Overview

Through government intervention, public debt can foster economic growth by ensuring income distribution, making public services available, and helping to guarantee welfare opportunities for those who are unable to afford them.[1] Such intervention can help countries achieve their development goals. However, unsustainable public debt often has a negative impact on human rights and gender equality. In many African countries, public debt payments outweigh government spending on critical social services that support realising these rights.[2] In 2019, 25 countries, 16 of which are African, spent more on debt repayment than on education, health, and social protection combined.

The cost of servicing this debt is disproportionately borne by women, while the funds borrowed are rarely spent in ways that prioritise women’s rights.[3] For women to play a significant role in influencing poor decision-making on public debt –which adversely affects women and girls because of its impact on public services  the costs of servicing these loans should be shared more evenly. Such reforms are more likely to succeed when decision-making processes are democratised at all levels.

As of June 2022, total public debt was at a 50-year high in low and middle-income economies, and more than 200 percent of government revenue. Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, global inflation, impacts on exchange rates and the rise of interest rates have affected many countries, impacting on their ability to service their debts and prioritise development objectives. All these factors have resulted in a systematic decline in the quality of social services available to citizens, especially women and girls who benefit the most from these services.[4]

Bridging the gender gap from public debt

Public debt finance and its servicing continue to constitute an immense drawback for African countries that often have high borrowing levels, which correlates with the ability of a government to meet its commitment to closing gender equality gaps and supporting women. The costs of servicing debts often disproportionately impact women, but further borrowed funds are not targeted at supporting initiatives to promote women’s rights.[5] Securing and paying debt typically comes with various macroeconomic policy conditions, commonly including measures to push governments to reduce expenditures in critical social investments and public services; such measures often include cuts to social protection, health care, and gender-based violence prevention and response services. Reduction of expenditures in these sectors and services has a disproportionate impact on women who both benefit from these services and  are overrepresented as employees in these sectors.[6] Conscious action should be aimed at reviewing and acting on the impact of public debt on gender equality.

The role of women’s leadership in managing public debt

To understand the impact of public debt on gender and budget choices, it is worth considering the role female leaders have played and how that role has evolved in Africa. How have women been involved in public service leadership roles with an emphasis on public debt, and how could their position be a catalyst to influence how decisions are made on public debt? Women are often perceived to be more competent leaders, according to those who work most closely with them, so what is holding them back is not a lack of capability but a dearth of opportunity.[7]

This disparity between men and women leads to a lack of opportunities for women regarding leadership and decision-making. Situating women at the forefront of decision-making on public debt would help alleviate the gender challenges faced in such choices. The major barriers to including women in Tanzania in economic choices, for instance, is due to lack of time, education, and reproductive health issues, as well as a lack of assets and access to financial services. Such challenges, along with others, have tied women to the cultural perception that their main role is carrying out household chores and caring for children rather than leading others and taking strong positions to advance future generations. [8]

Case study: Addressing violence against women and girls

Uganda is among the few countries that have borrowed for projects to address violence against women and girls (VAWG). Almost all African countries have some sort of national law or policy to address VAWG. Still, these issues are often underfunded or funded from external grants that delay needed progress. Statistics from the UN show that one in every three women globally has experienced physical or sexual violence in her lifetime. In Uganda, VAWG is even more entrenched. More than half of all women (56 percent) have experienced violence at least once since the age of 15, mostly by a current or former intimate partner. The funds borrowed for Uganda’s VAWG project need to be better focused on creating awareness on preventing VAWG through changing social norms, strengthening referral systems, supporting national coordination mechanisms, and developing a curriculum for training police officers on confronting VAWG. These reforms would be a crucial project to address issues affecting Ugandan women and could be tackled more effectively with more visibility and involvement from these women.[9]

Conclusion

International NGOs, Civil Societies, and various players active in improving gender equality, especially in African countries, need to continue to question leaders and key decision-makers, monitor their policies and narratives, and demand accountability for their decisions. We need to ensure that policies and practices related to public debt do not negatively impact the delivery of public services and thereby the support for and progress of women and girls.

Recommendations

1. International Development Organisations invested in forward-looking approaches to solving developmental issues, should consider conducting a full-scale public debt Political Economy Analysis[10] and research, with a regional lens on African countries, to analyse the history of public debt funding in Africa. This exercise would consider key characteristics of public debt, its impact on a country’s economy, the significance of government decision-making processes, and the impact on gender equality goals.
2. Key sector players must develop a long-term strategy, in collaboration with government institutions and parliaments, to advocate planning processes that protect the human rights of citizens from the regressive impact of increasing public debt. In the case of WFD, we could look to leverage our existing partnerships in some of the African countries where we are currently operating to enhance collaboration on the issues of public debt management and gender equality.
3. Government and institutions must make a conscious effort to provide opportunities for women to attain leadership positions in the oversight of Government debt strategy. This can be done by attracting and retaining more women in leadership positions and, where there are skill gaps, adequate mentorship programmes should be considered.
4. Large organisations and stakeholders focused on human rights and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals must consider the advantageous role of impact investing in supporting the solutions required to reduce the increasing gap in gender equality – partly as a result of  the debt crisis. This can be achieved by creating meaningful partnerships to address this global catastrophe.[11]
5. Where necessary, organisations working in this field must continue to develop and strengthen their internal capacity to provide expert financial accountability oversight on the growing issue of public debt and ensure they are best placed to provide technical support to government bodies on these issues.

References

Amadi-Njoku, R. (2023). Representation & gender in Africa: Role of women in leadership. African Press Club. https://www.africanpressclub.com/stories/representation-gender-in-africa-role-of-women-in-leadership

Centre for Economic & Leadership Development. (2018). AWF, Africa Women Forum, fostering global partnerships and collaborations in delivering SGDS: Women empowerment in focus. Centre for Economic & Leadership Development. https://celdng.org/2018/01/the-africa-women-forum-awf-new-york-2018/

Idris, I. (2018, May 23). Barriers to women’s economic inclusion in Tanzania. K4D: Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5b432d9e40f0b678bc5d01c1/Barriers_to_womens_economic_inclusion_in_Tanzania.pdf

Lubani, E., Xhani, B., & Memis, E. (2020). Gender responsive budgeting and rights-based monitoring. Economia Politica, 3, 389-416. https://doi.org/10.1429/100370

Lumina, C., & Tamale, N. (2021, October 15). Sovereign debt and human rights: A focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. Afronomics Law. https://www.afronomicslaw.org/category/african-sovereign-debt-justice-network-afsdjn/sovereign-debt-and-human-rights-focus-sub

Musindarwezo, D. (2018, August). Realising women’s rights: The role of public debt in Africa. The African Women’s Development and Communication Network: GEDN. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/536c4ee8e4b0b60bc6ca7c74/t/5b6c532f21c67c0686e970c8/1533825840524/Realising+women%27s+rights+final.pdf

Musindarwezo, D., & Jones, T. (2019). Debt and gender equality: How debt-servicing conditions harm women in Africa. Bretton Woods Project. https://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/2019/04/debt-and-gender-equality-how-debt-servicing-conditions-harm-women-in-africa/

Oxfam Policy & Practices. (2007, January 10). Briefing note: Debt and public services. Oxfam. https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/debt-and-public-services-123915/

The World Bank. (2022, March 8). Opinion: No economy can reach its full potential where women do not have equal opportunities. World Bank https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/opinion/2022/03/08/no-economy-can-reach-its-full-potential-where-women-do-not-have-equal-opportunities

The World Bank. (2022, June 13). Published on data blog: Raising the bar on debt transparency https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/raising-bar-debt-data-transparency

United Nations SGD Pulse. (2022, May 31). Developing country external debt: A cascade of crises means more countries face debt distress. UNCTAD. https://sdgpulse.unctad.org/debt-sustainability/#:~:text=Debt%20service%20ratios%20are%20considered%20important%20indicators%20of,claims%20on%20the%20public%20sector%

Whaites, A., Piron, L-H, Menocal, A. R., & Teskey, G. (2023, February 27). Guidance: Understanding political economy analysis and thinking and working politically. Gov. UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/understanding-political-economy-analysis-and-thinking-and-working-politically/understanding-political-economy-analysis-and-thinking-and-working-politically

Zenger, J., & Folkman, J. (2019, June 25). Research: Women score higher than men in most leadership skills. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2019/06/research-women-score-higher-than-men-in-most-leadership-skills

The World Bank. (2019, January). Debt Bulletin 7th Edition https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/debt-statistics/quarterly-bulletin-january-2019