How to assess fiscal stimulus packages from a gender equality perspective

This policy tool was developed as part of the joint UN Women and International Labour Organization (ILO) Joint Programme titled “Promoting Decent Employment for Women through Inclusive Growth Policies and Investments in the Care Economy”.

The policy support tool aims to embed gender equality concerns in national fiscal stimulus packages, as well as in the design of national policy responses. The tool was developed to guide policy makers, UN Women, and ILO staff working on these types of assessments in the context of their COVID-19 economic response and recovery efforts.

Key points of the tool include:

1. Identifying the transmission channels by which gender is salient in contributing to inequality and material deprivation, based on COVID-19 specific gendered effects;
2. Discussing the adequacy of the size of fiscal packages relative to the size of the problem they are meant to solve;
3. Assessing fiscal stabilization and stimulus packages from a gender equality perspective, identifying areas that macro-level policies can effectively target to address gendered impacts of the crisis, with guidance on indicators that can be used in policy assessments;
4. Assessing monetary policy from a gender equality perspective; and
5. Considering the role of gender budgeting in the development and evaluation of fiscal and monetary stimulus packages.

See other policy tools developed under this UN Women and ILO Joint Programme:

• “A guide to public investments in the care economy: Policy support tool for estimating care deficits, investment costs, and economic returns” and
• “Assessing the gendered employment impacts of COVID-19 and supporting a gender-responsive recovery”.