Feminist Economics Urge EU to Rethink Budgets Fueling Male Privilege

The European Women’s Lobby (EWL) report “Public Spending, Private Gains” reveals how Europe’s public finance systems—through budgets, taxation, and procurement—systematically favor men and marginalize women’s labor, especially in care and social sectors. It calls for a feminist economic overhaul to redirect public money from corporate and male-dominated industries toward equality, care, and social justice.

The report “Public Spending, Private Gains: How Public Institutions Fuel Male Domination in the Workplace”, produced by the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) alongside leading feminist research institutions and Brussels-based gender policy analysts, offers a piercing look at how Europe’s fiscal systems entrench gender inequality. It argues that the continent’s public institutions, through budgets, taxation, and procurement, continue to serve as engines of male privilege. Instead of fostering social equality, public money sustains patriarchal economic structures that prioritize male-dominated sectors such as defense and infrastructure while neglecting care, education, and welfare, the backbone of women’s economic and social participation. The report positions itself not just as a critique but as a feminist call to transform the financial foundations of Europe’s economies.

Gender-Neutral Policies: A Costly Myth

According to the EWL and its research collaborators, gender-neutral public policies are anything but neutral. Decisions about where to allocate public funds have deeply gendered consequences. The study demonstrates that while men reap the benefits of state-backed industrial and technological investment, women suffer from austerity and cuts to the very public services that sustain their livelihoods. During recent years of economic adjustment, governments across Europe have redirected funds toward construction and digitalization projects, areas traditionally dominated by men, while scaling back spending on social care, child support, and healthcare, where women make up the majority of workers. The result is a dual burden: women face both declining job opportunities and an increasing load of unpaid care work at home.

Tax Systems that Reward Inequality

The report’s authors argue that Europe’s fiscal systems continue to reward the traditional male breadwinner model. Tax policies that penalize dual-income households, alongside corporate tax cuts, reinforce structural disparities. Women, overrepresented in part-time or informal work, bear the brunt of consumption taxes like VAT, while wealthy corporations, largely led by men, benefit from generous loopholes and low effective tax rates. Pension schemes tied to continuous, full-time employment further disadvantage women, who are more likely to take career breaks for caregiving. The EWL calls for a new feminist fiscal architecture, one that taxes capital and wealth more fairly, redistributes economic gains, and funds gender-equitable services. The report insists that a state’s tax system reflects its moral priorities, and Europe’s, at present, continues to privilege capital over care.

Public Procurement: A Hidden Gender Bias

Public procurement, which constitutes nearly 14 percent of the EU’s GDP, emerges as one of the most gendered areas of public spending. The report reveals how contracts overwhelmingly flow to large corporations dominated by men, leaving women-led and social enterprises locked out by bureaucratic and financial barriers. In sectors like education, health, and eldercare, where women dominate, outsourcing and privatization have increased job insecurity and depressed wages. The researchers describe this process as “gendered extraction,” in which women’s labor underpins public welfare while private, male-led firms capture the profits. By diverting public wealth into private hands, governments are effectively subsidizing inequality. The EWL urges member states to adopt gender-sensitive procurement frameworks that prioritize social impact, inclusivity, and women’s economic empowerment.

Reclaiming the Value of Care

One of the report’s most powerful arguments centers on the invisibility of unpaid care work. Women across Europe perform the vast majority of caregiving, from raising children to supporting elderly relatives, yet this labor is excluded from national accounting and fiscal policy. The EWL calls this omission an “economic blind spot” that sustains systemic discrimination. Its data shows that if unpaid care were counted, it would represent a massive share of GDP, surpassing several industrial sectors combined. Yet governments persist in ignoring this contribution when designing budgets and growth strategies. The report calls for care-centered budgeting that recognizes the economic value of caregiving and invests accordingly in accessible, affordable care services.

Toward Feminist Public Finance

In its conclusion, “Public Spending, Private Gains” sets forth a roadmap for feminist economic reform. It urges European governments to make gender-responsive budgeting a legal requirement, assess all fiscal policies for gender impact, and reorient spending priorities toward sectors that advance equality, education, healthcare, and social protection. Transparency and accountability must be built into every stage of public finance, from tax collection to procurement. Corporate tax evasion and regressive fiscal models, the report argues, undermine democracy itself by diverting resources away from collective well-being. Public money should serve the public good, not private enrichment.

Ultimately, the report delivers a striking message: Europe’s public money is not gender-neutral; it is gendered in favor of men. By confronting this truth, policymakers can begin to reshape economies around justice, solidarity, and care rather than competition and profit. The EWL and its research partners envision a Europe where public spending uplifts rather than undermines equality, one where fiscal power becomes a tool for liberation, not domination.