## wpiea2021269-print-pdf ## Source details **Canonical URL:** [wpiea2021269-print-pdf](https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/wp/2021/english/wpiea2021269-print-pdf.pdf) ## Other formats - [Markdown version](/-/media/files/publications/wp/2021/english/wpiea2021269-print-pdf.pdf.md) - [Structured JSON version](/-/media/files/publications/wp/2021/english/wpiea2021269-print-pdf.pdf.json) --- ### Key Findings and Trends - Persistent gender gaps despite progress since the Beijing Declaration: - Women’s labor participation rate on average still remains below that of men. - Women are significantly over-represented in the total number of hours spent on unpaid work. - The average gender pay gap has narrowed but remains substantial. - Women’s managerial leadership remains below 50 percent in all G20 countries. - The 2021 World Economic Forum Gender Gap report projection: "at the present pace it will take another 267 years to close the gender gap for economic empowerment." - COVID-19 exacerbated existing gender inequalities and increased calls to tailor pandemic and recovery policies to address augmented challenges women face. - Gender budgeting (GB) framing: - Recognizes that government budgets impact men and women differently. - Uses fiscal policies and public financial management (PFM) tools to promote gender equality. - Encompasses analysis of fiscal policies and budgetary decisions to understand intended and unintended gender impacts. - International frameworks referenced: - 1995 Beijing Platform for Action. - 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG indicator 5.c.1). - 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda. - 2020 G20-Women call for greater investment in GB for COVID-19 recovery. ### Gender-Responsive Fiscal Policies in G20 Countries (summary) - Expenditure and regulatory measures (selected exact country lists preserved where provided): - Policies to provide financial support for low-income women: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States. - Policies to promote women’s education: Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Austria. - Policies against stereotypes (STEM; managerial positions): Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Spain, Austria. - Policies to promote women’s specific health needs: All G20 survey. - Childcare support: All G20 survey, except US and China (not answered). - Paid parental leave (mother): All G20 survey, except US (not answered). - Paid parental leave (father): All G20 survey, except India, Indonesia, US (not answered). - Gender-related pension reforms: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, United States, Spain, Austria. - Policies to counter domestic violence: All G20 survey (China not answered). - Gender-responsive foreign aid and cooperation: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, United States, Austria, others through EU cooperation. - Tax policy highlights: - Individual taxation or incentives for the second earner: Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, S. Korea, Turkey, UK, Austria, Spain. - Tax relief for single parents: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, S. Korea, USA, Austria, Spain. - Gender-targeted in-work tax credits: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Spain. - Labor market and workplace policies: - Most countries promote part-time work, childcare support, and paid parental leave for both parents. - Childcare cost example: bottom quartile families in the US spend 17.4 percent of their income on childcare versus 7.8 percent for the top quartile (Herbst 2015). - Equal pay legislation present in multiple countries. - Public sector managerial/board quotas: Australia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Austria. - Private sector board quotas: France, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Austria. ### IMF Gender Budgeting Framework and Gender Budgeting Index (GBI) - IMF approach: - Holistic integration of a gender perspective across each phase of the budget cycle: policy design, budget preparation, execution/monitoring, audit/oversight. - Emphasizes sequenced, country-tailored implementation and integration of GB PFM tools into existing systems. - Survey and database: - Survey structure: 38 questions in 5 blocks. - Government officials from all G20 countries plus Spain and Austria completed the survey. - FAD database currently includes 93 countries; most information reflects national practices during 2019 and in a few cases in 2020. - GBI construction and bands: - 23 key questions related to 12 PFM instruments scored 0-3; overall country GBI is the unweighted average of the 23 questions. - Index categories: high (between 1.47 and 2.25), medium (0.75 and 1.46) and low (0.03 and 0.74). - Highest country average GBI score is 2.24 and lowest is 0.03; GBI values can range from 0 to 3. - For federal states (Germany and United States), the GBI does not capture subnational GB policies. - Selected exact averages from Table 2 (G20+ / Austria + Spain / Advanced G20 / Emerging G20): - 1. GB Framework: 1.52 / 1.88 / 1.13 - Legal Framework on GRB: 1.05 / 1.27 / 0.80 - Institutional framework: 1.87 / 2.06 / 1.67 - Fiscal data disaggregated by gender: 1.65 / 2.30 / 0.93 - 2. GB Preparation Approval: 1.32 / 1.53 / 1.08 - Gender statements: 1.14 / 1.64 / 0.60 - Ex-ante gender impact assessment to assess the impact of proposed policies on gender equality: 0.89 / 1.64 / 0.07 - Budget circular containing specific guidelines on gender objectives: 1.52 / 1.64 / 1.40 - Linking gender goals to programs and performance indicators: 1.87 / 1.76 / 2.00 - Budget classification incorporates a gender perspective: 1.17 / 1.00 / 1.35 - 3. GB Execution, Reporting & Monitoring: 0.48 / 0.66 / 0.28 - Budget execution reports incorporate gender perspective: 0.31 / 0.36 / 0.25 - Ex-post gender impact assessments to assess the impact of policies on gender goals: 0.64 / 0.95 / 0.30 ### Main GBI and Audit Findings - Overall pattern: - GB practices stronger in institutional framework and budget preparation; weaker in execution, reporting and audit. - Highest scores: institutional framework and use of performance indicators. - Lowest scores: budget execution reports, ex-post GIAs, and audit/external oversight. - Audit and parliamentary oversight scores (selected figures preserved exactly): - Gender related audits: 0.43 0.45 0.40 - Parliamentary oversight: 1.52 1.82 1.20 - Total GBI: 1.17 1.41 0.91 - Additional row values: 0.98 1.14 0.80 - Correlations (selected exact pairwise values from Appendix 5): - LEGAL with INSTITUTIONAL: 0.60 - LEGAL with DATA: 0.02 - LEGAL with GENDER STATEMENTS: 0.75 - LEGAL with BUDGET CIRCULAR: 0.80 - INSTITUTIONAL with DATA: 0.15 - INSTITUTIONAL with LINKING GOALS & PROGRAMS: 0.64 - DATA with EX-ANTE GIA: 0.51 - EX-ANTE GIA with PARLIAMENTS: 0.55 - CLASSIFICATION with EXECUTION: 0.31 - AUDITS with PARLIAMENTS: 0.35 - PARLIAMENTS with DATA: 0.47 ### Cross-country adoption patterns and implementation challenges - Adoption heterogeneity: - Some countries have comprehensive legal/institutional GB integration; others adopt key instruments with ongoing implementation; a group applies GB tools ad-hoc and limitedly. - Subnational GB activity (e.g., US, Germany, China) may be beyond the federal-level survey scope. - Technical and PFM hurdles (survey-identified): - Lack of guidance, coordination and expertise. - Insufficiently disaggregated data and low quality of GIAs. - Difficulty developing meaningful targets and performance indicators. - Inability to track gender-sensitive policies across execution due to lack of budget classifications or FMIS markers. - Absence of operational MTBFs and poor definition/transmission of annual priorities. - G20-specific concerns: - Nearly 60 percent of G20 countries concerned about the quality of GIAs. - Nearly 50 percent identify lack of clear instructions on incorporating gender considerations into the annual budget as a top challenge. - More than half indicate guidelines for GB do not currently exist. - 40 percent of other countries and a quarter of G20 countries indicate no specific coordinating entity for gender issues during budget preparation. ### Success Factors and Reported Benefits - Universally identified drivers: - Political support. - Binding legislative requirements. - Active support of Ministries of Finance (MOFs). - Survey statistics and findings: - Political support identified as most important; more than 50 percent of responses cite this as a key success factor. - Binding legislative requirements come in second. - In 40 percent of G20 countries and more than half of non-G20 countries, the MOF has primary responsibility for GB reform. - Reported benefits: increased awareness of budget impacts on gender, better-informed policy choices, sharper focus on gender equality goals. - More than a quarter of G20 countries have altered rules and regulations due to GB implementation. - More than a third of advanced countries increased analysis of gender issues as a result of GB. ### IMF Recommendations and Sequencing of GB Reforms - Reinforce PFM foundations to support GB practices: - Strong PFM systems are needed; GB PFM gaps correlate with PFM foundational gaps. - Synchronize GB reforms with broader PFM reforms; sequencing is typically preferable to "big-bang" rollouts. - Priority actions in budget preparation: - Strengthen link between gender needs analyses, gender strategies and available resources. - Improve coordination between Finance and Women ministries on GB tool implementation. - Integrate GB into budget circulars and medium-term frameworks. - Improve execution, monitoring and ex-post evaluation: - Ensure gender-sensitive programs/line items can be identified and tracked in FMIS or via markers. - Develop and use performance indicators to track outcomes. - Develop granular ex-post analysis to inform redesign and accountability. - Proposed sequencing (Appendix 7 — staged approach): - First stage: establish legal/institutional frameworks; ensure basic gender-disaggregated statistics; align gender goals with programs; produce GB guidelines; capture gender programs in in-year and annual reports. - Second stage: expand statistics and pilot ex-ante GIAs; develop common GIA methodology; extend performance indicators and markers; publish an annual gender performance report. - Third stage: expand gender statistics across sectors and tax statistics by gender; roll out ex-ante GIA across all ministries; embed gender classifiers in MTBFs; conduct ex-post GIAs and audits and feed findings into budget preparation. ### Country Practice Highlights (selected examples) - Austria: - Constitution requires GB at all levels; ex-ante impact assessments mandatory for new/amended laws and major contracts. - Gender disaggregated data and Court of Audit gender analyses; ministries set medium-term gender outcome objectives. - Canada: - GBA+ ex-ante methodology; Gender Statement accompanying Budget; Gender Budgeting Act 2018 enacted. - France: - Gender Budget Statement assesses fiscal policies from a gender perspective; 2020 budget circular requires gender dimension in performance indicators. - Mexico: - Law requires gender perspective in National Development Plan and budget; cross-cutting annex in annual budget decree; in-year and end-year reporting and ex-post GIA practices present. - Spain: - Organic Law 3/2007 requires gender impact assessments for draft regulations; annual Draft Budget Law accompanied by a ‘Gender Impact Report’ functioning as a Gender Budget Statement; Ministry of Finance Order 669/2021 strengthens reporting structure. ### Stylized Gender Equality Statistics (selected exact figures) - Decision Making: - As of 2019, women represent on average 25% of members of parliaments in G20 countries. - Labor Inclusion: - In 18 of the G20 countries, women earn 15% less than men. - Globally, 55% of women (aged 15-64) are engaged in the labor market versus 78% of men. - Financial Inclusion: - On average, 22% of women in the G20 countries lack access to formal bank accounts. *Source: IMF staff (wpiea2021269-print-pdf).* ### REFERENCES ____________________________________________________________________________________ 33 ### REFERENCES ### Boxes and Figures Inventory - Boxes: - 1. The IMF Survey of National GB practices - 2. Summary of Advanced GB PFM Practices and Tools in G20 Countries - Figures: - 1. Women’s Labor Force Participation Rate - 2. Proportion of Time Spent on Unpaid Work - 3. Gender Pay Gap - 4. Women’s managerial leadership - 5. Selected Instruments that Can Work Together to Promote Gender Equality - 6. A Holistic Approach to GB throughout the Budget Cycle - 7. G20 Gender Budgeting Index (GBI) Scores by Countries - 8.1. PFM Tools Used to Support GB - 8.2. Relative Strengths and Weaknesses of GB Tools Comparing G20 to Other Countries - 9. PFM Tools to Support Gender Budgeting GBI Scores by Income Group and Region - 10. Major Challenges Encountered in Successfully Implementing Gender Budgeting - 11. Most Important Factors that Explain the Successful Implementation of GB - 12. Impact of Gender Budgeting on Gender Equality - 13. Proposed Sequencing of GB Implementation ### Tables and Appendices Inventory - Tables: - 1. Gender-Related Fiscal Policies Implemented by G20 Countries - 2. Average GBI Indexes for the G20+ and by Income Group - 3. Heat Map: Level of GB Practices in G20 Countries across the GB Cycle - Appendices: - 1. Stylized Data on Gender Equality Gaps in G20 Countries - 2. Gender Budgeting PFM Tools embedded within the Budget Cycle - 3. Illustrative Example of Specific Gender Budgeting PFM Tools in Action - 4. Questionnaire Used to Assess Gender Budgeting in G20 Countries and Gender Index - 5. Table of Correlations Between GBI Components - 6. Methodology for the Gender Budgeting Index - 7. A possible Sequencing of GB Reforms - 8. Q9: Legal provision for Gender Budgeting in G20 Countries - 9. Gender Budgeting Practices in G20 and Selected Countries ### Key Findings and Trends (Introduction and Section II) - Persistent gender gaps despite progress since the Beijing Declaration: - Women’s labor participation rate on average still remains below that of men. - Women are significantly over-represented in the total number of hours spent on unpaid work. - The average gender pay gap has narrowed but remains substantial. - Women’s managerial leadership remains below 50 percent in all G20 countries. - The 2021 World Economic Forum Gender Gap report: at the present pace it will take another 267 years to close the gender gap for economic empowerment. - COVID-19 has exacerbated existing gender inequalities and increased calls to tailor pandemic and recovery policies to address augmented challenges women face. - Gender budgeting (GB): - Recognizes that government budgets impact men and women differently. - Uses fiscal policies and public financial management (PFM) tools to promote gender equality (Stotsky 2016). - Is not limited to funding explicit gender equality initiatives but includes analyzing fiscal policies and budgetary decisions to understand intended and unintended gender impacts. - International frameworks referenced: - 1995 Beijing Platform for Action: called for integrating a gender perspective into government budget processes. - 2015 Sustainable Development Goals: called for resources and tools to track budget allocations for gender equality (SDG indicator 5.c.1). - 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda: recognized tracking resource allocations for gender equality and strengthening capacity for GB. - 2020 G20-Women call: greater investment in GB to ensure fiscal policies advance gender equality in COVID-19 recovery. ### Role of GB and Determinants of Success - GB helps operationalize fiscal policies that promote gender equality and drives more informed decisions by incorporating a gender lens throughout the budget cycle. - Success factors influencing GB impact: - Political support for gender equality. - Consistency of GB reforms. - Cultural attitudes and social norms. - Formal and informal mechanisms are interconnected; shifting cultural and societal norms is critical alongside government policy to achieve sustainable gender equality. ### Gender-Responsive Fiscal Policies in G20 Countries (Summary of Table 1) - General observations: - Expenditure policies to improve women’s labor participation, health, and education are common across G20 countries. - Majority of countries encourage women’s participation in STEM fields. - Most countries provide financial support for low-income women and single-parent households. - Many countries have adjusted pension systems to account for contribution gaps from childcare-related workplace absences. - All G20 donors except one incorporate gender equality considerations into foreign cooperation and aid programs (per the survey). - Tax policies: - Majority of G20 countries have individual taxation or tax incentives to correct labor supply distortions from joint family taxation. - Tax relief for single parents has been adopted by around half of the countries. - Gender-targeted in-work credits or incentives are reported by few countries (examples: Spain). - Labor market and workplace policies: - Most countries promote part-time work, childcare support, and paid parental leave for both parents. - Childcare cost burden example: in the US, families in the bottom quartile spend 17.4 percent of their income on childcare compared to 7.8 percent for the top quartile (Herbst 2015). - Most countries have equal pay legislation. - Nine countries have set quotas for women’s inclusion in public sector managerial and board positions. - Six countries have quotas for women on private sector boards. ### Detailed Listing from Table 1 (Tax and Expenditure/Regulatory Policies) - 1. Tax Policies (Countries G20 surveyed) - Tax based on individuals or incentives for the second earner (as opposed to tax based on family or joint taxation): - Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, S. Korea, Turkey, UK, Austria, Spain. - Tax relief for single parents or other family situations: - Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, S. Korea, USA, Austria, Spain. - Gender targeted in-work tax credits or benefits: - Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Spain. - 2. Expenditure and regulatory policies - Public sector gender quotas in managerial/board positions: - Australia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Austria. - Private sector gender quotas in managerial/board positions: - France, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Austria. - Equal pay legislation: - Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, S. Korea, Turkey, UK, Austria. - Policies to encourage female labor participation: - All G20 survey - Policies to promote part-time work (women and men): - Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Spain. ### Structure of the Paper (Sections Overview) - Section II: Trends in gender equality and G20 gender responsive fiscal policies. - Section III: Brief history of GB approaches and the holistic IMF GB framework. - Section IV: Examination of G20 countries’ GB PFM practices and benchmarking using a Gender Budget Index (GBI). - Section V: Comparison of G20 GB practices with those of other countries. - Section VI: Challenges and key success factors in implementing GB. - Section VII: Opportunities to improve GB implementation. - Final section: Conclusions. *Source: wpiea2021269-print-pdf - REFERENCES ____________________________________________________________________________________ 33* ### 2. Expenditure and regulatory policies ### 2. Expenditure and regulatory policies ### Cross-country expenditure and regulatory measures (surveyed items) - Policies to provide financial support for low-income women: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States. - Policies to promote women’s education: Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Austria. - Policies against stereotypes (i.e. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics; managerial positions)): Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Spain, Austria. - Policies to promote women’s specific health needs: All G20 survey. - Childcare support: All G20 survey, except US and China (not answered). - Paid parental leave (mother): All G20 survey, except US (not answered). - Paid parental leave (father): All G20 survey, except India, Indonesia, US (not answered). - Gender-related pension reforms (e.g. pensions incorporating non-contributed periods): Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, United States, Spain, Austria. - Policies to counter domestic violence: All G20 survey (China not answered). - Gender-responsive foreign aid and cooperation: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, United States, Austria, others through EU cooperation. - Sources for these policy inventories: IMF Staff and IMF Survey 2017 and 2019. ### Evolution and trends in Gender Budgeting (GB) - Origin and diffusion: - First introduced in the 1980s by the Australian Government; subsequently adopted in Canada, South Africa, and other Commonwealth countries with Commonwealth Secretariat support. - Impetus increased with the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action. - In 2002, at least 40 countries had some form of GB (Budlender 2002); by 2017 this number doubled to 80. - The number of OECD countries implementing GB increased from 12 in 2016 to 17 in 2018. - Conceptual shift: - Moved from focusing mainly on allocations to “women’s issues” toward bringing a gender perspective to all government policy, planning and budgeting. - GB focuses on understanding impacts of public expenditure and revenue policies on women and girls compared to men and boys and whether they reduce, increase or leave unchanged gender equality. - GB is not a new parallel budgeting system but integrates additional tools into existing budget systems. - Heterogeneity and evolution: - No single model; initiatives vary by origin, scope, objectives, institutional arrangements, entry points, legal basis, analytical tools and players. - Application waxes and wanes over time; examples of fading systemic application in early reformers (Australia and South Africa). - Application is not related to a country’s level of development; strong donor and international organization support (e.g., UN Women) has promoted GB in developing and emerging economies. - Ministry of Finance (MOF) plays a critical role; historically GB often confined to ministries of women with limited influence, but awareness of MOF’s key role has grown. - GB increases transparency on gender equality policy design and monitoring and supports citizen engagement; parliamentary commissions and civil society involvement amplify attention to gender issues. - Growing consensus on integrated GB approach incorporating a gender perspective across the whole budget cycle; many countries still apply GB tools ad hoc or only to parts of the budget cycle, limiting insight into execution and outcomes. ### The IMF GB approach, survey and database - IMF approach: - Encourages holistic integration of a gender perspective across each phase of the budget cycle through gender-responsive fiscal policies and gender-specific PFM practices. - Focuses on integrating GB PFM tools and practices across policy design, budget preparation, execution, monitoring, and evaluation; emphasizes lessons learned feeding into new policy cycles. - Recommends a sequenced approach to prioritize reform actions; further guidance on sequencing provided elsewhere (Appendix 7 referenced). - Survey and database: - IMF developed a survey based on the framework to capture governments’ GB practices. - Survey structure: 38 questions structured in 5 blocks (1. Gender policies and fiscal policies, 2. Legal and institutional framework, 3. Budget preparation, 4. Budget execution monitoring and audit, 5. Benefits, challenges and impact). - Survey captures existence and aspects of quality of PFM tools; respondents sometimes provided links to documents for verification. - Government officials in all G20 countries plus Spain (permanent G20 guest) and Austria (G20 guest) completed the online multiple-choice survey. - Beyond G20, survey gathers data on GB practices from 72 other countries. - FAD database of GB practices currently includes 93 countries; most information reflects national practices during 2019 and in a few cases in 2020. - The database supports IMF capacity development (CD) activities and benchmarking against regional or income comparators. ### IMF Gender Budgeting Framework and assessment metrics - Framework: - Four main pillars across the budget cycle (policy design, budget preparation, execution/monitoring, audit/oversight) with gender-specific PFM tools for each phase. - Key features and tool descriptions provided in Appendix 2; application example in Appendix 3. - Gender Budgeting Index (GBI): - Constructed from survey data by assigning a score (from zero to three) to 23 key questions related to 12 PFM instruments across the budget cycle. - Overall country GBI is the unweighted average of the 23 questions. - Index categories: high (between 1.47 and 2.25), medium (0.75 and 1.46) and low (0.03 and 0.74). - Highest country average GBI score is 2.24 and lowest is 0.03 (for the group of countries studied); GBI values can range from 0 to 3. - Note: For federal states (Germany and United States), the GBI does not capture GB policies at lower levels of public administration. - Survey coverage summary: - For the purpose of the paper, 19 G20 countries, plus Spain and Austria were studied (the European Union is also a member of the G20). ### Key findings from GBI and G20 benchmarking - Overall pattern across G20: - GB practices are significantly better for developing a GB institutional framework and integrating a gender perspective into budget preparation than in budget execution and auditing. - Highest scores appear in institutional framework and use of performance indicators. - Low scores in budget execution (execution reports and ex-post gender impact assessments) and in audit and external oversight (mainly the latter). - Advanced economies (AEs) vs Emerging markets (EMEs) in G20: - The average for advanced economies in the G20 is higher than for emerging markets in the overall index, with significant intra-group differences. - Largest differences found in ex-ante gender impact assessment and statistics where AEs perform higher. - EMEs are stronger in performance indicators and budget classification. - Within AEs, Canada, France, Austria and Spain exhibit significantly better averages than other advanced economies. - Within EMEs, Mexico’s average is notably higher than other emerging countries. - Table 2: Average GBI Indexes for the G20+ and by Income Group (Rank 0-3) — averages presented exactly as in source: - G20 + / Austria + Spain / Advanced G20 / Emerging G20 - 1. GB Framework: 1.52 / 1.88 / 1.13 - Legal Framework on GRB: 1.05 / 1.27 / 0.80 - Institutional framework: 1.87 / 2.06 / 1.67 - Fiscal data disaggregated by gender: 1.65 / 2.30 / 0.93 - 2. GB Preparation Approval: 1.32 / 1.53 / 1.08 - Gender statements: 1.14 / 1.64 / 0.60 - Ex-ante gender impact assessment to assess the impact of proposed policies on gender equality: 0.89 / 1.64 / 0.07 - Budget circular containing specific guidelines on gender objectives: 1.52 / 1.64 / 1.40 - Linking gender goals to programs and performance indicators: 1.87 / 1.76 / 2.00 - Budget classification incorporates a gender perspective: 1.17 / 1.00 / 1.35 - 3. GB Execution, Reporting & Monitoring: 0.48 / 0.66 / 0.28 - Budget execution reports incorporate gender perspective: 0.31 / 0.36 / 0.25 - Ex-post gender impact assessments to assess the impact of policies on gender goals: 0.64 / 0.95 / 0.30 *Source: IMF staff and IMF Survey (as presented in chapter "2. Expenditure and regulatory policies" of the referenced IMF content).* ### 4. GB Audits & External Oversight ### 4. GB Audits & External Oversight ### Audit and parliamentary oversight scores (selected figures) - Gender related audits: 0.43 0.45 0.40 - Parliamentary oversight: 1.52 1.82 1.20 - Total GBI: 1.17 1.41 0.91 - Additional row values: 0.98 1.14 0.80 - Source: IMF survey and IMF staff. ### Cross-country adoption and implementation patterns - Countries are at different stages of adopting GB and have a range of approaches suggesting there is no linear path for implementation. - Some countries have formally integrated GB into legal and institutional settings and throughout almost all facets of their budget cycle. - In other countries, key instruments have been adopted and implementation plans are ongoing, reflecting relatively good or substantial levels of practice even though a comprehensive GB framework is not yet in place. - In another group of countries, the adoption of GB tools in the budget cycle has been ad-hoc and more limited. - GB initiatives in the US, Germany and China are implemented at the subnational level, which is beyond the scope of the survey; GBI scores only capture the federal level. - Convergence towards best performers has proved to be a gradual process involving mobilizing key stakeholders, adapting existing budget tools and developing new ones. ### Correlations across GBI components — main findings - The analysis of correlations between the GBI elements sheds light on possible inter-linkages of GB tools and enablers; Appendix 5 shows correlation coefficients for 21 countries with correlations higher than 0.4 highlighted. - Key findings: - The legal and institutional framework seems a probable enabler. This is valid for upstream GB (budget call circulars and gender statements), but also for incorporation of gender goals into the budget classification and development of linkages between gender goals and performance indicators. - Some upstream budget activities (budget preparation) appear significantly correlated. This is the case of gender budget statements, budget circulars and ex-ante GIAs, possibly due to complementarities between these tools. - The availability of gender-disaggregated statistics can foster gender impact assessments (GIAs) and is positively correlated with parliamentary oversight. The existence of these statistics does not appear to bear any clear relation with ex-post GIAs. - The overall correlation of budget execution and auditing tools with other components of the GBI tends to be weak, possibly because downstream tool use may be constrained by factors not captured by the GBI (e.g., inability to track gender expenditure through information systems, quality issues in performance indicator design, or overall weakness with the budget execution system). ### Pillar 1 — Gender Budgeting Framework: Legal and Institutional Framework - Over half of G20 countries have formalized GB requirements within a comprehensive framework. - Framework elements include laws, lower-ranking regulations, directives and methodologies delivering detailed instructions and technical guidance. - In a majority of countries integrating GB requirements into legal and technical frameworks has been a relatively recent phenomenon (over the last decade). - Example: Canada had GB tools introduced in mid 1990s but enacted in legislation in the 2018 Gender Budgeting Act. - Less than half of G20 countries have GB requirements enshrined in the constitution or high-ranking laws. - Only Austria has a GB requirement in their constitution which is advanced practice. - Eight other countries use high-ranking laws. - Other countries use annual budget laws or other regulation with a more ad-hoc character. - Institutional responsibility for leading GB reforms involves the Prime Minister’s Office or the MOF in the majority of countries. - In 40 percent of countries, the MOF is responsible for ensuring integration of GB practices into PFM legislation and processes. - The collection of gender-disaggregated statistics has become widespread among G20 countries, but they are not fully integrated into budget processes. - Practically all countries which compile gender-disaggregated statistics also publish them. - Australia reported using them "very frequently" to inform budget decisions and gender analysis; Canada reported using them "frequently" in decision making. ### Pillar 2 — Gender Budgeting: Budget Preparation - Nearly all countries have gender equality goals most often incorporated into medium-term strategic plans. - Linking gender goals to program objectives and assessing fiscal impact within a medium-term budget framework is advanced practice but not frequently applied. - Only three countries (Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey) reported applying this approach. - Six countries (Argentina, Brazil, France, Indonesia, Japan and Mexico) link gender equality goals to programs with costings done on an annual basis. - In eight G20 countries plus Austria, gender goals exist but are not linked to programs or costed. - More than half of governments have performance measures to monitor progress on gender goals, but only six countries perform at the advanced practice level of government-wide program performance assessment. - Examples: Argentina, Germany, Italy and UK report on performance of gender policies but no targets are set during budget preparation; in Indonesia only a few ministries have performance targets; in the US some agencies or program offices set their own gender targets. - Only one third of G20 countries produce and publish an annual gender budget statement. - Eight respondents reported producing and publishing a gender statement: Canada, France, India, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Austria and Spain. - Only half of G20 governments have guidelines in budget circulars for GB during budget preparation. - Ten countries incorporate GB guidance into MOF budget circulars. - Budget call circulars do not contain any methodology for conducting GIA in any G20 country. - In India and South Africa, budget circulars instruct on allocating resources to specific gender initiatives. In Italy there is a specific gender circular. - Ex-ante GIAs are actively deployed in five countries. - Canada, France and UK plus Austria and Spain conduct ex-ante GIA for all or most new policy initiatives. - Australia, Japan and South Korea do so for some proposals. - The Canadian GBA+ methodology is an example of multi-dimensional ex-ante GIA. - Relatively few G20 countries have an agreed and consistent GIA methodology. - A common methodology is in place in five countries: Austria, Canada, France, South Korea and Spain. - Quality assurance is conducted by MOFs, ministries of Women or both; gender-specialized units in line ministries perform first validation in some countries. - A majority of G20 countries have integrated gender policies into their budget program structures to enable tracking. - One third of countries follow advanced practice incorporating gender into program classification. - Nine countries lack a programmatic structure in the budget. - Specific gender classifiers and markers are used in eight countries. - Examples: Canada tags programs to pillars of the Gender Results Framework; Italy uses a three-digit coding 0, 1 and 2 to denote gender-neutrality, gender-sensitivity and expenditures aimed at reducing gender inequality; Argentina tags gender-sensitive programs with the acronym PPG. ### Pillar 3 — Gender Budgeting: Budget Execution, Reporting and Monitoring - Gender information is rarely included in in-year execution reports or in annual financial reports. - In-year budget execution reports that monitor progress against gender goals are produced only by two countries: Italy and Mexico. - Only Canada, Mexico and South Korea report annual performance against gender goals. - Other countries publish annual reports on gender policy actions by sector or clusters of objectives. - Ex-post GIAs are performed by a handful of countries but are rarely used to improve gender policy design. - Seven countries reported conducting ex-post GIA: Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and South Korea, plus Austria. - Only in France is ex-post GIA used frequently, for gender gap analysis and occasionally as input into design of new gender goals or amendments to existing policies. ### Pillar 4 — Gender Budgeting: Audit and Oversight - Oversight of gender equality objectives by legislative bodies is present in half of the G20 countries but several have deficits in this area. - Legislatures publish reports on gender equality issues, review information on gender equality goals and performance targets, and conduct hearings on gender equality issues. - Gender Committees are active in nine countries (e.g., Canada, Austria). - In Argentina, parliamentarians have received training to better assess the gender perspective in legislative and budgetary discussions. - In Australia, the legislature can ask the Parliamentary Budget Office to produce a costing that reveals the gender impact of particular government policies. *Source: IMF survey and IMF staff.* ### Box 2. Summary of Advanced GB PFM Practices and Tools in G20 Countries ### Box 2. Summary of Advanced GB PFM Practices and Tools in G20 Countries ### Country practices (selected G20 examples) - Austria - Constitution requires that all levels of government undertake GB. - New or amended laws and regulations, and major investment or procurement contracts, must include a mandatory ex-ante impact assessment on gender equality. - GB guidelines are complemented by an annual budget circular with details and instructions. - Government publishes a gender statement and reports achievements against gender equality outcomes. - The Austrian Court of Audit analyzes the impact of budget programs and tax and sectoral policies on gender. - Canada - Integrated forward-looking GB PFM tools into the budget preparation stage. - Ex-ante GIA (GBA+) is applied to assess potential impact of policies based on gender and other identity factors. - Gender Statement accompanying the Budget outlines main gender gaps and progress towards equality objectives. - France - Gender Budget Statement assesses fiscal policies and the budget from a gender perspective and presents programs that contribute to gender equality with their budgets and contains some performance indicators. - 2020 budget circular instructs all ministries to integrate a gender dimension when defining or revising the performance indicators annexed to the Budget Law. - Japan - Council for Gender Equality in the Cabinet Office, headed by the Prime Minister, leads and promotes the gender equality agenda. - Since 2015, the government prepares the Intensive Policy to Accelerate the Empowerment of Women annually to incorporate a gender perspective into budget requests. - South Korea - The Gender Impact Analysis Assessment (GIAA) law requires a GIA assessment for policies which influence the rights, interests and social participation of women. - Ministries must prepare and submit to the National Assembly a gender budget statement and balance sheet showing information on budget allocation, execution, performance evaluation and management. - Ministry of Strategy and Finance issues budget guidelines requiring ministries to report gender equality goals for budget allocation discussions. - Mexico - By law the National Development Plan must be formulated with a cross-cutting gender perspective. - Federal Budget and the Financial Responsibility Law provide guidelines on incorporating gender-oriented considerations into the budget and stipulate that resources assigned to budget programs and investments earmarked for addressing equality between women and men cannot be removed or diminished. - Gender perspective incorporated into program structure and gender-related indicators into the performance evaluation system with in-year and end-year reporting. - Spain - Law on Equality for Men and Women requires the government to prepare a gender budget statement and a gender impact assessment for each new policy proposal, together with an assessment of the policy’s economic and budgetary impact. - Congress and the Senate have established a Commission on Equality. ### Role of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) - External scrutiny of gender activities is critical for detecting design and implementation gaps. - Austria: SAI published 55 audit reports in the last three years on tax and sectoral expenditure policies, as well as individual programs. - Mexico, UK and India: scope of audits is somewhat narrower and focuses on the expenditure side of the budget. - Audit activities have been initiated more recently in these other countries; e.g., UK National Audit Office produced for the first time in 2018 a report on the gender pay gap. ### Comparing G20 with other countries: survey coverage and aggregate measures - Survey composition and counts: - The survey is composed of 93 countries, of which 19 are G20 plus Spain and Austria. - The total survey includes 12 advanced economies, 47 emerging market economies and 34 Low Income Developing Countries. - Beyond the G20, Spain and Austria, the survey gathered data on GB PFM practices from 72 other countries around the world. - Average measures and findings: - Average GBI score of countries outside of the G20 is 0.88. - No country outside the G20 has yet reached an overall advanced level of practice (average GBI score higher than 2.5), though some individual tools rank at the advanced level. - Trends in strengths and weaknesses for non-G20 countries broadly mirror those of G20 countries: relative strengths in GB supporting framework (institutional and gender disaggregated data), select elements of budget preparation (budget circulars, linking goals to programs and indicators) and parliamentary oversight; typical weaknesses in budget execution reports, gender audits and ex-post and ex-ante GIA. - Average GBI Score sequence (as presented in source) - 1.05 - 1.87 - 1.65 - 1.14 - 0.89 - 1.52 - 1.87 - 1.17 - 0.31 - 0.64 - 0.43 - 1.52 - 1.17 - 0.90 - 1.24 - 1.46 - 0.62 - 0.43 - 1.25 - 1.82 - 0.72 - 0.50 - 0.21 - 0.27 - 1.19 - 0.88 ### Relative strengths and gaps (selected contrasts) - Scores of non-G20 countries are most significantly lower than G20 countries in ex-post and ex-ante GIA and gender budget statements; G20 countries on average score at least more than double that of other countries in these practices. - Integration of gender into budget execution reports: countries outside of the G20 score on average higher than G20 countries but still at basic practice level. - Income level and GB implementation: - Strong performance in GB implementation does not appear heavily dependent on income level or development. - Donor contribution is particularly noticeable in Low Income Countries (LICs), supporting utilization of certain tools in LICs. - LICs outscore emerging market economies surveyed across all GB PFM practices with one exception (parliamentary oversight). - LICs are on par, or even outscore, advanced economies in areas including linking gender goals to programs and performance indicators and budget execution reports. ### Implementation challenges (major technical and PFM hurdles) - Survey-identified technical challenges (shared across G20 and non-G20): - Lack of guidance, coordination and expertise. - Insufficiently disaggregated data and low quality of GIAs. - These technical challenges weigh more heavily than lack of political support. - G20-specific concerns: - Nearly 60 percent of G20 countries are concerned about the quality of GIAs. - Nearly 50 percent of G20 countries identify lack of clear instructions on how to incorporate gender considerations into the annual budget as a top challenge. - More than half of G20 countries indicate that guidelines for GB do not currently exist. - 40 percent of other countries surveyed and a quarter of G20 countries indicate that there is no specific entity that coordinates gender issues during budget preparation. - IMF capacity development findings: two main challenge types - Institutional and technical requirements: - Line ministries often lack expertise to undertake diagnostics of gender gaps, design measures, and assess financing needs. - Difficulty developing meaningful targets and performance indicators. - Inability to track gender-sensitive policies over the implementation cycle due to lack of budget classifications or failure to incorporate gender classifiers in FMIS. - When MOFs are not fully involved, results include lack of coordination, lack of GB instructions and weak accountability. - Shortcomings in PFM: - Absence of an operational medium-term budget framework (MTBF). - Poor definition of annual budget priorities and/or deficient transmission to line ministries. - Low capacity to cost policies and monitor execution, or lack of a performance-based framework. - Good PFM practices can enhance GB; synergies observed between PFM reforms and GB mainstreaming (e.g., Austria). ### Success factors for implementing Gender Budgeting - Universally identified key drivers: - Political support. - Binding legislative requirements. - Active support of Ministries of Finance (MOFs). - Survey contrasts: - G20 countries consider clear gender equality goals linked to programs and securing support/engagement of line ministries as more important success factors than other countries. - G20 countries do not view international community support or increased funding as particularly central to GB success, while other countries do. - Specific statistics and findings: - Political support for gender equality identified as the most important factor; more than 50 percent of all responses identify this as a key success factor. - Having binding legislative requirements to implement GB comes in as a close second. - In 40 percent of G20 countries and more than half of non-G20 countries, the MOF is the institution with primary responsibility for GB reform. - Reported benefits from GB implementation: - Increased awareness of intended and unintended impact of the budget on gender equality. - Better informed policy choices and sharper focus on attaining gender equality goals. - More than a quarter of G20 countries have reportedly altered rules and regulations as a result of GB implementation. - More than a third of advanced countries have increased their analysis of gender issues as a result of GB implementation. - Evidence caveat: - Evidence connecting GB tools to measurable changes in gender equality outcomes is scarce, and directly attributing progress to GB is challenging due to many other influencing factors (including societal attitudes and behaviors). - A recent review highlights the need for countries to evaluate outcomes of GB reforms in a timely manner. ### Opportunities and way forward (selected opportunity) - Opportunity 1 (as identified in the source): - Focus fiscal policies on areas where gender gaps persist. - GB PFM tools can support designing and re-designing fiscal policies to better address persistent gender gaps. - GIAs help understand the gender impact of current and alternative policies. - Tracking and reporting spending and performance helps evaluate effectiveness. - Ex-post GIA is used in redesigning policy interventions. - Further strengthening of gender disaggregated statistical products and tools will underpin improvements in GIAs. - Understanding where gaps exist encourages a forward-looking approach to designing and adjusting policies, improving alignment between policy gender impact and government gender goals. *Source: IMF staff.* ### 2. Reinforce PFM foundations to support GB practices. Strong PFM systems are needed for the ### wpiea2021269-print-pdf - 2. Reinforce PFM foundations to support GB practices. Strong PFM systems are needed for the ### Key messages - Strong PFM systems are needed for the effective implementation of GB PFM tools; gaps in GB PFM tools are highly correlated to gaps in PFM foundations. - Synchronizing GB reforms with broader PFM reforms can catalyze progress because GB integrates gender tools into existing PFM systems. - GB practices are relatively stronger in budget preparation than in budget execution and auditing; improvements are needed across the budget cycle. - Sequenced, country-tailored approaches are typically more appropriate than “big-bang” rollouts, though exceptions (e.g., Austria) exist. ### Reinforce PFM foundations to support GB practices - Evidence from the IMF survey: - Without guidelines or a common methodology for impact assessments it is difficult for line ministries to implement a common approach to GB analysis. - Countries that cannot produce timely budget execution or performance reports cannot get a good grasp of the impact that spending is having on gender. - Strengthening PFM tools can enhance the prioritization, design and impact of gender policies. ### Synchronize GB reforms with PFM reforms - Fundamental improvements to PFM institutions will help improve GB PFM tools and systems and act as a catalyst for progressing GB reforms. - As GB integrates gender tools into existing PFM systems, addressing PFM gaps offers an opportunity to more closely link PFM reforms with GB initiatives. - This linkage is occurring in countries transitioning to program and performance budgeting, where GB is gaining traction as PFM pillars are built. ### Integrate GB PFM into budget preparation - Survey results show relatively stronger GB practices in the budget preparation phase but highlight remaining integration needs. - Priority actions: - Strengthen the connection between gender needs analyses, gender strategies and available resources to ensure fiscal policies designed to improve gender outcomes can be prioritized and delivered within an overall expenditure envelope. - Use clear priorities to improve coordination between ministries (especially Finance and Women ministries) on GB tool implementation. ### Improve GB practices in budget execution, monitoring and ex-post evaluation - Evaluating the effectiveness of gender policies is not widespread and is usually linked to program and performance-based budgeting implementation. - Three specific elements to improve GB practices: - Ensuring that gender-sensitive programs and/or line items can be identified and spending can be tracked in the FMIS or using other markers, both if the gender impact is complete or partial. - Improving and developing the use of performance indicators to track and monitor program performance against specific outcomes. - Developing granular ex-post analysis which requires strong analytical capacity and resources; crucial for transparency and informing future decisions. - Solutions must be tailored to individual country circumstances (stage of implementation, level of practice, available resources). - A sequenced approach is often advantageous where no previous GB practices exist, stakeholders are insufficiently engaged, technical capacity is developing, or PFM limitations exist. - Sequencing should be based on a credible timeline, structured around monitorable milestones, and underpinned by clear legal norms and methodological principles. - A proposed sequencing of GB reform implementation is highlighted in Figure 13 and discussed in Appendix 7. ### Summary and conclusions (selected findings) - Despite progress in most G20 countries in the last fifteen years, achieving gender equality remains a significant challenge exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. - Women’s participation rate in the workforce on average still remains below that of men; the average gender pay gap remains substantial; women’s leadership remains below 50 percent; women are significantly over-represented in the number of hours spent on unpaid work. - GB is an important instrument to tackle gender inequality but the overall average level of GB practices in G20 countries is low; no country achieves an overall average level of advanced practice. - GB practices are stronger within institutional frameworks and budget preparation than in budget execution and auditing. - Where GB features are in place, GB PFM tends to operate as an “add-on” rather than an integral part of strategic and resource allocation decisions. - Many gender strategies are imprecise, unevenly costed and disconnected from medium-term budget envelopes; they need better linkage to medium-term budget frameworks and better assessment and prioritization of financial implications. - Strong political backing, a Ministry of Finance firmly in the “driver’s seat,” and binding legislative requirements are key to successful GB reforms. - Empowering the MOF to develop common methodological guidelines, include gender considerations in budget circulars and strengthen quality checks would improve GB analysis and implementation. - GB has increased focus on gender equality goals in budget allocations and awareness of the impact of fiscal policies on gender, providing a transparency platform and a basis for greater civil society engagement. - The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgency of GB: GB PFM tools should help disentangle gender impacts during design and budgeting, track expenditure effectiveness and improve accountability. ### Appendix — Stylized data on Gender Equality Gaps in G20 Countries (selected statistics) - Decision Making: - Globally, as of 2019, women represent less than one-third (on average 25%) of members of parliaments in G20 countries. - Almost half of the G20 countries have established quotas, incentives for political parties to include women on candidate lists, or other special measures at the national level to promote women’s political participation and representation. - Labor Inclusion: - Globally, in 2019 the gender pay gap persists. In 18 of the G20 countries, women earn 15% less than men. - Globally, only 55% of women (aged 15-64) are engaged in the labor market as opposed to 78% of men. - Financial Inclusion: - Despite legal frameworks guaranteeing equal rights to open a bank account and equal access to credit, on average, 22% of women in the G20 countries lack access to formal bank accounts. *Source: IMF staff (content extracted from wpiea2021269-print-pdf).* ### Appendix 2. Gender Budgeting PFM Tools embedded within the Budget Cycle ### Appendix 2. Gender Budgeting PFM Tools embedded within the Budget Cycle ### Pillar 1 – Gender Budgeting Framework – Legal and Institutional - Legal and institutional gender responsive budgeting framework: strong legal frameworks or institutional settings that outline and reinforce the requirement to implement gender budgeting. - Gender disaggregated statistics: - In key areas, statistics are collected disaggregated by gender (e.g., the number of women and men that receive a given government service, macroeconomic, labor market and socio-demographic statistics). - These are used in gender related analysis and impact assessments. ### Pillar 2 - Gender Budgeting - Preparation and Approval - Gender budget statement: - A gender-specific policy and accountability document produced by a government to show how the annual budget aims to improve gender equality. - Can be produced before the outset of budget preparation (Pre-Budget Statement) or be part of the annual budget documentation. - Traditionally tabled in the legislature. - Ex-ante gender impact assessment (GIA): - Provides an assessment of the potential impact (direct or indirect) of a policy proposal on gender to inform decision makers before decisions are taken. - Can be quantitative or qualitative. - Gender budget circulars: - Part of budget guidelines/rules circulated by the ministry of finance at the beginning of the annual or multiannual budget process. - Usually include instructions on how to classify and track spending on gender, guidelines for gender impact assessments (usually ex ante) and templates for budget submissions. - Linking gender goals to program and performance: - Program and performance-based budgeting links gender related policy goals to specific programs and to performance indicators, facilitating monitoring during execution. - Gender budget classification and tagging: - A budget program or line item can be tagged or marked according to its gender impact (such as OECD or UNICEF markers). - Facilitates identification during budget preparation and monitoring of budget execution. - Budget classifiers can incorporate gender codes, usually embedded in the finance management information system. ### Pillar 3 - Gender Budgeting – Execution, Reporting and Monitoring - Gender budget execution reports incorporate a gender perspective: - In-year and end-year execution reports produced by the ministry of finance identify year-to-date gender related spending against gender programs. - Reports may also cover non-financial performance information. - Ex-post gender impact assessments (GIAs): - Assess the impact of policies after a program has been delivered to evaluate whether the policy was effective in achieving desired outcomes and examine impacts on both men and women. - Can be compared with ex-ante GIAs to improve future ex-ante assessments. ### Pillar 4 - Gender Budgeting Audit and External Oversight - Gender related audits: - Generally conducted by the supreme audit institution. - Independent, external, usually performance audits examining how gender objectives are mainstreamed into public policies and budgetary processes and how public funds in selected programs/sectors have impacted gender equality. - Parliamentary oversight: - Legislature oversight of how effectively public resources have been used on gender-related policies to deliver gender outcomes. - Mechanisms include annual reports tabled and discussed, parliamentary committees, hearings and research or costings by parliamentary budget offices commissioned by members. ### Appendix 4 — Questionnaire Used to Assess Gender Budgeting in G20 Countries (high-level) - Structure: - Indicators and multiple-choice questions covering Legal Framework on GRB, Institutional framework, Gender statements, Ex-ante GIAs, Budget circulars, Linking gender goals to programs and performance indicators, Budget classification, Fiscal data disaggregated by gender, Budget execution reports, Ex-post GIAs, Gender related audits, Parliamentary control. - Selected exact questions and applicable responses (examples preserved verbatim): - 9. Is there a legal provision for gender budgeting? (Check all that apply) - Yes, in the constitution - Yes, in an organic law - Yes, in a public finance law - Yes, in an annual budget law - Yes, in a planning law - Yes, in regulations only - Yes, in other laws, please specify - No - 7. Does the government have a gender budgeting framework? - Yes - No - 10. Is there a specific institution with primary responsibility for gender budgeting reform? (Select a maximum of two) - Yes, the president/prime minister’s/ Cabinet office - Yes, the ministry of finance - Yes, the ministry/agency for women - Yes, the ministry/ agency of social affairs - Yes, units within spending/ line ministry/ department and agencies - Yes, the legislature - Yes, an independent agency - Other, please specify - No - 17a. Does the government conduct ex ante gender impact assessments on new government policy initiatives? - Yes, for all new proposals - Yes, for most new proposals - Yes, for some new proposals - Yes for a few new proposals - No - 16a. Does the budget circular or guidelines include details on the application of gender budgeting? (Check all that apply) - Yes, in guidelines from the ministry of finance to spending ministries - Yes, in guidelines from individual spending ministries to subordinated departments and agencies - No, there are no guidelines on gender budgeting - 25a. Does the government collect data disaggregated by gender? - Yes, in all sectors - Yes, in most sectors - Yes, in some sectors - Yes, in a few sectors - No - 26. Do budget execution reports issued by the government in-year include information on gender related expenditures? - Yes - No - 28. Does the government conduct ex post gender impact assessments of budget expenditures? - Yes - No - 32. Has the National/Supreme audit institution in the past three years, produced audit reports with? (YES/ NO) - With ex-post analysis on the impact of the budget on gender equality - With ex-post analysis on the impact of tax policy on gender equality - With analysis of the impact of specific sectoral policies on gender equality - With analysis of the impact of individual programs on gender equality - 31. Has the legislature/Parliament in the last three years undertaken any of the following activities in relation to gender equality? (YES/ NO) - Conduct hearings on gender equality issues - Published any reports on gender equality issues - Discussed the impact of the budget on gender equality - Discussed the impact of tax policies on gender equality - Reviewed information on gender equality goals or performance targets - Reviewed information in annual reports or financial statements on the performance of gender equality initiatives - Established a committee on gender issues - Other, please specify - Note: "These 23 questions are the core questions of the full GB survey and these questions and the 12 indicators are used to produce the gender budgeting index." ### Appendix 5 — Table of Correlations Between GBI Components (n=21) — key numeric correlations (selected) - Table entries (pairwise correlations preserved exactly): - LEGAL with INSTITUTIONAL: 0.60 - LEGAL with DATA: 0.02 - LEGAL with GENDER STATEMENTS: 0.75 - LEGAL with BUDGET CIRCULAR: 0.80 - INSTITUTIONAL with DATA: 0.15 - INSTITUTIONAL with LINKING GOALS & PROGRAMS: 0.64 - DATA with EX-ANTE GIA: 0.51 - EX-ANTE GIA with PARLIAMENTS: 0.55 - CLASSIFICATION with EXECUTION: 0.31 - AUDITS with PARLIAMENTS: 0.35 - PARLIAMENTS with DATA: 0.47 - Additional notes from table: - Source: IMF Survey and IMF Staff. - Note: "GB tools and institutions highlighted in red reflect correlations greater than 0.4. Green reflects the correlation of a GB tools and institutions with themselves showing a score of 1 given they are perfectly correlated with themselves." ### Appendix 6 — Methodology for the Gender Budgeting Index - Survey design and sample: - IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) developed an online gender budgeting survey to assess countries’ gender budgeting practices. - Survey sent to all G20 governments in 2019; respondents are government officials, mainly at the ministry of Finance and/or the ministry of women or related entities. - Data collection took place in 2019 and 2020 with follow up and quality checks in late 2019 and 2020. - Sample comprises twenty-one (21) countries; nineteen (19) G20 countries (being the 20th the European Union) and two guest G20 countries, namely Austria and Spain. - The survey assesses gender budgeting practices at central government level only. - Scoring and indicators: - The study used twelve (12) indicators comprised of twenty-three (23) questions (see Appendix 4). - Each question is scored ranging from 0-3 based on the level of GB practices. - Scores capture existence, design quality, soundness, and aspects of application of PFM tools; higher scores awarded for better practices (e.g., common methodology in place and use in decision making). - Indicator scores are calculated by taking the arithmetic mean of the scores of the questions under each indicator. - Indicator performance bands: - Scores between 2.5 and 3 are considered advanced practices. - Values between 1.1 and 2.4 are associated with good practices. - Values between 0.1 and 1 denote limited practices. - Overall country score: - Calculated by taking the arithmetic mean of the scores of the twelve indicators. - Relative ranking bands for overall country performance: - Scores between 1.47 and 2.25 are considered high. - Scores between 0.75 and 1.46 are medium. - Scores between 0.03 and 0.74 denote low. - "The overall GBI score explains the relative position of a country with GB tools, in comparison to other G20 countries." *Source: IMF Survey and IMF Staff (Appendices 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 as provided in the source content).* ### Appendix 7. A Possible Sequencing of GB Reforms ### Appendix 7. A Possible Sequencing of GB Reforms ### First stage — Establish supporting frameworks and institutions - Enshrine gender equality as a principle informing PFM: - May involve legislative amendments, preferably in high-rank laws (at least Organic Budget Laws and PFM laws), subsequently supplemented by changes in technical and sectoral regulations. - Legislative changes should clearly define the departments responsible for the mainstreaming of GB reforms and the coordination of gender discussions during budget preparation. - Considerable benefits can be drawn from the MOF playing a central or prominent role in these coordination arrangements. - Ensure availability of gender-disaggregated statistics and gender needs diagnoses in critical sectors: - Production of comprehensive statistics by gender is a medium-term process involving line ministries, sectoral agencies, national institutes of statistics and private producers. - In a first stage, statistics can be confined to basic variables, such as employment, education enrollment, access to health services or monthly earnings. - These basic data, which in some countries can be generated with donor support, enable diagnosis of major gender gaps and development of basic tools to address them. - Consider publication of an annual report on the status of gender equality and the evolution of the main gaps; this report can be discussed in Parliament and can be part of the annual budget execution performance report where they exist. - Strengthen alignment between national gender equality goals, sectoral strategic objectives and programs targeted to women: - Gender equality targets should cascade from national strategies and development plans to specific sectoral plans, adequately broken down and costed by programs and activities. - In a first stage, focus on programs specifically targeted at women, whose objectives and impact are easier to define. - A coordinating entity with technical expertise within government can oversee broad alignment with government priorities. - At this stage, a formal ex-ante GIA may not be necessary; a brief assessment of intended effects on gender equality, beneficiaries and linkages with sectoral strategies may suffice. - The MOF should verify financial viability and consistency with resources. - Technical capacity and statistics permitting, pilot a few annual performance indicators in these programs. - Ensure in-year and annual budget execution reports capture gender equality programs: - Ministries managing programs with pilot performance indicators can produce written assessments on non-financial performance as soon as statistical information is available, to be circulated at government level. - If analyses are of sufficient quality, incorporate them into the annual report on gender equality. - Produce and publish a set of GB guidelines with defined objectives, processes, responsibilities, and sequenced milestones: - Good practice: guidelines produced jointly by the ministry of finance and another specialized ministry (such as women or social affairs) in consultation with line ministries. - Guidelines can differentiate several levels of practice and set a timeline for application based on country starting position and technical capacity of line ministries. - As part of the basic level of practice, guidelines should describe at minimum: - i) the information line ministries are expected to provide to the MOF during the strategic phase of budget preparation, when annual budget priorities are decided; - ii) the guidance that budget call circulars will provide to help line ministries integrate gender priorities and programs in budget requests and how to track and report them (decide on the use of gender budget classifiers and gender markers); - iii) some technical criteria for the definition of performance indicators, and the content of assessment reports to be produced by line ministries. ### Transition to second stage — Gradual development of ex-ante GIA and enhanced identification - Expand the statistical base of gender-disaggregated statistics to new sectors and improve databases of beneficiaries of expenditure policies by gender. - Pilot ex-ante GIAs in a number of line ministries: - Ex-ante GIAs could include programs not exclusively targeted at women. - Start from a reduced number of pilot ministries and programs, gradually roll-out to other departments supported by a training agenda. - Underpin efforts with a common methodology eventually annexed to the GB Guidelines. - Ex-ante GIAs should be accompanied by two-pronged quality control: ministries of women for technical content and MOFs for budgetary side. - If pilot phase yields satisfactory outcomes, GIAs can begin to be used in bilateral budget discussions between the MOF and line ministries. - Extend performance indicators to all gender-sensitive programs and sub-programs: - Indicators should differentiate between outputs and outcomes, cover the whole life of the sub-program and activity, and include numerical targets. - Develop a system of markers for gender-sensitive programs, in parallel to ex-ante GIAs: - Markers could be incorporated in the Chart of Accounts or budget classifiers and the FMIS (in this phase or the third one) to ensure monitoring of financial performance and budget execution reports; if not possible, report in other systems. - Discuss gender gaps and gender-sensitive policies in the annual budget statement where it exists: - Discussion should reflect gender policy priorities and flagship initiatives. - When the statement is published together with the budget proposal rather than as a pre-budget statement, it could include quantitative and performance information about proposed appropriations to gender-sensitive programs. - Use of budget classifiers or tagging in budget proposals will help compilation of the gender budget statement. - Publish an annual report compiling and analyzing financial and non-financial performance of gender-related programs, eventually as part of an annual gender equality report or annual performance report: - For accountability, gender performance information should be discussed in parliament, e.g., in a distinct hearing session. ### Third stage — Consolidation and advanced practices - Expand statistics by gender to the entirety of sectors and develop tax statistics by gender: - Together with expenditure (e.g., social transfer statistics by gender), tax statistics can analyze combined incentives of fiscal policies on labor supply and human capital accumulation. - Develop and discuss multi-annual projections of gender-related expenditure in key programmatic and budgetary documents: - Documents include sectoral strategies, Medium-Term Budget Frameworks (MTBF) and budget/gender statements. - Gender budget classifiers could be reflected in MTBFs to facilitate identification of gender-sensitive initiatives among strategic priorities. - Parliament can debate these projections in a separate session/hearing. - Gradually roll-out ex-ante GIA to all ministries: - Ex-ante GIA should become an integral part of regulatory impact assessment for all ministries. - The ministry of finance would verify GIAs are included in all budget submissions and assessments of infrastructure projects, and then use them as a tool for framing discussions during bilateral hearings. - Actively use performance information during budget preparation: - Especially during medium-term expenditure planning and bilateral hearings subsequent to submission of budget requests. - Budget call circulars can request inclusion of this information in budget requests and clarify it will be discussed during bilateral hearings and considered to determine final expenditure ceilings. - Enrich qualitative analysis of performance reports: - Reports could analyze reasons why programs fail to deliver objectives, surpass expectations, or produce unexpected beneficial effects. - Undertake non-financial performance audits and ex-post GIA of selected gender-sensitive policies and publish results: - Feed results of these assessments into new policy decisions. - Use this analysis, like performance information, to inform budget preparation and improve gender marker decisions. *Source: Appendix 7. A Possible Sequencing of GB Reforms* ### 1984. The key pillar of Australia’s efforts has been the publication of a gender budget statement which was ### wpiea2021269-print-pdf - 1984. The key pillar of Australia’s efforts has been the publication of a gender budget statement which was ### Australia — Institutional arrangements (as of 2019) - Minister for Women supported by the Office for Women, a functional unit within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. - Office for Women: coordinates gender work across government and provides advice to the Minister for Women and the Prime Minister. - Placement of the Office for Women has varied across central agencies and line ministries over time. - Ministry of Finance: helps coordinate implementation of GB budget circulars that set out annual budget process requirements for GB. - Requirements for GB change year to year depending on the priority placed on GB by the incumbent government. - Requirements for governments to undertake GB are not established within the legal framework; form and substance of gender budget statements are determined by the governing political party. - “The processes by which the assessments of the gender impact of the budget are undertaken, the quality of the gender analysis, the lines of accountability and the budget status of gender budget statements changes over time”. (Sharp, 2013) ### Australia — Data, statistics, and reporting - Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) produces regular releases with gender breakdowns, including monthly labor force outcomes detailing rates of employment by gender and workforce participation with gender segregation by occupation and industry. - Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources prepares the annual ‘STEM Equity Monitor’. - ABS publishes the annual ‘Gender Indicators’ bringing together data across six domains: economic security, education, health, work and family balance, safety and justice, and democracy, governance and citizenship. - ‘Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards Report’ (prepared annually by the Australian Government Office for Women) reports performance against gender diversity target: women to hold 50 percent of Australian Government board positions overall, and women and men each holding at least 40 percent of positions at the individual board level. - Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) produces an annual ‘Australia’s Gender Equality Scorecard’ based on mandatory reporting for non-public sector employers with 100 or more employees; covers more than 40 percent of employees in Australia. - Non-compliant employers may not be eligible to tender for contracts under the Commonwealth and some state procurement frameworks and may not be eligible for some Commonwealth grants or other financial assistance; names of employers that do not comply are published on the agency website and presented to the Minister. - The Australian Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) can conduct costings of the gender impact of policy proposals at the request of Senators and Members of Parliament; example: costing financial implications of a tax policy change over a ten-year period, disaggregating the financial implications by gender. ### Australia — GB Public Financial Management (PFM) tools, statements and practices - Outcome and program-based budgeting is a long-established practice in Australia. - The government does not explicitly track the proportion of the national budget invested in promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. - Last government-produced women’s budget: May 2013 ‘Women’s Budget Highlights 2013-14’. - Opposition party has published a Women’s Budget Statement since 2014. - Independent not-for-profit entities (e.g., National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW)) have published position papers applying a gender lens over the budget since 2016. - NFAW position papers: summarize importance of announced budget measures to women, provide recommendations and modelling on impacts on women of increased government expenditure in certain sectors. - 2018: Minister for Women issued a ‘Women’s Budget 2018-19 Snapshot’ highlighting new spending measures that benefit women. - October 2020 Budget: Australian Government produced a second ‘Women’s Economic Security Statement’, building on the inaugural 2018 statement; highlights new spending decisions and policy changes designed to improve workforce participation and women’s financial security. - Individual line ministries prepare ex-ante gender impact assessments for some new proposals. - Gender impact assessments are reported to occasionally influence decisions of future spending (example: re-establishment of the ‘Time Use Survey’ due to high proportion of women in part-time work). - In-year budget execution reports issued by the government do not include information on gender related expenditure. - Year-end budget execution reports or Annual Reports are produced at a decentralized level; each agency reports against performance in delivering relevant gender equality goals and targets. - Under outcome-based performance reporting: agencies provide performance measures and targets in Annual Corporate plans and program performance criteria in Portfolio Budget Statements; Annual performance statements are included in agency annual reports. - Australia does not conduct gender audits. - Some parliamentary reporting on gender equality occurs; Parliament has published reports on gender equality issues and discussed budget impacts. - At the time the survey was conducted, a GB statement was not produced and published by the government. ### Australia — Notable programs and strategies - Fourth Action Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children. - Women’s Workforce Participation Strategy. - BoardLinks program. - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s ‘Gender equality and women’s empowerment’ strategy aligned with SDG 5. - Funding for these strategies and activities provided in the budget across relevant programs over the five years of the medium-term budget framework. - Each Australian state and territory has strategic action plans for women’s advancement or strategies for gender equality. ### Australia — Civil society and alternative reporting - Opposition Women’s Budget Statements (since 2014). - National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW) position papers (since 2016). - 2018 and 2020 ministerial snapshots/statements described above. ### Comparative snapshots (selected countries covered in the source) - Brazil: gender equality included in the Constitution; PPA 2020-2023 establishes umbrella program; Sinapom and PNaViD established in 2018; since 2004 Pluriannual Plan and budget laws consider gender perspective; specific budget allocations identifiable across four categories including Policies for Equality and Confronting Violence against Women and Brazilian Women's House; ex-ante impact assessments are not conducted; civil society (CFEMEA) has analyzed budget impacts on women since 1995. - Canada: commitment to GBA evolved into GBA Plus; 2017 annual gender statement introduced as a chapter of the proposed budget; 2018 Gender Budgeting Act requires inclusion with the annual budget of reports on impact of new budget measures on gender and diversity and requires annual reports on impact of tax expenditure on gender and diversity; 2018 introduced the Gender Results Framework (GRF) with six main gender equality priorities; Budget 2019 performed and published GBA Plus for all budget measures. - China: 1954 and 1982 constitutions guarantee equal rights for women; national GB framework not introduced nationally; National Working Committee on Women and Children coordinates national program; limited GB experience subnationally, including pilot Gender Budgets in Zhangjiakou (2005) and publications in Jiaozuo (2009); Shenzhen (2013) regulation requires gender statistics, analysis, assessments and gender responsive budgeting. - France: gender equality enshrined in the Constitution; 2014 Law on Gender Equality mandates gender perspective in each policy developed by ministries; Organic law 2009-403 requires gender impact assessment with each bill; GB tools include ex-ante gender impact assessments, integration into program and performance budgeting, and a ‘Gender Budget Statement’ annex to the budget law; pilot program deploying gender-sensitive budgeting methodology to state budget programs. - Germany: Basic Law Article 3(2) enshrines equality; 2020 national strategy ‘Towards a Stronger Future’ with nine goals; gender mainstreaming a guiding principle since 2000; no formal national GB adoption—feasibility study in 2005 and discontinuation in 2007; components used include gender mainstreaming in line ministries and inclusion of gender aspects in spending reviews since 2015. - India: gender equality in Constitution; National Policy for the Empowerment of Women (2001); GB legal requirements in planning laws; GB units within ministries and GB processes included in budget circular since 2005; 2018-2019 budget circular calls for ministries to prepare gender statements highlighting public expenditure earmarked for (a) women specific programs with 100% allocation for women and (b) pro-women allocations – at least 30% - for gender neutral programs; neither ex-ante nor ex-post gender impact analysis currently performed; gender lens not incorporated into chart of accounts. - Indonesia: 1945 Constitution and gender mainstreaming policy (2000); Presidential instruction 9/2000 and multiple decrees and laws support gender mainstreaming; gender budget pilot in 2009 in seven agencies with Gender Budget Statements covering four key areas; national holistic Gender Budget Statement not yet produced; ex-ante and ex-post gender impact analysis not performed at national level. - Italy: Constitution (1948) and Code for Equal Opportunities (Legislative Decree 198/2006); Public Finance and Accounting Law Law 196/2009 and amendments introduced GB pilot and Gender Budget Report (since 2016); Gender Budget Report evaluates impact of budgetary policies on men and women and reclassifies prior year expenditures according to gender classifier: “neutral”, “sensitive to gender”, and “directly aimed at reducing gender inequalities”. - Japan: 1999 Basic Act for Gender Equal Society and Fifth Basic Plan for Gender Equality (targets to 2025) with 11 key fields and 89 outcomes targets; 2015 adoption of GB approach at central government level; Council for Gender Equality coordinates guidance; government produces and publishes a gender budget statement that includes policy measures but does not disclose resources allocated to each measure. - Republic of Korea: Constitution upholds equal rights; ‘National Finance Act’ (2006 revision) requires evaluating budget differential impacts, drawing up gender budget statements, and preparing gender-sensitive balance sheets; GIAA law (2012) and revision (2018) require gender impact assessments informing policy outcomes; from 2010 all ministries required to submit gender budget statements and balance sheets to the National Assembly. - Mexico: 1974 constitutional reform and 2006 law on equality; 2006 Budget and Financial Responsibility Federal Law stipulates administration of public resources based on gender equality; gender-related cross-cutting annex in annual budget decree lists budget allocations dedicated to gender equality; for 2020 affected 33 sectors and 107 spending programs, managed by 112 execution units; INMUJERES coordinates and Ministry of Finance monitors cross-cutting annexes; comprehensive GB tools across budget cycle including ex post gender impact assessments, quarterly and annual budget execution reports, and parliamentary oversight. - Russia: adopted a guideline on improving status of women in 1996 and National Action Plan for the Advancement of Women (first adopted 1997-2000); strategic areas include women’s rights, empowerment, labor market participation, healthcare and addressing violence against women. *Source: IMF working paper content (wpiea2021269-print-pdf).* ### Annex 13: http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/PEF_2020_111219.pdf. ### Annex 13: http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/PEF_2020_111219.pdf ### Gender budgeting — National Action Strategy for Women for 2017-2022 - Government objectives: - (i) improve the economic status of women, and (ii) increase the participation of women in public and political life. - Policies and programs implemented to achieve objectives: - equal pay legislation; - providing opportunities for employment in highly paid jobs; - increasing women's competitiveness in the labor market; - supporting women in the SME sector; - policies to promote women’s education, including vocational education in advanced areas of economy; - women specific healthcare and social policies and programs. - GB Legal and Institutional Framework: - GB has gained attention in recent years, but institutional mechanisms and comprehensive framework for mainstreaming gender perspective in the budget process have not been developed to date. - GB Public Financial Management Tools: - Federal government developed a comprehensive performance monitoring framework with performance targets which are defined, measured and monitored. - Relevant executive authorities carry out monitoring of the implementation of measures identified within the framework of the National Strategy for Action on Women for 2017–2022. - Gender disaggregated data is produced and publicly available. - Parliamentary oversight is exercised through the committee on gender issues. ### Gender Budgeting Practices in Saudi Arabia - Gender equality commitments and recent legal reforms: - KSA is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) as ratified by royal decree in 2000. - Recognized by the World Bank report “Women, Business, and the Law 2020” as one of the economies that has enacted the most reforms to enhance legal gender equality since 2017. - Reforms removed restrictions on women’s ability to leave the house and equalized women’s right to choose a place of residency. - Prohibited discrimination based on gender in employment, the dismissal of pregnant women and discrimination based on gender in accessing to credit and financial services. - Introduced pension equality by equalizing the retirement ages for men and women and mandating pension care credits for maternity leave. - Earlier milestones: in 2015 women allowed to vote and run as candidates in municipal elections; in 2017 women given the right to drive. - Vision 2030 target: - The authorities have set a target to increase women’s participation in the workforce from 22 percent to 30 percent by 2030. - Programs and initiatives (planned to realize target): - national transformation program; - human capital development program; - specific programs in the health and education sectors; - promoting flexible work; - providing childcare services for working women; - providing leadership training and mentorship to women; - supporting and facilitating transportation of women; - initiatives to protect against domestic violence. - GB Legal and Institutional Framework: - A legal framework for GB has not been developed. - Family Affairs Council established in 2016 to unite government sectors’ efforts towards family wellbeing, propose regulations and awareness programs, and monitor international recommendations and conventions ratified by the KSA. - Family Affairs Council works with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education. - Ministry of Finance role includes developing gender performance indicators and raising awareness of GB within government agencies. - GB Public Financial Management Tools: - Some elements exist: development of disaggregated gender fiscal statistics and a program and performance-based approach to budgeting. - Funding allocated to individual programs cannot yet be observed in budget documentation. - General Authority for Statistics has begun collecting disaggregated gender statistics across a range of sectors, although they are not yet published. - Since 2018 an annual ‘Statistical Report on the Current Status of Progress against the SDGs’ has been prepared and published. - For SDG 5 this report measures and tracks progress against six indicators including: age of marriage, percentage of seats occupied by women in national parliaments and local governments, percentage of women in upper and middle management positions, percentage of women who can make informed decisions about reproductive health care, who own land and who own a mobile phone. - Authorities report that increasingly this disaggregated data is being used to inform policy decisions and allocate resources through the budget process. - Policies and initiatives linked to national strategies (Vision 2030) and operationalized by national and sectoral programs and plans; plans set objectives with measurable targets (at least at a high-level) and list specific initiatives. ### Gender Budgeting Practices in South Africa - Legal and policy commitments: - Gender equality established in the Constitution (1994); Bill of Rights guarantees full and equal enjoyment of all rights by all genders and protection against discrimination on account of gender. - South Africa is signatory to CEDAW and the Southern African Development Community Protocol on Gender and Development (2012). - Legislation includes ‘Employment Equity Act, 1998’ and the ‘Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, 2000’. - Institutional actors: - Commission for Gender Equality promotes gender equality, monitors compliance, and is accountable to the Ministry of Women; subject to the ‘Public Finance Management Act 1999’ as amended (PFMA) for fiscal operations. - Ministry of Women translates the national development plan for gender equality into the five-year strategic plan. - Department of Monitoring and Evaluation tracks government performance against the national development plan and the SDGs. - GB Legal and Institutional Framework: - In 2018 Cabinet approved the Gender Responsive Planning, Budgeting, Monitoring, Evaluation and Auditing Framework (GRPBMEAF). - Framework aims to integrate gender policy priorities within existing planning and medium-term budgeting frameworks at national and subnational levels. - GB Public Financial Management Tools and practice: - South African Women’s Budget Initiative began in 1995; first women’s budget launched in 1996 but did not continue after 1999. - Gender tagging initiative introduced in 2020: departments asked to disaggregate their spending according to gender in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) budget database. - Requires tracking spending on women’s economic inclusion in agricultural and economic sectors; eradication of gender-based violence in the criminal justice sector; social transformation in health and education; and monitoring of gender policies at the subnational level during budget formulation. - Introduced with the 2020 budget; success yet to be evaluated. - Strong tradition of Program Based Budgeting (PBB) supporting multi-year funding allocations related to women. - Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE) provides detailed allocations per program and reports against key performance targets. - Gaps and limitations: - Government does not yet produce a gender budget statement. - Budget call circulars are not sufficiently specific to drive GB reforms. - National Treasury issues general guidelines; instructions on GB are very general and do not provide sufficient guidance to enable all gender-related spending to be captured through the chart of accounts. - No ex-ante gender impact assessment during budget preparation. - No publicly available report on in-year spending against gender related programs; monthly spending reporting is aggregate per department and not per program, and lacks narrative explaining deviations or reasons for non-achievement of targets. - All departments are subject to annual audit including assessment against selected performance indicators including gender targets; Auditor-General’s report is public but there are no performance reports on gender issues to date. - No ex-post gender impact assessments performed; Department of Women publishes reports on gender equality goals and performance targets on its website. ### Gender Budgeting Practices in Turkey - Historical and legal context: - Strong women’s movement in the 1980s raised awareness of violations of women’s rights, especially violence against women. - Ratification of international treaties led to laws to eliminate discrimination against women in the 1990s; law to protect survivors of domestic violence enacted in 1998. - Amendments to the Constitution reinforced the gender equality principle in 2001, 2004 and 2010. - Other laws adopted/amended to reflect commitment to gender equality (e.g. Civil Code (2001), Penal Code (2004), Labor Law (2003), Law on the Establishment of the Committee on the Equality of Opportunity for Women and Men (2009)). - GB Legal and Institutional Frameworks: - Commitment to undertake GB initiatives included in the 10th Development Plan. - Ministry of Women and Social Policies and focused NGOs have organized activities to raise awareness of GB practices. - Turkish Grand National Assembly, with support from UN Women, engaged in awareness campaigns and delivered trainings and workshops on GB to senior administration of the assembly and budgeting experts in line ministries and public institutions. - GB Public Financial Management Tools: - Turkish Grand National Assembly has been championing gender mainstreaming and encouraging gender perspectives to be incorporated into plans, policies and budgets. - Budget circular instructs departments of the Assembly to incorporate activities and projects to promote gender equality into budget proposals. - Gender related performance indicators have been incorporated into the Eleventh Development Plan 2019-. *Annex 13: http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/PEF_2020_111219.pdf.* ### 2023. The 11th Development Plan continues GB initiatives such as awareness-raising and encourages ### wpiea2021269-print-pdf - 2023. The 11th Development Plan continues GB initiatives such as awareness-raising and encourages ### Turkey — continued GB initiatives and budget documentation - The 11th Development Plan continues GB initiatives such as awareness-raising and encourages activities that will be carried out to ensure further involvement of women in management and decision-making bodies in the public and private sector. - The assembly conducts hearings on gender related issues and discusses the impact of the budget and tax policies on gender equality. - The Turkish budget documentation includes information on the resources allocated for women and the policies for women under the relevant public administrations. - “Annual Public Investment Preparation Guide” for the period 2019-2021 requires that public investment projects should be planned and implemented in a manner that will contribute to gender-responsiveness and women's empowerment. ### United Kingdom — institutional roles, legal framework, and PFM tools - Gender Equality Commitments and Policies: - The Government Equalities Office (GEO) is responsible for promoting social equality and works with the Cabinet Office to promote equality policies for people of nine protected characteristics, of which gender is one. - In 2017, the GEO launched a portal where employers that have 250 or more employees are required to submit a report on the gender pay gap of the organization. - The GEO produces a report titled “Reducing the gender pay gap and improving gender equality in organizations: Evidence-based actions for employers.” - The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), established by the ‘Equality Act 2006’ and sponsored by the GEO, protects people against discriminatory treatment and holds business and government organizations accountable. - UK government departments must ensure compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) set out in the ‘UK Government Equality Act 2010’. - GB Legal and Institutional Frameworks: - The United Kingdom does not have a GB initiative in place. - Civil society, notably the UK Women’s Budget Group (WBG) established in 1989, advocates for GB by responding to budget statements and economic policy proposals. - GB Public Financial Management Tools: - Some small GB elements are emerging: the 2018 Budget contained some gender equality impact assessments. - A 2019 Treasury Committee report on the 2018 budget found some improvement in gender impact assessments but judged them “not considered robust enough.” - The report recommended that the UK Treasury should produce and publish robust impact assessments of future budgets, including individual tax and welfare measures. ### United States — federal and subnational approaches - Gender Equality Commitments and Policies: - The United States has not endorsed the UN treaty CEDAW. - At the Federal level, legislation and policies include measures to promote women’s political and economic leadership, healthcare, attracting women and girls to STEM, and combating violence against women and human trafficking. - Federal laws cited include: Equal Pay Act of 1963; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967; Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) 1978; Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). - The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces these federal laws. - Minnesota is noted as the first state to provide equal pay for state government employees and the first to require equal pay for all local government employees. - In June 2020, some Federal agencies released plans to advance the 2019 United States Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS). - GB Legal and Institutional Frameworks: - GB is not conducted at the federal level; there is no federal GB framework or supporting legal provisions. - The White House Domestic Policy Council coordinates gender discussions during budget preparation, but there is no federal institution with primary responsibility for GB reforms. - Subnational examples: City of San Francisco applied GB following the CEDAW ordinance; many states (40 states including DC) have an office for women’s affairs. - State-level women’s committees typically act in advisory capacities and generally lack independent standing to intervene in budget development. - GB Public Financial Management Tools: - No federal GB initiative exists. - The GPRA 2010 Modernization Act requires federal agencies to report annually on progress in meeting strategic targets; some indicators refer to gender policies. - The Senate has engaged on budgetary dimensions of gender policies. - Subnational GB instances exist, e.g., San Francisco applies a gender lens to budget spending but has yet to develop key performance indicators for gender-related outcomes or spending. ### Austria — constitutional commitments, legal reforms, and PFM instruments - Gender Equality Commitments and Policies: - The Austrian Constitution commits the Federation, the Lander and the municipalities to the equal standing of men and women and enshrines advancement of equality as a key policy objective. - The ‘1979 Equal Treatment Act’ addressed discrimination against women in the private sector. - Sectoral measures and plans targeted employment, qualifications, income, and unpaid work; the National Action Plan for Gender Equality in the Labor Market ended in 2018 with no follow-up strategy. - Austria is committed to implementing the 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. - GB Legal and Institutional Frameworks: - GB was introduced as part of fiscal reform implemented between 2009 and 2013, structured around a medium-term budget framework and a performance management framework. - Constitutional reforms (articles 13 and 51(8)) enshrined gender equality within budgeting and performance management. - The ‘Federal Budget Act’ enshrines gender impact assessments as part of regulatory impact assessment; a directive specifies content and materiality thresholds. - GB Public Financial Management Tools: - Ministries and supreme organs define multi-annual strategic plans and set at least one and at most five medium-term gender-related outcome objectives in outcome and output statements. - Objectives include accompanying indicators and performance measures to track progress. - Self-evaluation by ministries and supreme organs monitors performance indicators and describes causal effects; the Federal Performance Management Office oversees quality and compiles a standardized report submitted to Parliament and published. - Regulatory impact assessments analyze impact dimensions including: Gender equality, economy as a whole, companies, environment, consumer protection policies, administrative costs for citizens and companies, social impact and children and youth. - The Ministry of Finance and the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport provide technical assistance. - Court of Audits undertakes gender audits on a discretionary basis; in recent years 55 reports had a gender component (i.e., around one fourth of total annual reports). - Parliamentary oversight roles: Budget Committee, sectoral committees, the Gender Equality Committee, the Court of Audit Committee, and the Parliamentary Budget Office which issues analyses with emphasis on gender objectives and indicators. ### Spain — constitutional basis, legal mandates, and strengthened GB process - Gender Equality Commitments and Policies: - Gender equality is enshrined in the 1978 Constitution. - First plans promoting equal opportunities were produced in 1988; the Institute for Women was created in 1983. - Institutionalization deepened in 2007 with the creation of the Ministry of Equality in 2008 and the adoption of the Organic Law 3/2007 for the Effective Equality of Women and Men. - Organic Law 3/2007 requires government to periodically produce a Strategic Plan on Equal Opportunities (article 17) and produce gender impact assessment reports for all draft regulations (article 19). - Royal Decree 1729/2007 requires strategic plans every two years; the current plan period is 2019-2022. - Royal Decree 1370/2007 creates the inter-ministerial commission for equality of women and men. - Policies with notable social impact include the 2004 Organic Law on integral protection against gender violence and plans against stereotypes. - Revenue and expenditure policies with gender perspectives include individual income tax declaration options, tax credits for working mothers, free education for children starting at 3 years, subsidized childcare for 0-3 years, and reforms in pensions and parental leave. - GB Legal and Institutional Frameworks: - Organic Law 3/2007 requires that all draft regulations submitted for approval of the Council of Ministers must incorporate a report on gender impact assessment. - The annual Draft Budget Law is accompanied by a ‘Gender Impact Report’ and specific instructions for gender impact evaluations are provided in the budget circular (ministerial order of the Ministry of Finance). - The Ministry of Finance coordinates the process with the Ministry of Equality and line ministries’ Equality Units. - GB Public Financial Management Tools: - Since 2009 the annual Draft Budget Law for central government has been accompanied by a ‘Gender Impact Report’ (Informe de Impacto de Género). - The Gender Impact Report functions as a Gender Budget Statement and summarizes gender impact assessments (GIA) carried out during budget preparation. - Ex-ante GIAs must be conducted for all draft bills and for budget proposals included in the budget bill to capture intentional and unintentional gender effects. - The process is coordinated by the Ministry of Finance’s state secretariat for budget, in collaboration with the Ministry for Women and line ministries’ Equality Units; GIAs and the final report follow instructions issued annually by Ministerial Order. - Data collection responsibilities: National Institute of Statistics, the Institute for Women and Equal Opportunities, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies. - Regional and local governments can develop GB initiatives; Andalusia adopted the G+ methodology in 2007 and introduced gender audits since 2013. - Recent strengthening: - Ministry of Finance Order 669/2021 requires a revision to the Gender Impact Report accompanying the General State Budget. - The revised report will include three chapters: “Reality" (the current situation of women and men in Spanish society); "Representation" (employment situation of the Spanish Public Sector by sex); and "Resources – Results” (cataloguing budgetary programs by gender relevance). - The revised approach will provide, for each program, a brief description in terms of equality, main lines of action related to gender equality, and specific objectives and indicators in terms of equality defined for the program. - Program categorization methodology has been improved with a weighting for each question used in categorization and a software application for data entry of the report. *Italic: IMF. wpiea2021269-print-pdf - 2023. The 11th Development Plan continues GB initiatives such as awareness-raising and encourages* --- _Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/wp/2021/english/wpiea2021269-print-pdf.pdf_