Federal budget 2027: Goodbye, feminism!

There should be a feminist reflex, gender equality should always be taken into account - that was the claim of a feminist foreign and development policy that the then ministers Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and Svenja Schulze (SPD) jointly announced in 2023. An analysis by the development policy consulting firm SEEK on behalf of Oxfam now shows: The cuts in these areas have undermined the goals.

They are “so dramatic that even an increase in projects that have gender equality as a main or secondary goal could not compensate for the cuts in funding,” explains Pia Schwertner, who works on gender equality at Oxfam. The new federal budget for 2027 is currently being negotiated. And again the budget of the Federal Development Ministry (BMZ) is to be cut by 6 percent and humanitarian aid, which the Foreign Office finances, is to be cut by 2 percent.

From 2023 to 2027, up to 1.8 billion euros less would be available for gender equality, according to the analysis. “This means that the funding level corresponds to that of 2019 – long before feminist development policy was even discussed in Germany,” says Schwertner.

This calculation is not entirely easy because official figures showing the proportion of funding for projects that have gender equality as a main or secondary goal are only available until 2024. The analysts therefore work with projections. For 2024, the figures show that Germany met its targets, but only landed in tenth place among donor countries when it comes to the share of funding for gender equality in the overall budget.

In 2023, the BMZ set the goal that 93 percent of the newly committed project funds should have a connection to gender equality; for 8 percent, this should be the main goal. The Foreign Office also had specific financing requirements.

Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) officially declared the end of feminist foreign policy when he took office. References to this have been deleted accordingly. A handout on gender in humanitarian aid has also now been deleted from the website. Although the BMZ officially adheres to feminist goals, it has not set a funding target. A department of the same name was dissolved.

The BMZ's reform plan also lacks a systematic anchoring of feminist goals, says Schwertner. The effects of the reforms cannot yet be seen. But the priorities have officially shifted: security and economic interests are the focus, and fewer topics and fewer countries will be supported in the future.

The cuts in the area of ​​gender equality fit into a background of massive global cuts in development funds and the backlash against gender equality and women's rights, for example when it comes to reproductive health. According to a recent survey by UN Women of 855 women's rights organizations in crisis regions worldwide, 2 in 5 said they would have to close temporarily or permanently within the next year.

Schwertner is calling on the federal government to make additional adjustments to the 2027 budget. Concrete and verifiable financing goals are needed, she says. “Civil society actors in the Global South in particular must be strengthened and supported.”