In August, KPMG released a report calling for the government to improve gender equity with a wider use of  gender responsive budgeting.  This approach requires the gender impact of revenue-raising and spending decisions to be assessed.  The government committed to introducing gender responsive budgeting at the Jobs and Skills Summit.

KPMG believes that needs-based gender budgeting would have the greatest impact on achieving the government’s gender equity strategy. Needs based GRB identifies the policy areas where government action would optimally  reduce inequity. Combined with a gender lens on policy development – rather than trying to fix inequitable outcomes after a policy is implemented – this approach can help narrow the gender economic gap more efficiently and effectively.

Dr Leonora Risse from RMIT writes in The Conversation about her presentation to the Summit, arguing that gender gaps in our economy indicate we are not fully recognising women’s strengths and capabilities, and so not fully valuing their contributions to the economy and wider society.  The summit discussed the under-utilisation of women, as though women were merely functional machinery.  Gender responsive budgeting is a means to value rather than utilise women.