Posted by Davina Jacobs
"Gender budgeting," which refers to the systematic examination of budget programs and policies for their impact on women, has been tried in a range of countries in recent years. Australia was the first country to formally incorporate gender budgeting into its budget process by developing the concept of a “women’s budget” to address inequalities between women and men. Government ministries and departments were required to provide an analysis of the impact of the annual budget on women and girls, focusing mainly but not exclusively on public expenditures. Gender budgeting is sometimes seen as outside mainstream research on budgeting.
However, several studies in recent years point out the benefits of gender budgeting as women are often disadvantaged relative to men, according to key economic, social, and political measures of equality, but in many areas, such as education, differences are narrowing. The concept of externalities underlies the arguments for including gender considerations in budget programs and policies. Other arguments have a weaker economic basis but may be more socially or politically compelling.
The experience to date with “gender budgeting,” which entails looking at gender issues comprehensively within the budget, has been mixed. To become more useful, gender budgeting should be integrated into budget processes in a way that generates tangible improvements in policy outcomes. In her IMF Working Paper titled "Gender Budgeting," [Download Wp06232[1]], Janet Stotsky recommended that fiscal authorities be encouraged to take into account the external benefits of reducing gender inequalities and to remove any arbitrary discrimination against women from their fiscal legislation.
In an earlier IMF Working Paper, "Gender-Responsive Government Budgeting", [Download Wp03831] Feridoun Sarraf examined the concept of gender budgeting and the extent of its implementation by national governments in both advanced and developing countries. To have fully-effective budgeting responsive to gender (or other worthwhile pursuits), obstacles such as a gender-biased culture, the lack of appropriate budget classifications, and the lack of gender analysis expertise and data need to be addressed.
