Engendering the Budget: Workshop for Chief Financial Officers of all Departments

IMPROVEMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE AND STATUS OF WOMEN JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE
30 March 2007
ENGENDERING THE BUDGET: WORKSHOP FOR CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERS OF ALL DEPARTMENTS

Acting Chairperson: Ms D Morobi

Documents handed out:
What is Responsive Budgeting?
Call circulars and gender budgeting statements

Audio Recording of the Meeting (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3), (Part 4), (Part 5), (Part 6) and (Part 7)

SUMMARY
South Africa’s Women's Budget Initiative briefed the Committee and the Chief Financial Officers invited from all the government departments on the objectives and urgency of a gender responsive budget. The representatives brainstormed on eight gender related concepts, giving their understanding of the terms. The representatives agreed that a gender responsive budget is something that each department should do so that it tackles gender disparities. Two presentations were given, one on responsive budgeting and the other on gender budgeting statements.

MINUTES
Ms Debbie Budlender, a specialist researcher with the Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE) and co-ordinator of the South Africa’s Women's Budget Initiative, as an introduction gave the members gender concepts to which they had to give meanings. The concepts were: gender vs sex, gender division of labour, practical vs strategic gender need, gender equality vs gender equity, feminism, gender mainstreaming, gender neutral, gender blind, gender sensitive and discrimination. 

What is Responsive Budgeting?
Ms Budlender mentioned that a gender responsive budget analyses the government budget and what impact it has on the different sexes and gender. She cautioned that people should not be confused between the concepts of equality and equity. She emphasised that a gender responsive budget is about equity rather than equality as equity looks at fairness and at real outcomes. Departments should consider gender when dealing with their programmes and see that sufficient funds have been allocated for gender in their programmes.  A gender responsive budget alone cannot change bad gender patterns but it would have an impact (see presentation on Responsive Budgeting).

Ms Budlender asked the attendees to suggest the gender challenges in South Africa. Some of the responses were: the imbalance in the representation of women especially in higher paying jobs, gender violence, training and skilling of women, access to economic opportunities. Members were then asked to suggest the causes for these problems, their consequences and solutions.

Gender budgeting statements
The presentation showed how a gender budget statement(GBS) can be a monitoring and evaluation tool. There were departments that had incorporated a gender budget statement, especially in Gauteng. Although not compulsory, it would be good if all departments would have this (see document for full details).

Ms Budlender asked the invited representatives to break into their relevant departments, and look at a main programme and a sub programme of their department. She asked that in those programmes they identify what their department does for gender equality. Time was then given for the departments to report back on their programmes and what they do for gender and how much has been allocated for that.

The facilitator thanked everyone for contributing to the workshop and asked that the next time they do their budgets they will not forget to look at gender issues.

The Acting Chairperson reminded the departmental representatives that the Committee is a general monitoring committee and so it did not have a specific department aligned to it. The Committee was asking all departments to look at gender issues when devising their programme and ensure engendering of the budget.

The meeting was adjourned.