Gender equality in government decision-making
Gender-responsive budgeting is increasingly used to promote gender equality
Gender-responsive budgeting involves applying a gender lens to decision-making and the budget process in order to progress gender equality. Various practices sit under the umbrella of‘gender- responsive budgeting’ including gender budget statements and gender impact assessments. Approximately half of OECD countries have adopted some form of gender-responsive budgeting, as have most Australian jurisdictions.181
This is the second NSW budget statement focused on women and gender issues. Gender budget statements are a useful tool to promote accountability and transparency in resource allocation.
NSW Treasury is piloting gender impact assessments on new policy proposals
Gender impact assessments examine how a proposed policy, program or project may have different impacts on people based on their gender; this includes women, men and gender-diverse people.
Gender impact assessments can improve government interventions by embedding gender equality considerations into policy design and implementation.
NSW Treasury Gender Impact Assessment Pilot
As part of the NSW Government’s commitment to gender-responsive budgeting, NSW Treasury applied a gender lens to a small number of new policy proposals. The primary aim of this gender impact assessment pilot was to consider the most appropriate way of embedding a gender lens in the NSW budget process.
Reflections from this pilot will inform future approaches to gender-responsive budgeting in New South Wales.
Fast Track for Female Coaches Program
The funding boost for the Fast Track for Female Coaches program is an important step to addressing the under-representation of women in sports coaching roles. This benefits not only the women participating in the program, but also the women and girls who will benefit from more female coaching role models.
By building confidence and capability of female coaches in a tailored environment, Fast Track for Female Coaches seeks to increase the number of women who are sufficiently prepared and qualified to take on coaching opportunities when they arise.
Notwithstanding the merit of Fast Track for Female Coaches, a gender impact assessment shows that further interventions are needed to address fundamental barriers including, stereotypes, ingrained biases, sexism, and bullying which prevent women from becoming coaches, particularly at the high-performance level.
Applying a gender lens highlights that without addressing these critical issues, which are the result of entrenched social norms and organisational cultures, the impact of upskilling individual female coaches may be limited.
Secure jobs and funding certainty for community services
Applying a gender lens to a proposal for a taskforce to address job security and funding certainty in the community sector reveals the gender composition of two groups likely to be impacted by this initiative:
- Community sector workforce: Women make up the majority of the NSW community sector workforce, half of which is estimated to be in insecure employment (casual or fixed term employment).182 This group of women is likely to benefit from any improvements to job security, pay, conditions or career progression opportunities that flow from this proposal.
- Community service users: People of all genders access community services, with rates of usage varying depending on the specific service. Any improvements to support a stable community services workforce will likely also improve service sustainability. This will have flow-on benefits to service users, including women, men and gender diverse people.
Applying a gender lens helps the NSW Government to identify impacted cohorts, so that their needs can be considered and addressed in the design and implementation of policy interventions.
The roll-out of Gender Equality Action Plans for NSW Government agencies has commenced
Gender Equality Action Plans are being piloted by some NSW Government agencies including NSW Treasury. Gender Equality Action Plans aim to address gender inequality by ensuring NSW Government agencies proactively champion gender equality in their workforce strategies, and when developing and delivering policies, programs, services and legislation.
Together, Gender Equality Action Plans and gender impact assessments can help shift the way policymakers think about policy design and service delivery to better address the needs of all people in New South Wales.
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