This presentation was made by Dagur B. EGGERTSSON, Iceland, at the Experts Meeting on Gender Budgeting held in Reykjaviik, Iceland, on 18-19 May 2017.

1. Gender Budgeting in Reykjavík City
OECD Meeting on Gender Budgeting
May 2017

4. DRIVING FORCES

5. DRIVING FORCES
• The politcal intention to use
gender budgeting as a part
of the implementation of
the human rights policy
• The city council adopted
proposal on GB in 2011 and
a steering group was
formed

6. THE STEERING GROUP
• Analyze the budget from gender perspective to
determine the different impact of the budget on
women and men/boys and girls
• Reformulating budgeting policies and distribution of
resources to achieve gender equality outcomes
• Working systematically to embed gender
perspective within all the budgeting process

7. STAKEHOLDERS

8. • Citizens
• Political parties
• City councillors
• City officials
• Personal
• Academia
STAKEHOLDERS

9. COMBINING THE HUMAN RIGHTS
POLICY WITH THE FINANCE POLICY
From the Finance Policy
“The basic role of the City is to provide the
citizens with good and efficient services and set
the principles for prudent fiscal policies that will
ensure long term qualities of life in the city.
Fiscal policies must aim at responsible use of
resources and fully financed and sustainable
operations and investments.”

10. COMBINING THE HUMAN RIGHTS
POLICY WITH THE FINANCE POLICY
From the Human Rights Policy
“The policy is based on the principle of equality and
aims to allow all persons to enjoy their human rights
regardless of origin, nationality, language, color,
religion, political affiliation, gender, sexual orientation,
gender identity, sexual characteristics, age, economic
status, heritage, social status, disability, health, ability,
or other status”.

11. The focus was on gender equality – the
Scandinavian model.
The focus has moved under the implementation
process towards a broader notion of diversity, anti-
discrimination, multiple discrimination and human
rights or towards an intersectionality approach
THE EXPANSION OF THE EQUALITY CONCEPT

12. TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

13. HOW ARE WE IMPLEMENTING GB?
By making:
• GB Analysis of all main public service fields within
Reykjavík with respect to users and employees
• Gender impact assessment to prioritize new projects
or/and proposals for changes of the approved budget
• Gender impact assessment on budget proposals as a
part of the recovery plan in each office/department

14. CHANGING THE BUDGETARY RULES
• In Reykjavik it was important to change the budgetary
rules to incorporate the GB aspect of budgeting
• GB is now embedded in the budgetary rules that must be
followed by all departments and institutions of the City
• GB is now one of 10 main objectives of the majority in the
City Council presentation of the 5 year plan 2015-2019 for
the City
• One of the fundamental change of the budgetary rules
was that every time the council prepares a change in the
budget or a new budget item it has to undergo a gender
impact assessment

15. HANDBOOK OF GB
• Gender budgeting in the
City of Reykjavík
(Handbook)
• Equality/ Gender impact
assessment
• Publications and tools
from the Center for
Gender Equality in Iceland

16. GENDER IMPACT ASSESSMENT

17. GENDER IMPACT ASSESSMENT

18. EXAMPLES OF ANALYSIS AND EVIDENCES

19. BONUS PAYMENTS AT THE DEPARTMENT
OF ENVIRONMENT AND TRAFFIC
Analysis showed:
• Men have on average 27 hours per week and women 21
hours of fixed overtime agreement. Women have 81% of the
amount men have. Women work 33 hours of waged
overtime on average and men 30. 53% of men with higher
education have fixed overtime agreement and 28% of
women.
• Men have the „space“ to work more waged overtime
Action: Forming a steering group that systematically eliminate
the gender pay gap among the employees within the city

20. SOCIAL SERVICE FOR SENIOR CITIZENS
Analysis showed:
• Active users are 14% men and 86% women. That‘s not in
harmony with the proportion of men and women in the
community (60% men and 40% women)
• The participation of men in social activities is 26% against 74% of
women‘s participation.
• More women than men use the bath service
In harmony with unequal unpaid care responsibility of men
and women
Actions: Promotion to increase the participation of men, increase the
number of male mentors, consultation and conversation with senior
citizens to define the need and wishes.

21. VISITORS OF CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS
IN REYKJAVÍK (CHILDREN)
Analysis showed:
• Fewer boys than girls visit Reykjavik´s museums and libraries and attend
cultural events hosted by those institutions.
• Surveys among school children showed that girls enjoy visiting and attending
cultural events more than boys.
• The liking decreased as the children got older.
Actions: A working group was formed that was responsible for submitting an
action plan, based on statistics and surveys. It cooperated with students from
the University for further research. Money was allocated for specific projects
and a focus group was put together which met young people as well as teachers
in order to find ways of changing that.

22. STADIUM STAND EXPANSION AT THE
FOOTBALL FIELD OF A CERTAIN TEAM
Gender impact assessment showed:
• That the project benefited boys/men more than girls/women.
• The suburb where the team is located has the highest proportion
of children with various ethnical origin and children with weak
social and economical background.
Action: The City Council agreed to accept the proposal with
conditions. The sport club had to:
Ensure that women and girls would use the facilities more.
Make an action plan focusing on changing this pattern of
inequality.

23. STADIUM STAND EXPANSION AT THE
FOOTBALL FIELD OF A CERTAIN TEAM
Action:
• Gender analysis of sports clubs activities
Examine three sports clubs and analyze how the funding is
divided between genders and between sports.
• Equality in sports clubs
make sure that all contracts with sport associations include a
requirement that they abide by an equality plan. Investigate
whether sport associations currently possess an equality plan,
and take appropriate action if they are without one.

24. CHALLENGES
• Resistance to change. Often people don’t like to do things
differently.
• Lack of gender disaggregated data.
• Negative attitude towards equal rights. Iceland is in the
frontline when it comes to gender equality thus some people
think that we have already achieved equality.
• Work overload. Gender Budgeting has to become a normal
part of employees work.
• Intersectionality. Disaggregated data has to cover more than
gender.

25. EQUALITY RECOGNITION OF THE
MINISTRY OF WELFARE 2016

26. THANK YOU!