Gender Budgeting

In general, the tools are applicable throughout the programming processes for all of the EU Funds. Nevertheless, different contexts have to be considered. With the exception of Tool 1 (which presents the most important requirements of the Commission's proposal for the regulations) and Tool 4 (on options to advance work-life balance), the tools do not present a specific approach for each of the EU Funds. Instead, the tools offer generic support for introducing a coherent gender equality perspective.

The tools pay specific attention to work-life balance. From an EU policy perspective, this is because work-life balance has become especially important in the wake of a new directive on the subject. Promoting work-life balance measures within the funds goes hand in hand with the new directive and the communication from the Commission on an initiative to support work-life balance^[1], in which the European Commission explicitly encourages funding from the EU Funds and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) to advance the directive. For more information about the Directive on work-life balance, click here. For general information on the relationship between the gender pay gap and work-life balance, have a look at this EIGE publication.