Status of Women committee  I think the fact that you're holding these hearings is a wonderful example of the mindset that's now in the Canadian Parliament. It's certainly far ahead of what's happening in the United States on the federal level. I agree with Janet. It is critical for there to be a close relationship with elected leaders, political leaders, and grassroots.

Status of Women committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  When you're dealing with a municipal government, it's very different from when you're dealing with a national government. Even at the municipal level there has been a concern that this is a very large undertaking. That's actually why San Francisco started with a few departments.

Status of Women committee  May I take that first?

Status of Women committee  One of the interesting things in San Francisco was that when the board of supervisors passed their resolution in 2003 requiring governments to put together the impact of the budget cuts on their services, there were no sanctions. So one of the questions, to me, has always been, what kinds of sanctions should there be?

Status of Women committee  The budget has to be in place by 2010, and they have been working. I think they have run into challenges, the challenges that have been faced in many other places, and one of the challenges has been getting different departments within the Korean government to actually understand this.

Status of Women committee  I think it's critical. One of the themes you hear over and over again is the lack of data. Many of these organizations are working on how to build these databases where an excuse can't be given of, “We don't know”, or “We can't do anything because we don't know how we're affecting men and women differently”, and some of these groups are actively involved in data collection.

Status of Women committee  I agree with Janet that these are all critical issues, but I think there is something overlaying all of this; namely, when tax policy and income support programs are considered, there should always be a gender component. That's the important thing. What happens is that many times gender budgeting is over on its own.

Status of Women committee  Oh, I'm sorry. When the department of public works was first approached with this, they said that fixing sidewalks and street lighting really does not have any gender implications. Everybody is affected by this. The department on the status of women and other people in San Francisco sat down and worked with them, and they came to realize, for example, that when they do curb cuts for wheelchairs and strollers, most of the people who push those wheelchairs and strollers are women.

Status of Women committee  Well, one of the things--and this is very important--is the leadership in San Francisco. If you know San Francisco, its leadership is always in the forefront of doing things like human rights. They feel that promoting gender equity is very important. The mayor has now said he is going to have more work done on trying to look at the impacts of spending.

Status of Women committee  I would like to also say that even though the United States has not ratified CEDAW, about 20 states and more than 50 cities have passed resolutions in support of the country doing this. In terms of what individual municipalities have done, in September 2007, Fulton County, Georgia, which is the home of Atlanta, Georgia, passed a resolution with the objective of making gender equality central to the way Fulton County government works.

Status of Women committee  Okay. The commission approved the strategic plan. There was one thing on budgeting in there that specifically said they had to integrate gender into every city department to achieve full equality, but nothing has happened yet. The strategies to operationalize this goal have never been implemented.

Status of Women committee  The title of my presentation really says what this is. “Gender Budgeting in the United States: The San Francisco Experience” is the experience of gender budgeting in the United States. So my presentation is going to be somewhat different from the previous presentations because I will be focusing on a local government.

Status of Women committee  Thank you for this invitation. I would like to also say hello to Janet. I haven't seen her since we were in Korea. Hello, Janet.