Economies

Women’s Empowerment through Gender Budgeting: A Review in Indian Context

Citation:

Reddy, Suguna. 2011. “Women’s Empowerment Through Gender Budgeting: A Review in Indian Context.” Asia Pacific Journal of Social Sciences 3 (1): 210-24.

Author: Suguna Reddy

Abstract:

Gender Budgeting is now recognized as a tool for empowering women. Budget impacts women’s lives in several ways. It directly promotes women’s development through allocation of budgetary funds for women’s development programmes and reduces opportunities for empowerment of women through budgetary cuts. The Budget is an important tool in the hands of state for affirmative action for improvement of gender relations through reduction of gender gap in the development process. It can help to reduce economic inequalities, between men and women as well as between the rich and the poor. (NCAS, 2003). Hence, the budgetary policies need to keep into considerations the gender dynamics operating in the economy and in the civil society. There is a need to highlight participatory approaches to pro-poor budgeting, green budgeting, local and global implications of pro-poor and pro-women budgeting, alternative macro scenarios emerging out of alternative budgets and inter-linkages between gender-sensitive budgeting and women’ s empowerment. Serious examining of budgets calls for greater transparency at the level of international economics to local process of empowerment. With this background, the paper mainly focuses on the empowerment of women through Gender Budgeting.

Topics: Civil Society, Development, Economies, Economic Inequality, Poverty, Gender, Gender Budgeting Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2011

Gender Budgets: The Experience of the UK Women’s Budget Group

Citation:

Rake, Katherine. 2002. “Gender Budgets: The Experience of the UK Women’s Budget Group." Paper presented at conference on Gender Balance - Equal Finance, Basle, Switzerland.

Author: Katherine Rake

Annotation:

Summary:

Drawing on the experience of the UK’s Women’s Budget Group (WBG), this paper starts by defining what a gender budget is, outlines the imperatives to conduct a gender budget and then proceeds to detail how such a budget may be constructed. It reflects upon the political, institutional and ideological transformations that are needed for such a process to be successful. Before embarking on the main body of the paper, however, some background on the work of the WBG is necessary.

The Women’s Budget Group has lobbied successive Governments on gender and economic policy since 1989. It is an independent organisation that brings together academics and people from non-governmental organisations and trades unions to promote gender equality through appropriate economic policy. The WBG has gained extensive access to policy-makers and now works most closely with Her Majesty’s Treasury (the UK’s Ministry of Finance). The annual Budget, and now the Pre-Budget Report, provide opportunities for the WBG to lobby Treasury on a range of social and economic issues. We also have a series of meetings throughout the year which may be focused on particular policy reforms, on issues of analysis and on ways that Treasury might use gender analysis to improve its economic policy making. For example, we have recently had meetings in which the Treasury’s model of the UK economy was scrutinised for gender blindness and we are currently meeting with Treasury to discuss how a gender perspective might be introduced in the planning of the next three years’ of Government expenditure. It should be noted that our independence from Government makes us rather unique in an international context where most gender budget initiatives are internal to Government. Although there are considerable advantages of having an independent body scrutinise policy for its gender effects, as discussed in section four below, there are limits to how far external organisations can go in conducting gender budgets. There is an irony also in the fact that most gender budget work in the UK is generated by the unpaid labour of feminist economists.

The work of the WBG is focussed at the national level, but it has links with a group that has a similar aim for Scotland, and with both NGOs and intergovernmental organisations that promote gender budgeting internationally. In short, our aims are to:

·         develop analysis and lead debate on the gender implications of economic policy, 
bearing in mind the multiple dimensions of women’s disadvantage;

·         expand understanding among policy makers and opinion formers of the gender 
implications of economic policy and give policy advice;

·         promote gender mainstreaming in economic policy making, presentation and 
monitoring;

·         work with other organisations to raise public awareness of gender equality issues in economic policy and the importance of assessing the effects of economic policy on women.

Topics: Economies, Gender, Gender Budgeting Regions: Europe, Northern Europe Countries: United Kingdom

Year: 2002

Feminisation of Gender Budgeting: An Uphill Task for Zimbabwe

Citation:

Manyeruke, Charity, and Shakespear Hamausw. 2013. “Feminisation of Gender Budgeting: An Uphill Task for Zimbabwe." Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review 29 (1): 77-105.

Authors: Charity Manyeruke, Shakespear Hamausw

Abstract:

This paper analyses gender budgeting initiatives in Zimbabwe from 2008 when the Gender Budget Circular Call mandating all ministries to mainstream gender in their programmes and budgets came into effect. In order to analyse national budgets and budgeting process in Zimbabwe, the research used a qualitative methodology, which is, specifically, documentary research. Special attention was placed on critical sectors, such as health, agriculture, women's affairs, water and sanitation, and education where disparity between men and women is apparent. The paper concludes that budgetary allocations for women programmes are inadequate, hence the need to feminise gender budgeting process in order to yield better results. However, feminisation of the gender budgeting process is not an easy task for Zimbabwe due to lack of up-to-date gender disaggregated data, lack of political will, and economic challenges that are limiting the fiscal space, among others. There is, however, an opportunity to draw lessons from other developing countries such as South Africa, Mexico, and Namibia as discussed in this study.

Topics: Economies, Economic Inequality, Education, Gender, Femininity/ies, Gender Budgeting, Gender Mainstreaming, Health Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zimbabwe

Year: 2013

Strengthening Local Economies through Gender-Responsive Budgeting: Interview with Diane Elson

Citation:

Harcourt, Wendy. 2010. “Strengthening Local Economies through Gender-Responsive Budgeting: Interview with Diane Elson.” Development 53 (3): 308-12.

Author: Wendy Harcourt

Abstract:

An interview with Diane Elson, a feminist economist and gender and development policy expert, is presented. She offers her view on the opportunity for feminist economists to study the economic crisis. Elson discusses the relationship between paid care work and migration. She also talks about the use of gender-responsive budgeting to address the problem of inequalities and ensure fair economic conditions. (Palgrave Macmillan)

Topics: Economies, Care Economies, Economic Inequality, Gender, Gender Budgeting, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality

Year: 2010

Gender Equality, Public Finance and Globalization

Citation:

Elson, Diane. 2004. "Gender Equality, Public Finance and Globalization." Paper presented at the Conference on Egalitarian Development in the Era of Globalization, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, April 22-24.

Author: Diane Elson

Abstract:

‘Global inequalities in the distribution of income, wealth, power and influence are enormous and the spread of rapid and cheap global communications has increased the awareness of hundreds of millions of people of widespread injustice and the unfairness of the global economic and political system. Increasingly it is recognised that equity is a global public good…’ (Griffin, 2003:800).

This paper considers a particular dimension of inequality, the inequality between women and men; and boys and girls. It considers the inter-relation between, on the one hand, attempts to make public finance more gender- equitable; and on the other, the fiscal squeeze produced by some aspects of globalisation. 

The Beijing Platform for Action, agreed at the UN Fourth World Conference for Women in 1995, specifically endorsed measures to ‘engender’ government budgets, calling in Paragraph 345 for: the integration of a gender perspective in budgetary decisions on polices and programmes, as well as adequate financing of specific programmes for securing equality between women and men. 

Over the last decade, a series of gender budget initiatives (GBIs), in both South and North, have sought to improve the distribution, adequacy and impact of government budgets at national, regional and local levels; and to secure greater transparency in the use of public money; and greater accountability to women as citizens. The spread of GBIs has itself been an example of globalisation, in this case the globalisation of action for gender justice; facilitated by email, internet and air travel; supported by international foundations and international development cooperation funds.

But, it may be argued, GBIs have begun to engage with public finance just at the time when governments, especially in the South, have less and less control over public finance decisions, due to other aspects of globalisation. Globalisation of trade, investment and finance puts pressure on government to reduce tax revenues and reduce public expenditure, even as it creates a need for more investment in public goods to counteract inequality and insecurity. 

This paper considers the weaknesses and strengths of GBIs as they seek to promote gender equality in the diminished national fiscal space; and discusses the changes in global governance that are needed if efforts to make public finance more gender equitable are to be fruitful.

Topics: Economies, Economic Inequality, Public Finance, Gender, Gender Budgeting, Globalization

Year: 2004

Gender and Public Social Spending: Disaggregating Benefit Incidence

Citation:

Demery, Lionel. 1996. "Gender and Public Social Spending: Disaggregating Benefit Incidence." Poverty and Social Policy Department Discussion Paper, Washington DC: World Bank.

Author: Lionel Demery

Abstract:

This note describes how the gender dimension of public spending on health and education can be captured in part through benefit incidence analysis. It contains two basic messages. First, gender disaggregations are important in their own right, since they highlight gender differences in benefit incidence which are of policy concern. Second, these gender differences are also important in understanding other matters of policy concern. The example taken here is poverty, or more specifically, the targeting of government spending to the poor. The paper begins, in section II, with a brief review of the benefit incidence approach and establishes how gender disaggregations can be readily incorporated in the methodology. Illustrations are then provided (in section III) from estimates of benefit incidence of social spending in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. But the benefit incidence of government spending is only part of the story. In order to gain access to government-funded services, households generally have to incur out-of-pocket expenditures. These may also be subject to gender differences. Section IV considers these using household survey data in Ghana. Section V makes some concluding observations.

Topics: Economies, Poverty, Education, Gender, Gender Budgeting, Health Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Côte D'Ivoire, Ghana

Year: 1996

Gender Budgets and Beyond: Feminist Fiscal Policy in the Context of Globalisation

Citation:

Çağatay, Nilüfer. 2003. “Gender Budgets and Beyond: Feminist Fiscal Policy in the Context of Globalisation.” Gender & Development 11 (1): 15-24.

Author: Nilüfer Çagatay

Abstract:

Macro-economic theories and macro-economic policies in general, and fiscal policies in particular, are seldom, if ever, gender-neutral. Since the mid-eighties, gender budget analysis, which has been undertaken in many countries, has been a key strategy to challenge macro-economic theorising and policy-making. Such initiatives, along with a variety of pro-poor budget initiatives, constitute the major challenge to the prevailing fiscal policy stance in many countries. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the changes in the fiscal policy stance in the context of liberalisation and globalisation in order to draw out their implications for social inequality, especially gender inequality. The article ends by discussing a variety of policy advocacy positions open to feminist activists, to build on the work of gender budget initiatives.

Topics: Economies, Gender, Gender Budgeting, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Globalization

Year: 2003

Gender Budgeting

Citation:

Stotsky, Janet G. 2006.  “Gender Budgeting.” IMF Working Paper 06/232, International Monetary Fund, Washington DC. 

Author: Janet G. Stotsky

Abstract:

This IMF Working Paper by Janet G. Stotsky, October 2006 examines how public processes can contribute to improving women's status. 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.

This study attempts to show that gender budgeting is just good budgeting; budgeting that properly accounts for the positive externalities that are derived from improving women's opportunities for health care, education, and employment. Studies show that programs and policies designed to improve women's economic opportunities lead to higher rates of economic growth. (Abstract from UN Women)

Topics: Economies, Education, Gender, Gender Budgeting, Health

Year: 2006

Budgeting for Equality: The Australian Experience

Citation:

Sharp, Rhonda, and Ray Broomhill. 2002. “Budgeting for Equality: The Australian Experience." Feminist Economics 8 (1): 25-47.

Authors: Rhonda Sharp, Ray Broomhill

Abstract:

Gender budgets have now been introduced in varying forms in more than forty countries throughout the world. These exercises emerged out of feminist practical politics initially in Australia and later in a number of other countries. The idea of gender budgets gathered further momentum when the United Nations Beijing Platform for Action called for the integration of a gender perspective into budgetary decision-making. Most of these experiments share three core goals. They seek to: (1) mainstream gender issues within government policies; (2) promote greater accountability for governments’ commitment to gender equality; and (3) change budgets and policies. However, very little research has examined their success in achieving these goals. In discussing the lessons learnt from the Australian experience, this paper adopts a feminist political economy perspective on the state as an analytical starting point for discussing the future of gender budgets elsewhere in the world.

Keywords: Gender budgets, women's budgets, government expenditure, taxation, economic restructuring, gender mainstreaming

Topics: Economies, Gender, Gender Budgeting, Gender Mainstreaming Regions: Oceania Countries: Australia

Year: 2002

Accountability to Women in Development Spending: Experiments in Service-Delivery Audits at the Local Level

Citation:

Goetz, Anne Marie, and Robert Jenkins. 1999. "Accountability to Women in Development & Spending: Experiments in Service-Delivery Audits at the Local Level." Paper presented at the UNDP Conference on Gender, Poverty and Environment-Sensitive Budget Analysis, New York.

Authors: Anne Marie Goetz, Robert Jenkins

Abstract:

What matters to consumers of public services is local-level accountability. Local monitoring and auditing is the only way to ensure commitments on paper at the local and national level - particularly in areas of concern to women - are translated into practice. This paper shows how groups in India hold governments accountable for their spending and the delivery of public services. Gender-sensitive analysis and monitoring of this spending at the local level can give women the tools to campaign and lobby directly for money that should go to them and their families. Citizens can participate in monitoring spending in two key areas: decentralised local government budgets and large development programmes. These are the areas in which women and the poor most closely engage with public sector spending programmes. In India, some village assemblies have gained the power to examine annual budget statements and to audit reports. However, many challenges are still faced and women are often sidelined with the local administration, local politicians and many male citizens colluding in order to divert funds intended for women's benefit.

In Kerala details of workers and their wages plus costs of materials must be posted at the site of all public works. Noticeboards are installed at the headquarters of every ward with information about panchayat (local government institutions) spending. This new transparency revealed that women were being illegally paid less than men. Women are also given the job of monitoring those who are on the local "Below Poverty Line" lists for resource allocation in anti-poverty programmes. In Rajasthan, the MKSS (Mazdoor Kisan Shakthi Sangathan - the Workers' and Farmers' Power Association) made up of 60 per cent women, played a key role in the introduction of the Right to Information legislation in 2000. MKSS also instituted a public hearing method where accounts are read aloud to assembled villagers who are able to testify on the differences between budget and actual expenditure, exposing corruption.

Further findings from this paper include:

·         Local-level analysis and activity make it easier to identify the impact of spending patterns, to understand the use of resources at local government level, and to pick up on corruption and mis-spending of funds.

·         Elites who may have control over resources at local government level, can be more firmly patriarchal than at the national level.

·         The differences in men's and women's work and time use have implications for their ability to participate in monitoring activities.

·         Social norms dictate the extent to which women can claim allocations and speak out against corruption.

·         Despite the work in Kerala and good conditions for effective engagement of women in budgeting and auditing, local spending priorities have not been redefined from a gender perspective.

·         Effective citizen monitoring requires considerable resources, including finances to build technical skills for monitoring and auditing, and to build basic literacy.

Key recommendations made by the paper include the need for:

·         The institutionalisation of the rights of service users to set priorities and monitor spending through legislation which ensures public access to information.

·         Methods such as public hearings and "translation" of official information to suit the needs of those who are illiterate are needed to ensure that these rights are realised.

·         Revenue to provide for women's participation in auditing.

·         Technical training including collection and collation of information, verification of local accounts and skills needed to undertake consultations with beneficiaries as to whether spending plans adequately meet their needs.

·         An understanding of women's varied roles and how they constrain women's participation in auditing processes.

·         Ensuring that women are not sidelined in local assemblies, where elites continue to divert funds intended for women's use to other areas.

·         Capacity-building among civil society institutions, which is essential to encourage women to stand up in public hearings and to demand accountability. 

Topics: Economies, Poverty, Gender, Gender Budgeting Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 1999

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