Malaysian Gdp To Benefit From Gender Responsive Budgeting Say 20 Csos

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Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) executive director Sumitra Visvanathan today said pivoting towards gender equality in the economy could boost the country’s GDP.
“We hope that more allocations will come through to benefit every single Malaysian person through this because remember, when we make Malaysia a better country for women, when we have initiatives like gender-responsive budgeting and so forth, what we're doing is we're making Malaysia a better country for everyone.
“For instance, if you look from the perspective of increasing women's (labour) participation in the economy, we actually are one of the lowest in the region - right at 48 percent of women's labour participation.
“If we were to increase that, if we were to pivot towards enabling gender equality in the economic sphere, we actually could add up to 16 percent to our GDP,” Sumitra (above) said in a press conference on the Gender Budget Group’s (GBG) memorandum to the Finance Ministry.
She cited various reports by McKinsey, International Labour Organisation, and the World Bank.
The WAO executive director said gender-budgeting notes that there are differences in situations, roles, contributions and needs of different communities and strata within a society.
She added that this measure would enable the government to respond accordingly, by allocating specific budgets for both men and women beneficiaries in various projects and programmes.
The group views gender-responsive budgeting as important, particularly during Covid-19 recovery, where, they claim, many groups are yet to be accounted for in the budgetary process.
The collective memorandum, co-signed by 20 civil society organisations (CSOs) in the Gender Budget Group coalition, was submitted to the Finance Ministry for consideration for Budget 2022.

Gender-based violence
The memorandum focuses on key areas which need gender-focused allocations such as gender-based violence, economic empowerment, leadership, healthcare, and education.
Additionally, it recommends greater social protection requirements for those worst hit by the pandemic - including single mothers, women employed in the informal sector, survivors of violence, and those struggling with their mental health.
“We urge the Finance Ministry, as well as other crucial ministries involved in rebuilding the national economy to take note of our recommendations as an opportunity in pushing for a robust and resilient national recovery plan that benefits all in Keluarga Malaysia.
“As parliament reconvenes, we ask parliamentarians to commit to debating for a gender-sensitive Budget 2022.
“In order for Malaysia to stand strong post-pandemic, legislators, think tanks, academicians and other civil society organisations must all come together in understanding the role we play in fiscal policy.
“During the pandemic, Malaysia’s gender gap has worsened and GBG aims to ensure that policymakers address this alarming divide.
“To do this, GBG calls for a consultative, transparent and inclusive budgetary process,” said the group in a statement.
The coalition - which represents various issues and target groups - advocates gender equality in government fiscal policies is spearheaded by Engender Consultancy and WAO.



The coalition aims to promote gender-responsive budgeting across all stages of the budget cycle by analysing government budgets to examine the impact of spending and revenue-raising decisions on gender equalities and advocating for the adoption of policies that will ensure equal opportunities for all. - Mkini

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