Gender budgeting discussion at the European Parliament
[Brussels, 6 December 2019] On 20 November 2019, the EWL held a joint breakfast discussion at the European Parliament on “How can we work together to strengthen gender mainstreaming including in the budgeting process?” The event was co-hosted by MEP Margarida Marques (S&D), co-rapporteur of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and MEP Alexandra Geese (Greens/EFA), member of the Budgets Committee. The purpose of the event was to spotlight the need for gender mainstreaming amongst EU decision-makers, particularly gender budgeting as a transformative tool, in light of current negotiations of the MFF 2021-2027.
The breakfast meeting brought together key EU decision-makers, including MEPs from the Greens/EFA and Renew Europe, as well as representatives from the European Commission, and members of civil society. We were also joined by some members of our Gender Budgeting Expert Group.
At the meeting, we had the opportunity to raise awareness on gender mainstreaming and how to implement gender budgeting as a tool, particularly in the proposed MFF 2021-2027 to ensure the EU’s long-term budget has equal outcomes for women and men. There was a productive exchange amongst participants about the need to implement a gender budgeting mechanism, particularly to address women’s experiences relating to climate change and digitalisation, and the need to draw from national examples and enhance expertise on gender budgeting amongst decision-makers.
Members from our Gender Budgeting Expert Group also met in the afternoon to discuss our priorities for 2020, particularly around projects relating to women’s socioeconomic independence and rights. We will continue to work together in the new year on this topic to further gender budgeting within the EU.
Read our demands here (last amended January 2020)
