Gender Budgeting

This book takes a broad look at conceptual and practical applications of gender budgeting in Europe. It comprises three linked sections that work through conceptual definitions of gender budget analysis. These sections explore how it can be framed and constructed as a gender equality policy; investigate case studies across Europe; and examine challenges for implementation. The first book of its kind, Gender Budgeting in Europe explores conceptual and methodological variations evidence in practice in Europe and the challenges of adoption and implementation in different political and institutional contexts. It brings together historical and current conceptual developments and tensions; approaches, methodologies, and tools in practice across Europe; activism, actors and agency and the engagement of formal institutions at all levels of government with feminist policy changes and feminist analysis and activists. This text is fascinating reading for students, scholars, policy makers and activists.

This unique book focuses on the hybridization of grassroots participation in planning, implementing, and developing gender-responsive budgeting. It explores the possibilities for gender sensitive budgeting when implemented using techniques that have been popularized by participatory governance activists. A combination of the two allows for a whole new way of ensuring public budgets are used equitably.

Comprises ten papers which document "good practice" in gender budget work from across the globe.

This collection of essays addresses the glaring gap between policy commitments and actual investments in gender equality, ranging across sectors and focusing on development aid, peace-building and climate funds. Casting a spotlight on the application of gender-responsive budgeting in public budgetary policies, systems and processes, the contributions to this volume explore the chequered trajectories of these efforts in Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Andalucía. Critiquing systems of finance, from adherence to neo-liberal macroeconomic fundamentals which prioritise fiscal austerity, the book makes a compelling case for reframing and re-prioritizing budgets to comply with human rights standards, with a particular view to realizing women’s rights. The authors highlight the paltry funding for women’s rights organizations and movements and examine the prospects for making financing gender responsive. The specific policy, strategy and technical recommendations and the connections across silos which articulate the authors’ suggested operational levers will appeal to researchers, practitioners, students, policymakers, gender equality and human rights activists alike.

This publication examines how budgets and budget policy-making processes can be monitored for compliance with human rights standards, in particular with the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Combining substantive analysis with country examples, it explores how a rights-based analysis can be applied to public expenditure, public revenue, macroeconomics of the budget, and budget decision-making.

This paper reviews gender budgeting efforts in Asia. The countries in the region have achieved mixed success in improving gender equality. Gender budgeting is ideally a fiscal innovation that translates gender-related goals into budgetary commitments and can help countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals with regard to gender equality. India has a sustainable gender budgeting model for the region, while a few countries in the region have begun such efforts more recently. The legislative mandates for gender budgeting in the Philippines and South Korea are remarkable achievements and are contributing to their efforts.

This paper surveys European gender budgeting efforts, which have enjoyed sustained support for more than a decade and a half. In a number of countries, gender budgeting led to significant changes in budget legislation and administrative practices. In some countries, it is also possible to tie gender budgeting efforts to expenditure and revenue policy reforms. At a time of continued fiscal austerity in Europe, gender budgeting can help inform fiscal policies to ensure gender-related goals are met. Civil society has played an active role in advocating for effective gender budgeting.

In the twenty-first century, gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) has emerged as a development tool that explores if and how gender equality goals and targets are being effectively supported through government funding. Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Practice: Lessons from Nigeria and Selected Developing Countries argues that, although justified by the high costs of gender inequality to economic growth and development, the use of GRB as a tool to achieve global and regional gender equality goals has seen little progress in the twenty-first century, especially in developing countries. Through analyses of government budgets and the budgeting process, and gender equality outcomes in Nigeria and the selected countries from 2000 to 2020, the contributors show that GRB has failed to gain traction or thrive in developing countries. Using these analyses, the contributors identify critical success factors that are missing in policy-making and planning in the developing world and must be integrated in order to further facilitate inclusive growth and sustainable development.