Closing the Gap: Financing for Gender Equality

To close persistent gender gaps in health, education, employment, justice, and decision-making, the chronic underinvestment in women and girls must be urgently reversed. This is also a prerequisite to secure human rights, reduce poverty and expand economic growth.

Analysis of national financing and international development and humanitarian spending shows that women’s needs and priorities are systematically under-funded.

In mid-April, finance ministers gathered at the World Bank for the first-ever meeting dedicated to financing for gender results, co-chaired by Bank President Jim Yong Kim and myself. This new global initiative to create a ‘Community of Practice’ for financing gender equality was first proposed by Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in October 2013. Speaking at the meeting, she said, “We must use budgets to expand our reach to women and girls.”

Minister Okonjo-Iweala said the idea was “born out of frustration” at a lack of knowledge sharing and scaling up of innovative initiatives through national budgets. She highlighted recent progress in Nigeria, including the ‘Growing Girls and Women’ program that provides additional resources to key ministries:

• The Ministry of Health used the additional resources to increase the number of obstetric fistula surgeries performed;
• About 2 million female farmers have received mobile phones that allow them access to information and agricultural content to improve their farming methods, while an e-wallet system will allow the transfer of mobile money to purchase agricultural inputs; and
• An estimated 1,500 poor women have received training in road maintenance and related vocations.

Morocco’s Minister of Budget, Driss El Azami El Idrissi, explained how the needs of women and girls are increasingly being reflected in government spending, with encouraging results. Since 1990 maternal deaths have declined by 60 percent due to increased investment to reduce barriers to emergency obstetric care, improve quality of care, and strengthen health system governance. Targeted increases in infrastructure investment have also benefited women and girls who now have better access to healthcare and education. A recent impact assessment of the National Program of Rural Roads (2005-2012) showed an increase from 33 to 55% for girls’ enrollment in school after the project was implemented. Further progress is anticipated following the passage earlier this year of a new law on finance, which cements gender equality throughout the budget process.

The examples of Nigeria and Morocco provide strong examples of the benefits of financing for gender equality, and many more governments are making progress in this area. Gender-responsive budgets ensure that the allocation of public resources benefits women and men equally. They take into account the different needs and contributions of women and men in existing and proposed policies to ensure the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

At April’s event, Finance Ministers agreed that investing wisely in women and girls is vital to ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. At the heart of government, their ministries can be game-changers, ensuring gender-sensitive spending allocations and taxes, and removing structural barriers to gender equality.

Ministers stressed the need for greater leadership and political commitment, more effective use of available resources, exploring innovative ways of attracting and using additional resources, and the need for support in strengthening data and monitoring of results.

They also highlighted the importance of public awareness and education, and the sharing of good practices and innovative approaches through forums like this ‘Community of Practice’.

For our part, the World Bank and UN Women look forward to co-chairing a meeting of the Community of Practice every six months, and continuing to support governments in their efforts. The World Bank Group has also committed to hold a major public event on financing for gender equality at the next annual meetings, showcasing best practices from all over the world and ensuring media coverage.

As we review progress since the 1995 Beijing Women’s Conference, it is time for international organizations and governments to match words with action and finance their commitments to women and girls. As the UK International Development Minister Justine Greening said at the meeting, after announcing a leveraging initiative to support financing for gender equality: “This is where the rubber hits the road.”

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Photos: Eugenio Salazar/World Bank