Gender Budgeting as an Essential Instrument for the Post-Covid19 Recovery

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic erupted in an unprecedented way worldwide, affecting health, social and economic well-being of all citizens. At the same time, it has been found that the effects have a different impact on women and men. In fact, scientific evidence, supported by the main international organizations, suggests that the pandemic has exacerbated the existing inequalities between women and men in different socioeconomic groups.

The crisis caused by the pandemic has affected more feminized sectors of the economy such as accommodation and food services, commerce or tourism. Confinements have required greater care at home and an increase in unpaid domestic work that is usually carried out by women, which has resulted in a drop in their participation in the labor market.

Furthermore, the new work methodologies whose use has spread during this period and the increase in the use of information technologies have highlighted the impact that the pandemic can have on inequalities in the digital sector. In addition, working from home, for example, has had different consequences for men and women, since it has mostly increased the workload of home care for the latter.

For all these reasons, the European Union in the Next Generation EU Program’s design establishes progress in equality as one of its pillars. In the current context of recovery after the pandemic, gender budgeting acquires special importance as an effective element to reorder priorities and with great capacity to allocate resources aimed at correcting inequalities.

The IEHPA Foundation, entity attached to the Regional Ministry of Finance and European Funds of the Government of Andalusia, organizes this International Conference on Economy and Public Budget for equal opportunities with the aim of creating a space for debate between administrations, international organizations and different agents, in relation to the different formulas that are currently applied to achieve a social and economic recovery whose objective is to progress in equal opportunities between men and women.