Using Fiscal Policy And Public Financial Management To Promote Gender Equality

This book examines how fiscal policy and management can promote gender equality in developing as well as developed countries. Providing an international look at gender budgeting, it draws on countries at different levels of development, with an emphasis on low-income developing countries. It introduces the reader to the main trends in gender equality, the key ideas and rationale of gender budgeting from a fiscal policy perspective and where gender budgeting fits into public financial management. It offers case studies and other empirical evidence from developing, emerging, and developed countries on what works in using fiscal policy and public financial management to narrow gender gaps in education, health care, access to infrastructure, and economic empowerment. It also provides policy recommendations appropriate to countries at different levels of development. The reader will gain an understanding of how fiscal policy and public financial management can contribute to gender equality and women’s advancement. The book provides a well-grounded set of conclusions and policy recommendations, drawn from evaluation of the evidence. The focus is on low-income developing countries but is combined with a well-rounded look at developing countries, more generally, emerging markets, and developed countries as well. This book will be a valuable resource for economists and policy makers, particularly those in developing countries still grappling with large disparities between women and men. It will also prove useful to researchers and those who provide technical assistance and aid to countries on fiscal policies and tools for gender equality.

Historically, women around the world have had less opportunity than men in education, employment, and health care, and less political representation. The moral argument for gender equality is clear, and the economic evidence is mounting. The International Monetary Fund and other international institutions have focused in recent years on developing a range of approaches to help whittle away at the barriers that prevent girls and women from achieving their full economic potential. This book is based on a joint research project between the IMF and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development on gender budgeting around the world. The book summarizes some of the most prominent gender budgeting efforts in more than 80 countries tried over the last two decades. The research team relied on published materials, developed a questionnaire sent to the ministries of finance of all 189 IMF member countries, and conducted interviews with country officials and international organizations that offer technical assistance to countries seeking to implement gender budgeting. Although the gender gap is shrinking, progress remains uneven across many regions of the world. Gender budgeting allows fiscal authorities to ensure that tax spending and policies address inequality and the advancement of women in areas such as education, health, and economic empowerment. Gender budgeting has been targeted to a variety of goals such as access to education, childcare, and health services; raising female labor force participation; and eradicating violence against women. There are still many lessons to be learned in implementing the appropriate government policies and fiscal measures to continue promoting women’s development and gender equality.

Gender budgeting is an approach to budgeting that uses fiscal policy and administration to promote gender equality and girls and women’s development. This paper posits that, properly designed, gender budgeting improves budgeting, and it places budgeting for this purpose in the context of sound budgeting principles and practices. The paper provides an overview of the policies and practices associated with gender budgeting as they have emerged across the world, as well as examples of the most prominent initiatives in every region of the world. Finally, it suggests what can be learned from these initiatives.

At the request of the Italian Presidency of the G7, the IMF has prepared a paper on gender-budgeting as a contribution to the G7 initiative on equality. The paper provides an overview of gender-responsive budgeting concepts and practices in the G7 countries. It summarizes recent trends in gender equality in G7 and advanced countries, noting that while equality has improved overall, exceptions and gaps remain. Recognizing that many fiscal policies have gender-related implications, this paper: Sets out the main fiscal policy instruments, both expenditure and tax, that have a significant impact on gender equality. Provides a conceptual framework for the public financial management (PFM) institutions that play an enabling role in implementing gender-responsive fiscal policies. These instruments include gender budget statements, gender impact assessments, performance-related budget frameworks, and gender audits. Ministries of finance have an especially important role in promoting and coordinating gender budgeting, and associated analytical tools. Provides an assessment of the status of gender budgeting in the G7 countries. In preparing the paper, the IMF carried out a survey of PFM institutions and practices in the G7, as well as in three comparator countries that are relatively strong performers in developing gender-responsive budgeting (Austria, Belgium, and Spain). This information was complemented by other sources, including recent studies by the OECD and the World Bank. The main policy implications and conclusions of the paper include: Well-structured fiscal policies and sound PFM systems have the potential to contribute to gender equality, furthering the substantial progress already made by the G7 countries. While G7 countries have made effective use of a wide range of fiscal and non-fiscal policies to reduce gender inequalities, there has generally been less progress in developing effective gender-specific PFM institutions; embedding a gender dimension in the normal budgeting and policy-making routines varies across G7 countries and is not done systematically. Fiscal policy instruments of relevance to increasing gender equality include the use of tax and tax benefits to increase the supply of female labor, improved family benefits, subsidized child-care, other social benefits that increase the net return to women’s work, and incentives for businesses to encourage the hiring of women.

Gender budgeting is an approach to budgeting that uses fiscal policy and administration to promote gender equality and girls and women’s development. This paper posits that, properly designed, gender budgeting improves budgeting, and it places budgeting for this purpose in the context of sound budgeting principles and practices. The paper provides an overview of the policies and practices associated with gender budgeting as they have emerged across the world, as well as examples of the most prominent initiatives in every region of the world. Finally, it suggests what can be learned from these initiatives.

Achieving gender equality remains a significant challenge, that has only deepened with the on-set of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gender budgeting (GB) can help promote gender equality by applying a gender perspective to fiscal policies and the budget process. This paper takes stock of GB practices in G20 countries and benchmarks country performance using a GB index and data gathered from an IMF survey. All G20 countries have enacted gender focused fiscal policies but the public financial management (PFM) tools to operationalize these policies are far less established. We find that notwithstanding heterogeneity across countries, the average G20 level of GB practice is relatively low. More progress has been made establishing GB frameworks and budget preparation tools than with budget execution, monitoring and auditing. Too few countries assess the upfront impact of policies on gender and/or evaluate ex-post the effectiveness of policies and programs. Where GB features are in place, they tend to operate as an ‘add-on’, rather than a strategic and integral part of resource allocation decisions. Progress with GB does not appear to be dependent on the level of country development. Key to future efforts will be harnessing opportunities for integrating GB tools into existing PFM systems and more closely linking GB initiatives with PFM reforms.

Historically, women around the world have had fewer opportunities than men in education, employment, health care, and politics. The moral argument for gender equality is clear, and the economic evidence is mounting. The International Monetary Fund and other international institutions have worked to help whittle away at the barriers that prevent girls and women from achieving their full economic potential. This book is based on a joint research project between the IMF and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development on gender budgeting around the world. The book summarizes prominent gender budgeting initiatives in more than 80 countries. Gender budgeting allows fiscal authorities to ensure that tax spending and policies address inequality and the advancement of women. Gender budgeting goals include increasing access to education, childcare, and health services; raising female labor force participation; and eradicating violence against women.

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.