Outcomes for women a bigger focus of new regime
POLITICS is often seen as a man’s game, but the budget will cement gender equality at the heart of decision-making, with the introduction of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB).
An established practice in the Victorian government and across some Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) countries, it is a new approach for the federal government, which will aim to view policy creation through the lens of gender.
National Council of Women of Australia president Chiou See Anderson, a member of the government’s Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, said this was a bigticket item for the budget.
“So GRB is a very hippy term,” Ms Anderson said.
“For every government spend, they look at it and say ‘does this benefit men and women equally?’ … every cent that we spend as a government, we are responding to it on a gender basis.”
In the Women’s Budget Statement, released on Tuesday, the government said GRB would involve tracking and reporting gender equality outcomes through budget processes so policymakers and decision-makers – including ministers and the cabinet – understood how policy proposals may impact women and men differently.
As part of a pilot of the program, the Office for Women worked with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations to develop the budget’s Jobs and Skills proposals, with the aim to reduce gender segregation across industries.
While women are well represented within vocational education and training, they make up just 8.2 per cent of “traditional” trade apprenticeships. For example, only 4.9 per cent of construction apprentices are women.
Small Business Women Australia founder and vocational education and training advocate Amanda Rose called for the introduction of singlesex apprenticeship classes for high school girls.