[Ftffacilitationteam] Statement on Financing Gender Equality
ana
ana en icae.org.uy
Mar Oct 23 10:01:23 GMT+3 2007
Dear Rosa and all,
I am sure you can sign as FTF. It would be good also to send it to the list
for other organisations to also sign.
Greetings,
Ana
---------- Original Message -----------
From: RosaenCasa en aol.com
To: ftffacilitationteam en listas.chasque.net
Sent: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 21:26:16 EDT
Subject: [Ftffacilitationteam] Statement on Financing Gender Equality
> 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
[UTF-8?]> the empowerment of women. They committed to mainstreaming “the
> gender perspective into development policies at all levels and in
[UTF-8?]> all sectors”[para 64], and to reinforcing national efforts
aimed
[UTF-8?]> 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
[UTF-8?]> gender equality and women’s empowerment have not been
effectively
[UTF-8?]> mainstreamed into development processes, while women’s
machineries
[UTF-8?]> 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
[UTF-8?]> 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
[UTF-8?]> 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
[UTF-8?]> 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
[UTF-8?]> 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
[UTF-8?]> 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
[UTF-8?]> 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
[UTF-8?]> 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
[UTF-8?]> 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
[UTF-8?]> “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
[UTF-8?]> 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
[UTF-8?]> Women’s Anthropology Conference (IWAC).
>
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