meeting these commitments.  
 
Much of the development literature suggests that  initiatives on gender 
equality and women’s empowerment have not been effectively  mainstreamed into 
development processes, while women’s machineries and  programmes, and the women’s 
movement, have been grossly under funded. These  proposals highlights a set of 
key policy issues that need to be addressed within  the financing for 
development review process in order to reverse this disastrous  trend, and provide 
adequate funding and policy support for the social sectors,  and for gender 
equality and women’s empowerment. 
Mobilizing Domestic  Resources 
Taxation 
1. In keeping with pro-poor strategies to achieve the  Millennium Development 
Goals (MDGs), governments should give priority to  strengthening tax 
administrations and tax collection systems, focusing on  progressive direct taxation 
on wealth and capital assets rather than VAT on  essential consumer items 
needed by low-income earners, a majority of which are  women. It should be further 
recognized that women make significant contributions  to care giving from 
earned income. The Committee of Experts on International  Cooperation on Tax 
Matters should study this gender-differentiated dimension of  household spending 
with a view to making recommendations for suitable tax breaks  for women, in 
order to take this into account.  
Budgets 
2. In national policies, priority should be given to  effective resource 
allocations for achieving the MDGs and other internationally  agreed development 
goals, including: 
    *   full and productive employment and decent  work;  
    *   ensuring access to basic utilities and  social services for all; 
    *   ensuring that women have equal access to  employment opportunities 
and labour market services, and to social  services.
3. Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) should be adopted as  a key tool in 
national development strategies, with a view to ensuring that  adequate resources, 
whether from external aid or domestic revenue, are channeled  towards 
fulfilling international gender equality and human rights commitments as  set out in 
the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), the Convention on the  Elimination of 
All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). GRB as a  mechanism for 
promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in national  policies and 
programmes requires specific budgetary allocations, increased  funding and a 
strengthened mandate for national women’s machineries to build  capacity, implement 
GRB initiatives, and to monitor and evaluate gender equality  outcomes. .  
Funding and support are  required for adequate gender analysis for effective 
policy decisions on the  financing of gender programmes. 
Accounting for unremunerated  work 
4. Governments must use methods to measure women's  un-paid work and it's 
contribution to the national economy through developing  and implementing 
time-use surveys to make visible the number of hours women  spend working versus the 
actual income or payment they receive for their work.  These methodologies 
should be assumed by the National Statistics Offices at the  country level as an 
instrument to measure poverty, and the results should be  included in the 
National Accounts Systems. (ECLAC Quito Consensus  2007) 
5. These contributions should be costed as investments to  the national 
economy, and used as a basis for providing matching funds for  income generating 
activities, for social services and direct support to the care  economy, thereby 
effectively transferring women’s work from the non-cash to the  cash economy. 
Mobilizing international  resources 
6. The expansion and integration of global markets have  not been matched 
with sufficient protection for the workers and communities that  are the victims 
of human and trade union rights violations. We consider that a  strengthened 
global regulatory framework incorporating human rights, labour and  
environmental standards is necessary in order to strengthen the protection of  human and 
workers’ rights, promote gender equality objectives, and safeguard the  
environment. Such a framework would draw on the relevant UN and ILO normative  
instruments, and provide a common approach to addressing both transnational  
business operations and foreign direct investment. We welcome governments’  public 
affirmation of the need for such standards. 
6bis. Remittances 
Recognizing the significant contributions made by migrant  remittance flows 
to financing development, measures should be adopted to reduce  transfer costs, 
and avoid double taxation of migrants in host and sending  countries. 
Development policies should be underpinned by a rights-based approach  which protect 
the rights of migrant workers, a large proportion of which are  women.   
Trade 
7. Governments must undertake gender impact assessments  and reviews of 
bilateral, regional and international trade agreements, in order  to identify and 
redress gender biases in earning levels, job security,  conditions of work, 
unpaid work burdens and access to productive and natural  resources. These 
assessments and reviews should also be applied to sector  reforms promoted and 
financed by multilateral  institutions. 
Official development  assistance 
8. Government commitments to reach and maintain the UN  target of 0.7% of GNI 
in ODA should be adhered to, and a significant share of  ODA should be 
targeted for women’s empowerment and gender equality.  Institutional frameworks at 
national levels and among international aid agencies  should be engendered and 
strengthened with a view to improving aid  effectiveness, accountability and 
benchmarking for the achievement of gender  equality outcomes. Aid policies and 
programmes should adhere to the principles  of national country ownership and 
participation of civil society, including  women’s organizations in policy 
formulation, implementation and monitoring of  results.   
9. Within the  framework established by the Paris Declaration, there exists a 
notable lack of  gender analysis and participation of civil society 
organizations.  Particularly absent are those  organizations addressing the issues of 
gender equality and the feminization of  poverty.  Donor budget support and  
sector programs frequently are dependent on macroeconomic conditionalities that  
aggravate gender inequities. Moreover, the harmonizing of donor practices for 
 program-based  support will most  likely result in less space for innovative 
approaches and therefore the dilution  of gender policies at the ground 
level.  
10. It is  essential to promote an aid architecture that is sensitive to the 
realities of  those historically bypassed as recipients and without 
participation in the  process. Real “country ownership� must be the result of 
consistent participation  on the part of civil society organizations, particularly 
women and marginalized  groups, who are most affected by poverty.   
External debt 
11. Given that current debt-restructuring approaches have  not liberated 
resources for development and in HIPC countries poverty is an  epidemic affecting 
the majority of its people, most acutely women and children,  100% debt 
cancellation is necessary and overdue. Further, governments should  initiate a new 
and genuine policy space on debt to enable countries to overcome  debt 
distress. Current policy space is conditioned by current debt relief  mechanisms which 
do not recognize past failures of HIPC. Genuine policy space  should be built 
around analysis that provides additional resources to help  countries meet 
the Millennium Development Goals and Beijing Platform for Action.  (see 2007 
Report of the Secretary-General on FfD, paras  97-102). 
Systemic issues 
UN gender equality  architecture 
12. Governments must support a stronger gender equality  architecture at the 
UN to enable governments and the UN system to better achieve  their 
commitments to gender equality, women's empowerment and human rights. The  proposed new 
women's entity needs a strong, combined mandate on normative and  operational 
functions to ensure effective delivery, including through the  expansion of 
its programmes on the ground to improve women's lives. Donors  should commit to 
mobilizing the resources required to fund the new entity at a  minimum level 
of $500 million USD. 
* Endorsing organizations:  Women’s Environment and Development  Organization 
(WEDO), International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC),  International 
Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation,  Education and 
Networking for Latina Cooperation and Empowerment (ENLACE),  UNANIMA International, 
International Women’s Anthropology Conference  (IWAC).



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