Do the Math: Include Women in Government Budgets
IMF Blog, March 6, 2019
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- Authors: Lisa Kolovich
- Published: March 6, 2019
Key findings and context
- A United Nations report found that globally:
- there is an overall gender wage gap of 24 percent
- women are 26 percent less likely to be employed than men
- 75 percent of women’s employment is unregulated or informal to some extent
- women remain economically disadvantaged
- Well-designed gender-responsive policies can improve the efficiency and equity of the overall budget process by actively seeking to address inequality.
- Examples of gender budgeting in practice:
- Ecuador: provincial gender budgeting opened opportunities for women like Maria Rosa Susquilanda to sell their goods at local markets.
- Ethiopia: gender budgeting helped both women and men understand the importance of women’s role in the economy; in the Yefag kebele women served on the local water committee and analyzed construction of water spots with women’s concerns in mind.
Six proven principles of successful gender budgeting initiatives
- Legal requirements matter. Providing gender budgeting with legal status helps ensure its continuity when political actors change. Examples: Austria, Bolivia, and Rwanda mandate gender budgeting in their constitutions.
- The leadership of the ministry of finance is crucial. Gender budgeting is more likely to be sustained if the ministry of finance leads. Examples: Albania, Korea, and Uganda.
- Civil society, gender and other ministries, parliaments, and academia are key players. Examples: Timor-Leste (prime minister and parliamentarians helped pass resolutions); the United Kingdom’s Women’s Budget Group conducts a thorough annual, gender-sensitive analysis of the budget.
- Align goals with national gender equality plans or the Sustainable Development Goals. Examples: Morocco and Afghanistan aligned objectives with the Millennium Development Goals and now the Sustainable Development Goals, and their own national development plans.
- Taxes should not be overlooked. Most countries have focused on spending, but tax policies are not always gender neutral. Example: Austria identified a gender equality objective; Finland, Ireland, and Spain have committed to undertake studies looking at the gender aspects of revenue policy.
- All levels of government have a role to play. Examples: Uganda’s “Local budget clubs” allow citizens to discuss spending priorities and hold governments accountable; Indian states with gender budgeting efforts have made more progress on gender equality in primary school enrollment than those without.
Recommendations: What can countries do to improve gender budgeting efforts?
- Aim to improve reporting and transparency.
- Gender budgeting statements can help ensure transparency.
- Countries issuing various forms of these statements include Australia, Bangladesh, India, Korea, Morocco, and Nepal.
- Monitor and evaluate gender budgeting efforts and collect gender-disaggregated data.
- Korea requires the government to examine the gender impacts of the budget and whether men and women are equally receiving benefits.
- Uganda introduced a Certificate on Gender and Equity Compliance to ensure that the budget process meets women’s needs.
- Build skills.
- UN Women and national aid agencies have provided technical assistance and training.
- Technical level staff in many countries would benefit from additional training.
- The IMF is engaging with member countries through training courses for country officials and through technical assistance for Austria, Bahrain, Cambodia, and Ukraine.
- Collaborate.
- The IMF is collaborating with UN Women to push forward gender budgeting efforts.
- In February 2018, two joint workshops were organized—one for sub-Saharan countries and another for countries in South Eastern Europe.
- A joint TED-style talk was held at the IMF Spring Meetings offering an overview of gender budgeting principles.
Framing and timing
- Gender budgeting offers budget officials at the national, state, and local levels an opportunity to "do the math" and look at the impact of spending and tax policies on women and society as a whole.
- On March 8 we will celebrate International Women’s Day.
Do the Math: Include Women in Government Budgets — Lisa Kolovich, March 6, 2019.