[APWW-Meet] "Policy Incoherence" Frustrates Funding for Gender Equity

[Roberto Savio <soros@other-net.info>]

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"Policy Incoherence" Frustrates Funding for Gender Equity
Interview with Roberto Bissio, Coordinator of Social Watch=20
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MONTEVIDEO, Aug 5 (IPS) - Inequality between men and women "is not
always linked to poverty. We must not postpone action until we are rich
and happy, because we may get rich without achieving gender equality,"
Roberto Bissio, coordinator of the international network Social Watch,
told IPS.

More than half of the world's women live in countries that have made no
progress in closing the gap between men and women in recent years,
concludes the 2008 Gender Equity Index, launched in February by Social
Watch, an international coalition of civil society organisations based
in Montevideo, Uruguay.

One of the crucial tasks that organisations and movements fighting for
women's rights have set themselves is for international treaties and
commitments to include specific financial policies to bridge the gender
gap.=20

This year two international development aid agreements are to be
reviewed, and the efforts of activists will be focused on this task.=20

In September, in Accra, Ghana, the commitments made in 2005 in the Paris
Declaration on Aid Effectiveness will be examined. This agreement
between governments and international cooperation agencies was aimed at
harmonising and improving development aid administration.=20

And in late November a meeting in Doha, Qatar, will assess fulfilment of
the agenda of the Monterrey Consensus, adopted in 2002 at the
International Conference on Financing for Development.=20

There is no specific funding for promoting gender equity, and "the
instruments that might have made it possible have been frustrated by
mechanisms like free trade agreements, or development policies
themselves," said Bissio in an interview with IPS correspondent Ana
Artigas.=20

IPS: Social Watch created the Gender Equity Index (GEI) to measure the
gap between men and women. What exactly does it measure, and what are
the general results?=20

ROBERTO BISSIO: The GEI is calculated on the basis of three dimensions,
education, participation in the economy and empowerment. The educational
dimension has achieved the most equity worldwide. Nowadays women are
almost at a par with men in education, but they have little
participation in decision-making bodies. In the economic dimension,
which takes the labour market into account, there is also significant
inequality.=20

Gender inequality is not always linked to poverty. A rich country may
have a wider gap between men and women than a poor country. Therefore,
we must not postpone these issues until we are rich and happy, because
we may get rich without achieving gender equity.=20

IPS: In terms of development aid, how much funding is available to
promote gender equity?
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RB: There is no specific funding as such, and that is an obstacle to
overcoming the gap between women and men. The instruments that might
have made gender equity funding possible have been frustrated by
mechanisms like free trade agreements, or development policies
themselves.=20

In addition, many governments are still concentrating on policies
focused on education while leaving aside the economic and political
dimensions, which at the moment exhibit greater gender inequality.=20

IPS: What have governments done to improve the situation of women since
the Paris Declaration?=20

RB: Nothing that makes a measurable difference. Gender equity is
mentioned in the declaration, but is not included among the indicators
used to measure progress. Out of the 12 goals with quantitative targets
to be met by 2010, none refers to the situation of women.=20

To say that they will take action on this is no more than a statement of
good intentions. Some organisations analysed the extent to which the
policies in the Paris Declaration are positive for women, and they
concluded that the package of macroeconomic and governance measures it
recommends actually detracts from national governments' capacity to
support positive action programmes to benefit women.=20

IPS: So what can be expected from the review of the Paris Declaration
commitments?=20

RB: There's a certain amount of frustration, because the draft document
so far is very weak. In trying to please everyone, it has been reduced
to the lowest common denominator, and it doesn't say anything important.


IPS: In contrast with the Paris Declaration, the Monterrey Consensus
does emphasise promotion of gender equity.=20

RB: Yes, as a United Nations conference, it took a more holistic view.
It also addressed aid financing mechanisms and administration. There was
greater concern for the situation of women and a number of measures were
identified, such as analysing expenditure from government budgets and
looking at its differential impact on men and women.=20

It recognised that equal rights under the law is not enough. Problems
arise at the moment when gender equality rights are actually exercised,
which is why allocation of budget resources is needed.=20

At Monterrey important concepts were introduced, such as the existence
of systemic problems, which cause the overall global system to
malfunction, and the fact that there is interaction between financial,
trade and aid mechanisms, which cannot be treated separately.=20

For instance, an aid agency might help small farmers grow cotton, but
local policy on subsidies may prevent them from exporting what they
produce. The Monterrey Consensus underlined the need for coherent
policies, and although not much progress has been made, at least certain
problems have been identified in some areas that previously would have
been unthinkable as part of the international agenda.=20

IPS: What do you mean?=20

RB: How international finance works, for example. Now everyone knows
that volatility and capital flight have a social impact not only in poor
countries, but also in many rich ones. We are seeing financial crises in
Europe and the United States of the kind that not long ago affected Asia
and Latin America.=20

Also on the question of fair taxation, there is a recognition that the
better-off can find ways of evading taxes, and therefore there is talk
of the need to eliminate tax havens. Perhaps some results can be hoped
for on these issues. And these overarching issues cannot be dissociated
from gender equity.=20

IPS: What steps are donor countries taking to improve gender equity?=20

RB: They are implementing mechanisms to identify and gauge the gender
component in the different programmes they support. It's a first step
towards improving their impact on gender equity. But the biggest problem
is policy incoherence, because taking an overview, one sees that the
donor countries are also the creditor countries and the ones who
negotiate the terms of trade.=20

IPS: What do social organisations expect from the review of the
Monterrey Consensus that is to be undertaken in Doha?=20

RB: The hope is that it will be possible to create new mechanisms to
finance development, for example by taxing carbon emissions and
international financial transactions, which could generate resources and
improve the environment. There is hope that progress may be made on
these issues, despite the well-known difficulties, such as the
unilateral stances taken by the United States.=20

IPS: How much pressure can social organisations exert?=20

RB: That depends on how visible the issue becomes. When a meeting of
governments is made public, the country delegates have to explain the
agreements they make to their citizens. Fortunately, people are
demanding more accountability, which means better results can be
achieved. (END/2008)=20
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