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Asia Pacific Regional Meet on Gender Dimensions of Financing for Development

7^th to 8^th January 2002

Kathmandu, Nepal

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STATEMENT

We are the participants of the Asia Pacific Regional Meet on Gender Dimensions of Financing for Development held on 7-8 January 2002 in Kathmandu from the countries of Jordan, Egypt, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Peoples Republic of China, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Kiribati and Australia. We are feminist economists and activists belonging to various national machineries for women, national women’s organizations and institutes, regional women’s networks and multi-lateral organizations that have worked on various issues and dimensions around our collective concern for gender equality and social justice.

As we approach the 4^th Preparatory Committee and Mexico Meetings of the International Conference on Financing for Development, our deep concern is renewed by the deliberations’ seeming acceptance of the current macro-economic framework. We believe that this seriously limits all stakeholders to take a decisive step toward the achievement of genuine sustainable development.

There is a severe and persistent inadequacy of marcoeconomic policies, both in content and effect, to address the (1) realities of discrimination felt in the lives of women and (2) structural and cultural barriers to the pursuit of gender equality and social justice. This originates from a view that superficially divides market and non-market spheres of human activity and completely ignores the functional relationship between production and social reproduction / care economy. Economic policies in themselves have a social content. Yet, claims to “sound macroeconomic policy” have consistently failed to address elements of gender bias and impediments faced by women that are embedded in institutions and structures. Particular to the Asia Pacific region, there remains certain strong and pervasive institutionalized discrimination based on caste, class, and ethnic differences..

The continuing neglect of the gender dimensions of economic and social policies and separation of economic and social policymaking have resulted in aggravating women’s vulnerability to the social fallouts from economic crises. At the same time, they are expected to shoulder the burden of household survival in times when both the market and provisioning of public service fail.

We assert that the direction towards achieving genuine sustainable development is found in a bold and strategic programme that ensures the following:

·        Development resources must reach the poorest peoples, communities, and regions, as well as, the new groups impoverished by market reforms and globalization, a disproportionate number of whom are women.

·        Development resources must be committed to relieve the burden of care on women. This entails supporting programs aimed at sharing the burden of care across society as well as strengthening the responsibility of the state for the care of its citizens. International and multilateral rules and agreements must not compromise state flexibility for ensuring food security, eradicating poverty, promoting more permanent social protection, and providing social services, in particular, care of children, elderly, and the disabled.

·        Development resources must be committed to remove gender-based institutional and structural barriers in order to lower the transaction costs of women’s access to factor, product and information markets, increase women’s opportunities for employment, and promote women’s over-all participation in the market.

·        Mobilising financial resources for development must move away from its heavy dependence on foreign resources towards greater domestic resource mobilization. Such resource mobilization strategy must include domestic capital formation, progressive taxation, increasing the participation of the private sector in expanding social protection, and strengthening the legal-administrative framework promoting social philanthrophy. Linked to these is a desirable fiscal policy that reduces imbalances between current incentives to capital and social subsidies.

·        There is a need to put in place more democratic approaches to resource mobilization, budgeting and determining development priorities. This would give marginalised people, in particular women, a greater voice in policy formulation, implementaiton and impact assessment. De-centralization and devolution of power to local bodies must be strengthened in order to achieve this and to enhance the mobilization of local resources for development.

·        The regional and global trade, financial and monetary environments and their institutions must be transformed from a rigid set of rules with non-transparent processes to one that allows for flexibility among diverse stakeholders and their effective participation in decision making in economic governance for sustainable development.

We see the International Conference on Financing for Development as an important and long overdue meeting to ensure the achievement of the commitments agreed to by governments at Rio, Cairo, Jomtiem, Beijing, Copenhagen, and Durban. This conference provides the means to the ends set  by these international conferences and agreements.