Giovanna Vingelli Università della Calabria Centro di Women’s Studies “Milly Villa ” A THENA M EETING IN M ADRID : WORKING G ROUP 3A “S TRENGHTENING THE S OCIETAL I MPACT OF W OMEN ’ S S TUDIES ” 3 J ULY 2008

A critical review on Gender Budgeting in Italy Catanzaro Marche Emilia Romagna Liguria

ITALY: “how to” at the local level D ATA AND INDICATORS T O CARRY OUT A GENDER AUDIT OF THE BUDGET CYCLE : POLICY DECISIONS, BUDGET DECISION AND THEIR IMPACT REFLECTED IN THE SERVICES PROVIDED T HE PROJECT THUS INVOLVED NEGOTIATION WITH EACH DEPARTMENT COUNCILOR ( POLITICAL LEVEL ); INTRODUCING GB INTO THE BALANCE SHEET GUIDELINES FOR THE DEPARTMENTS CHOSEN AND INTO THE YEARLY SOCIAL BALANCE SHEET ( ADMINISTRATIVE LEVEL ) M AKING APPROPRIATE CHANGES A WARENESS RAISING N ETWORKING

Basic data should include number of people who take advantage of social welfare according to gender, education, age, previous income, number of people in the household, marital status, statistics of programs – number of people participating in trainings and workshops and data on the efficiency of trainings, data on people who benefit from services like kindergartens and nurseries, including age and number of children, income and profession of parents, Situation of seniors according to gender, Statistics on people who are permanently unemployed according to gender, education, age, experience, number of people in the household. The city/province/region is obliged to own such statistics, but there are failures in creating data banks and accessing those data.

Sectorial analysis Emilia Romagna MarcheGenderAlpMassa Carrara Genova – Sestri Levante Catanzaro PUBLIC EDUCATION HEALTH CARE SOCIAL WELFARE FAMILY POLICY HELP FOR DISABLED PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION FIGHTING UNEMPLOYMENT SPORT AND TOURSIM

Experiences of Italian local government implementing gender budget projects. Main features Engaging of an “inside institutions” approach Results of the analyses are presented in a separate document with a title, e.g. gender budget Result of a “think-thank” of (mostly academic) experts, but there are also examples of a direct involvement of the local bureaucracy (MARCHE) Analyses present situation and expenditure with reference to women and men (only EMILIA ROMAGNA analysis presents an analysis of the revenue side of the budget.)

EMILIA ROMAGNA Region and Province of MODENA ( Budget cycle 2000/2001) T HE RESEARCHERS PROPOSED A METHODOLOGY BASED ON THE USE OF INDICATORS THAT DETERMINED WHICH SPECIFIC ISSUES NEEDED TO BE LOOKED AT IN BUDGET TERMS DEPENDING ON WHETHER THEIR VALUE WAS ABOVE OR BELOW I TALIAN OR EU AVERAGES A NUMBER OF ANALYSES ON THE INFLUENCE OF FINANCIAL POLICY ON THE SITUATION OF WOMEN IS CONDUCTED. R EPORTS SUGGEST TO MODIFY TAXATION R ECOMMENDATIONS INCLUDE DIFFERENT CRITERIA FOR ALLOCATING AND INCREASING PUBLIC CHILD CARE PLACES ( BASED ON SOCIO - ECONOMIC INDICATORS RATHER THAN SOLELY ON RENT CRITERIA ) AS TO INCREASE WOMEN ’ S CHANCES TO EITHER FIND WORK OR ATTEND TRAINING, ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH LOWER EDUCATIONAL LEVELS, AS WELL AS RECOMMENDATIONS TO ADAPT TRANSPORT POLICY TO THE DIFFERENT NEEDS AND USES BY WOMEN AND MEN

Province of GENOVA and Municipality of SESTRI LEVANTE ( Budget cycle: 2001) Context analysis Disaggregation and re-aggregation of expenditures in 4 areas: 1. Women-specific targeted expenditures, eg. resources allocated for programs that specifically target women; Equal employment opportunity expenditures, eg. resources allocated to affirmative action in order to promote employment of women and men in equal numbers, equal representation within management posts, and equal pay. 2. Gender – targeted expenditures (child and elderly care; social policy; labor market; training…) 3. Environmental expenditures (transports, culture, environment, sport….) 4. Mainstream expenditures: the bulk of the remaining expenditures not covered by the first two categories (mostly administrative costs)

MARCHE Region (Budget cycle: 2003/2004) I NCREASED PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN THE GOVERNMENT PROCESSES THROUGH GENDER ANALYSES AND INFLUENCING BUDGETING PROCESSES. T HE TRAINING AND AWARENESS RAISING AT THE LEVEL OF THE OFFICIALS POINTS TO THE POSSIBILITY OF CONTINUING THE WORK. I N PARTICULAR, THE CONTINUITY OF THE INTER - DEPARTMENTAL GROUP IN THE ANALYSIS OF THE BUDGET CAN IMPROVE THE IDENTIFICATION OF ENTRIES THAT ARE RELEVANT TO GENDER EQUALITY. P ILOTED AND IMPROVED METHODOLOGY OF GENDER EXPERTISE OF BUDGETS IN THE BUREAUCRACY, SUMMARIZED IN AN INFORMATION PACKAGE ON GENDER BUDGETING IN THE R EGION ; PROJECT PARTICIPANTS NOW HAVE ENOUGH PROFESSIONAL SKILLS AND GENDER SENSITIVITY TO FURTHER DEVELOP AND APPLY THE METHODOLOGY OF GENDER ANALYSES TO BUDGETS AT PROVINCIAL LEVEL

Province of CATANZARO (Budget cycle: ) S PECIAL FOCUS ON THE CONTEXT I NVOLVEMENT OF STAKEHOLDER ( POLITICIANS, ADMINISTRATORS AND EMPLOYEES ) THROUGH SPECIFIC INTERVIEWS ON GENERAL AND GENDER POLICY OBJECTIVES ; IDENTIFICATION OF THE MAIN AREAS OF INTERVENTION OF THE P ROVINCE ( EXPENDITURES AND REVENUES ) A NALYSIS OF 2005 F INAL B UDGET AND P RELIMINARY DRAFT, INCLUDING AN OVERALL FORECAST OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE FOR A GIVEN YEAR (2006), PLUS DIFFERENT PLANNING DOCUMENTS AND SURVEYS (E QUAL O PPORTUNITY C OMMISSION ). D ISAGGREGATION OF THE BUDGET AND A RECLASSIFICATION IN 4 AREAS 1. DIRECTLY RELATED TO GENDER / EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES ; 2. INDIRECTLY RELATED TO GENDER – EDUCATION, PROFESSIONAL TRAINING, EMPLOYMENT, SOCIAL SERVICES ; 3. “ ENVIRONMENTAL AREA ” – CULTURE, SPORT, ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES, TRANSPORTS, VIABILITY ; 4. “ NEUTRAL ” AREA ( ADMINISTRATION COSTS ); DETAILED IDENTIFICATION AND CATALOGUE BY EACH DEPARTMENT AND THE ACTIONS THEY HAVE TAKEN TO FOSTER GENDER EQUALITY OR TO HEIGHTEN AWARENESS IN ADDITION TO PROGRAMS SPECIFICALLY TARGETING VARIOUS CATEGORIES OF WOMEN

Conclusions M EASURES ADOPTED OR ENVISIONED TO REDUCE INEQUALITIES DO NOT ALWAYS HAVE UNDERGONE A STABLE AND SELF - SUSTAINABLE INTRODUCTION IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS L ACK OF APPROPRIATE DATA I N 2006 TWO PROPOSALS HAVE BEEN ISSUED AT THE S ENATE ( BY S EN. D ATO AND S EN. B OATO ). T HE PROPOSALS AIMED AT IMPLEMENTING GENDER BUDGETING INTO THE REGULAR TASKS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION.

Good practices show that gender budgeting should follow a few rules Engaging authorities and political good will - no project can be successfully done without cooperation of the authorities if this project requires reforming public finances. It may happen that authorities are not interested in hearing such analyses. If this situation occurs next rule must be employed. Promoting gender equality – it is important especially when authorities are not interested in implementing of gender budget recommendations. It becomes necessary to stress benefits from implementing equality. Conferences and trainings are helpful. NGOs and academics should be of assistance as the experience of other countries proves. Transparency and cooperation – are crucial for success. Experts from multiple areas should be engaged, like finances, sociology, economy and politics. There should be both women and men involved in planning. Consulting is also recommended as well as reaching out to local associations and groups to gain their support Long-term strategy

Main challenges in Italy W EAK UNDERSTANDING OF GENDER ISSUES IN GENERAL ( AND THUS THE NEED TO CONTINUE AWARENESS RAISING ). W EAK PARTICIPATION OF CIVIL SOCIETY I NADEQUATE OR INSUFFICIENT PARTICIPATION AND BUY - IN BY ALL STAKEHOLDERS ( THE FISCAL AUTHORITIES IN PARTICULAR ), WHICH, IN TURN, IS A CRUCIAL ELEMENT OF THE FOURTH CHALLENGE. S USTAINABILITY OF THE INITIATIVE / D EVELOPING INSTRUMENTS, METHODS AND PROCEDURES TO IMPLEMENT GENDER BUDGETING AS A STANDARD TASK OF GOVERNMENTS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS.

Muchas Gracias!