The role of Gender Budgeting in tackling Violence Against Women and Girls

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the most pressing issues facing societies and economies all over the world. While the most significant cost of VAWG must be understood on an individual level, it is important to recognise that it also has significant financial costs. The global cost of VAWG is estimated to be at least 1.5 trillion dollars. In the UK, VAWG costs the Government an estimated £40 billion annually and in the Republic of Ireland this cost is approximately €2.7 billion annually.

Over the past three decades, countries around the world have been changing how they think about public spending. Increasingly, governments are recognising that to spend public money more efficiently, they have to better understand what the different impacts of spending will be on different groups in society.

The JRCT Gender Budgeting Project is working to support the implementation of gender budgeting in Northern Ireland. This project is made up of researchers from Ulster University and civil society representatives from the Northern Ireland Women’s Budget Group. By combining research with grassroots advocacy, the project aims to increase awareness of gender budgeting among civil society, the civil service, public bodies and Government Departments. We believe that gender budgeting is crucial for maximising the efficiency and effectiveness of public spending and achieving more equitable outcomes for all people living in Northern Ireland.

Many of these governments are doing this by adopting an approach called ‘gender budgeting’ where the equality impacts of budgets are considered through a gender lens at all stages of decision-making. For example, countries such as Canada, Sweden and Australia have developed advanced ways of tracking the impact of public spending on gender equality and equality more generally

Government budgets can be a powerful driver for tackling issues such as VAWG if they are used effectively. Gender budgeting tools, such as gender impact assessments, help governments think differently about how they are spending money, who is benefitting most from the investment, and which groups are being left behind. In the context of VAWG, gender budgeting tools can be used to better understand who is being impacted by VAWG, who is perpetrating VAWG, which services are supporting victims of VAWG, and what additional support is needed from government. For example when the Northern Ireland Executive, which The Executive Office leads on, was drafting their Strategy to End Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG), the team undertook extensive consultation with key stakeholders so that the Strategy could be accurately costed according to the needs of different equality groups. Importantly, a clear gender lens was maintained throughout this analysis to ensure that intersectional equality impacts were captured and mitigated against.

To find out more about our project and to read our four ARK Working Papers on gender budgeting, please visit:

https://www.ark.ac.uk/ARK/projects/Gender_Budgeting/

Written by Aoife Mallon, Research and Engagement Associate, Ulster University