With the region currently facing multiple crises, from the Covid-19 pandemic to climate change, Australia’s new aid budget, announced by the Labor government on October 25, could not have been more timely. In particular, it guides the formation of the country’s international development policy, which is to be launched in the middle of next year.

But, with gender equality so negatively impacted by the current mix of crises, how will Australia’s aid budget address the pressing needs of women and girls?

Globally, the pandemic has dramatically accelerated the gender poverty gap, pushing an estimated 47 million more women and girls into extreme poverty, increasing women’s unpaid care work, and exposing women to increasing levels of violence. This is on top of the effects of climate change, which have harmed women and girls, especially in rural areas and conflict zones.

Goals are important – if gender equality is not measured and tracked, it will simply be ignored.

The new aid budget offers an opportunity to address some of these issues and reverse the damage done to gender equality over the past decade. Since 2014, eleven countries have adopted feminist foreign policies (FFPs), including New Zealand, Canada, France and Germany. Australia has yet to take such an approach, but with the formulation of the new international development policy, now would be the perfect time.

On the budget, to start with the positive, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is committed to ensuring that all programs over $3 million include a gender equality, as measured by reports to the Economic Cooperation Organization. and development (OECD). This builds on a pre-election commitment to ensure that DFAT reintroduces its internal goal, which aims for 80 percent of all aid programs to address gender equality. These goals are important – if gender equality is not measured and tracked, it will simply be ignored. However, while these goals are laudable, more can be done in the aid budget and in the new aid policy to ensure that gender equality remains a top priority.

It would be even more impactful if DFAT set a goal for programs that aim for gender equality. primary objective. For example, France recently committed to ensure that at least 20% of projects have gender equality as a criterion primary goal by 2025. If gender equality is only measured as a important objective, for example, there is room for broad interpretation and misinterpretation.

Although Australia’s new aid budget figures look positive, if inflation is taken into account, aid spending will actually fall by 5% in 2025-26. Although these cuts are less than what would have been made under the coalition government, the funding does not adequately support the women who bear the brunt of the simultaneous health and climate crises. In addition, support for humanitarian emergencies remains weak. From a gender perspective, this is problematic because it is women who are often the most affected by disasters.

Much more can be done and learned from adopting feminist foreign policies abroad.

With a change of government and the development of a new aid policy, Australia is well placed to develop its own FFP. This can guide Australia’s aid program and other sectors of foreign affairs, such as defense and diplomacy. This approach is important for several reasons.

Addressing gender equality requires in-depth work on preventing and responding to violence, changing social norms and women’s rights.

First, rather than being an “add-on” feature of the aid program, gender equality should rather guide programming. There are many opportunities to scale up and expand existing projects, such as the Pacific Women Lead program ($170 million over 2021-2026).

Second, a feminist foreign policy goes beyond women’s economic empowerment, which is arguably the issue that has gained the most traction on the aid agenda. While women’s economic empowerment is important, it is only one component of overall gender equality. Addressing gender equality requires detailed work on preventing and responding to violence, changing social norms and women’s rights – it also requires taking an intersectional approach to ensure that the rights of the most marginalized women are taken into account.

Third, an FFP would allow the aid program to set ambitious gender equality targets. Ideally, a target should be set for at least 20% of programs to have gender equality as a meaningful goal, and a 5% target for funding women’s rights organizations. This has proven to be one of the most effective ways to promote gender equality. It also recognizes that Australia does not have all the answers, but plays a crucial role in funding programs that promote grassroots movements and help local women’s voices be recognized. It is also important to simultaneously increase the funding of the aid budget for humanitarian emergencies and organizations of persons with disabilities in view of the impact of disasters and health crises on women.

Without addressing some of these issues, it is unclear how successful Australia’s aid program will be in tackling gender inequality in the region.