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SECTION 1 2 3
WHAT CAN BE DONE
THE LOW ROAD: GENDER-BLIND
POLICY PRESCRIPTIONS
Failure to consider the particular situation of women and girls can unwittingly
lead governments to reinforce gender inequalities or end up giving with one
hand while taking away with the other. In China, successful efforts to create
new jobs for women were accompanied by cutbacks in state and employer
support for childcare and elderly care, which conversely increased women’s
unpaid work. 479
Fiscal policy can also have unintended negative impacts on women and girls.
Tax cuts designed to stimulate economic growth, whether made to income
taxes or to corporate taxes, benefit men far more than women because the
largest benefits of such cuts go to those with the highest incomes and
corporate share ownership. A recent study in Ghana found that an indirect tax
on kerosene, used for cooking fuel in low-income urban and rural households,
is paid mostly by women. 480
However, direct taxes on those that can most afford them are essential,
as countries with reduced tax revenues have less capacity to deal with
economic crises, and end up having to introduce austerity measures to
balance their budgets. When austerity budgets call for reduced public sector
employment, these layoffs hit women hardest because they are heavily
represented in the public sector. When austerity cuts reduce public services,
not only does this place an undue burden on women, it also makes it more
difficult for them to get a job. According to research conducted on the impact
of austerity in Europe, 481 after the financial crisis mothers of small children were
less likely to be employed than before and more likely to attribute their lack of
employment to cuts to care services. 482
Governments have come together time and again to commit to eradicating
gender inequality. The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination against Women obliges states to eliminate discrimination
and differences in treatment between women and men ‘by all appropriate
means’. In addition, the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action calls for an approach
to macroeconomic and development policy which addresses the needs and
efforts of women in poverty and promotes a ‘more equitable distribution of
productive assets, wealth, opportunities, income and services’. 483 Now is the
time to make good on these commitments.
THE HIGH ROAD: THE RIGHT POLICIES CAN
PROMOTE WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EQUALITY
Many of the policies that reduce economic inequality also have a huge impact
on reducing gender inequality. Free primary education and free healthcare
disproportionately benefit women and girls. Public services are more used
by women; they ensure the state takes some of the burden of care away
from women, whether it is healthcare or childcare. Social protection grants,
such as universal child benefits, also have a big impact on gender inequality.
Regulations around minimum wages and job security, as well as those that
guarantee paid holiday, sick leave and maternity leave, all help to narrow the
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