Financing for Gender Equality: Cricital for the Achievement of the SDGs/Agenda 2030

The Minister of State for Gender, Labour and Social Development

The Dean of the School of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to join you today as we celebrate 30 years of academic excellence in teaching and research on Gender Studies in Africa. Congratulations to the School of Women and Gender Studies at Makerere University for this milestone.

The reality is, women still enjoy less of the development progress we are making globally and nationally, across all SDG areas – in poverty reduction, education, health, decent jobs etc.  There is great inequality across board, women being the ones faring less well.  And when crises hit – the pandemic for instance – women tend to suffer more negative setbacks towards their enjoyment of development progress.

Financing for development is about money. For development to reach people in all parts of the world, adequate financing is required so that commitments made by world leaders translate into action. For funds to benefit everyone equally and equitably, targeted efforts are often needed to overcome the specific challenges that that particular category of persons being targeted face.

At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015, world leaders, under the leadership of Uganda at the time, adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDG framework offers an inspiring and inclusive vision of the future: a world free from poverty, inequality, injustice, and discrimination; and a healthy planet for present and future generations. It takes a holistic approach to addressing these challenges and prioritizes gender equality as a standalone goal and a cross-cutting issue.

Inclusive development isn’t cheap.

We know that without significant progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment, the SDGs will not be achieved. The Agenda 2030 commits stakeholders to work “for significant increase in investments to close the gender gap.” This is reiterated in the Addis Ababa Agenda for Action on Financing for Development, which commits development actors to new ways of thinking about financing for sustainable development – specifically urging greater financing, tracking, and reporting on public finance for gender equality and women’s empowerment.  

Despite this, investment in this area is significantly lagging behind investment is most other goals[1] – with some evidence suggesting that it is the third least supported SDG.

Official development assistance (ODA) dedicated to gender equality has stalled around 4-5%. Although development assistance that integrates gender equality is steadily increasing, it still represents only 40% of overall ODA – meaning that 55% is gender-blind in FY 2018-19. Much of the funds that integrate gender equality are committed in the social sector, with very little focus on gender equality in the productive and economic sectors (industry, business, banking, energy, etc.)

This is a similar reality in other forms of gender financing. While we celebrate that there has been increased partnership with the private sector and overall growth globally in commercial/blended finance for development – gender equality is a primary objective for only 1% and secondary objective for only 10% of such financing.

There have been overall similar positive global trends in increased foundation and philanthropic giving, however out of private foundations that report their giving, dedicated gender equality represents only 6% of total foundation support, with an additional 19% including it as a secondary objective – most of which was concentrated in health and education.

Amidst a complex financing landscape and tighter fiscal spaces everywhere – especially after this pandemic both North and South, we must work together to increase investment in gender equality – bringing in new actors, new types of financial products and modalities. We must make a much better “business case” to the ministers of finance and government more broadly, in addition to the “human rights case.” 

A world with gender equality, where women and men, boys and girls enjoy equal levels of the development progress being made, enjoy equally their human rights, a critical goal in itself. But gender equality is even more urgent now – especially following the pandemic and the slide back we have experienced – because it is an enabler, an accelerator, a catalyst towards those development outcomes in the first place.

We need commitment to unprecedented levels of financing – in scale, scope, and quality ­– to implement gender equality objectives in this last decade of our global development agenda.

Uganda Context

Chronic under-investment in gender equality and women’s empowerment continues to hold Uganda back from achieving its Vision 2040.

Despite significant progress, women and girls continue to be subjected to discrimination, violence and harmful practices. They are often denied inheritance rights, suffer economic injustices, and face barriers in realizing their economic rights, which constrain the realization of their freedoms and human rights. Entrenched gender stereotypes and negative social norms limit women’s equal access to land, property, and financial services, which in turn shape outcomes for women in labour markets, entrepreneurship, and innovation.  

Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) – the leading national machinery for addressing these critical issues, charged with supporting Government efforts across all sectors and all levels on gender equality – is one of the least funded sectors in Uganda and severely under-resourced. Even within the MGLSD, the Directorate of Women’s Affairs receives only 1% of the total Ministry budget (FY2020/21).  

Moreover, limited investment in rural infrastructure and gender-sensitive innovative technology particularly impacts women living in rural areas who are engaged in time consuming unpaid care work – including fetching water and fuel. This constrains their ability to be engaged in paid work – further deepening vulnerability and poverty.

Significant financial investment is required to progressively shift harmful gender norms and stereotypes and ensure accountable gender-responsive institutions and fiscal policies to address gender gaps and ongoing discrimination. Before concluding, let me highlight a few critical areas for investment:    

• First, women’s economic empowerment. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the economy – in particular for women-led businesses who largely remain in the informal sector. There is need to increase women’s access to the full range of credit, banking and financial support services and facilities; strengthen women’s ownership and control of productive assets, inputs and outputs; and address the digital gender gap. Legislative reforms are needed to ensure that women have equal rights in marriage, inheritance, and land.
• Second, promoting the agency, voice, and participation of women in public decision making. This is essential for advancing gender equality and ensuring that gender issues are adequately prioritized in national development agendas – for the ultimate benefit of all women, men, boys, and girls. Sound strategic partnerships with CSO and development partners will be needed to address structural, systemic and mindsets that perpetuate gender inequalities
• Third, teenage pregnancy. The rate of teenage pregnancy has reached an alarming rate, with an approximate 22.5% increase compared to 2019. With the reopening of schools, there is urgent need to surge and sustainable financing for second chance education, skilling of young people, and access to reproductive health services.
• Fourth, ending violence against women and girls, which remains unacceptably high and also surged during the pandemic. This should include both prevention efforts – including social norm change – and effective response, including ensuring access to justice for survivors. Legislative reforms are also needed to ensure that women and girls are safe from sexual violence and are protected in the workplace.
• Finally, more investment is needed in the generation of gender-sensitive and sex disaggregated data to inform decision making, programmes, policies, and specific gender equality indicators for monitoring and documenting progress.

Thank you for your attention

[1] For this section, see, OECD, Putting Finance to Work for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment – The Way Forward, Policy Paper No.25 (January 2020); OECD, Development finance for gender equality and women’s empowerment: a 2021 snapshot, GENDERNET (2021); OECD, Aid in Support of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, Donor Charts (March 2021); OECD, Statistics on Private Philanthropy for Development: Highlights from the latest data on 2018-2018