Media Round-up: October 2018

October was a very busy month for the WBG, culminating in the Chancellor’s announcement of the 2018 Autumn Budget. Media coverage this month was wide-reaching, shining a spotlight on our Gender Budgeting casebook, our research into free childcare, and the various pre-budget policy briefings we produced in the run up to the Budget. Our full budget analysis can be viewed here.

Open Society Foundation,How to ensure that women and girls count in Government Budgets, Mary-Ann Stephenson, 11 October 2018

Our new casebook, Women Count, explores what gender responsive budgeting can accomplish across a range of policy areas (tax, social security, public services). It also demonstrates how best to explain gender responsive budgeting to local, regional, and national governments, as well as the media and civil society groups.

Public Finance, Why it’s important to talk about gender budgeting, Angela O’Hagan, 18 October 2018

In Women Count, a new publication by the Women’s Budget Group, gender budgeting is described as a tool to assess the impact of public administration budgets and economic policies on inequalities between women and men in order to lead to policy change.

Huffington Post, If Tackling Violence Against Women And Girls Is Really A Priority For This Government, The Chancellor Must Prove It In Monday’s Budget, Mary-Ann Stephenson, 26 October 2018

The Chancellor pledged an additional £20m in the 2017 Spring Budget, bringing the total allocated for the Violence Against Women and Girls strategy to £100m over the course of 2016 to 2020. However, this falls far short of the economic cost of violence against women and girls to society.

The Independent, For Bame women, austerity is far from ‘coming to an end’ – this is what the Budget means for them, Mary-Ann Stephenson and Omar Khan, 29 October 2018

Our joint research at the Runnymede Trust and Women’s Budget Group showed that the poorest black and Asian households are set to lose the most from the combined impact of cuts to social security and public services – about 20 per cent of their annual living standards by 2020.

Financial Times, Small businesses give their verdict on the Budget
Andy Bounds, 29 October 2018

Ms Moore wants free child care for all from the age of six months. It would cost between £33bn-£55bn, annually, according to the Women’s Budget Group, a think-tank that advocates policies that promote gender equality, but would pay for itself through higher tax revenues from care workers and women who remained in their careers.

Bustle,What Does The 2018 Budget Mean For Young Women? Housing & Mental Health Were High Priorities, Lauren Sharkey, 29 October 2018

As the Women’s Budget Group pointed out on Twitter, many of the changes announced by Hammond will benefit men. Many women rely on public transport, making a cap on fuel duty irrelevant to them. Although money is being spent on new on-demand services such as buses, it’s unclear if this will be utilised well and in the areas that need them most.

The UK in a Changing Europe, Will the ‘Jam Tomorrow’ budget stand up to Brexit?, Mary-Ann Stephenson, 30 October 2018

Women have been hit hardest by austerity. Our analysis with the Runnymede Trust into the impact of austerity on black and minority ethnic (BME) women showed how cuts to public services and social security hit poorer households more than richer households, women harder than men and BME women hardest of all.

Tax Justice, Women continue to take the lions share of austerity, Liz Nelson, 30 October 2018

Ahead of the UK Autumn budget statement (29th October 2018) the UK Women’s Budget Group (WBG) provided an important analysis of why austerity isn’t over, especially for women living in the UK. It is a useful point to reflect on the role of tax and its gendered implications.