Gender Budgeting (GB) is concerned with gender sensitive formulation of legislation, programmes and schemes; allocation of resources; implementation and execution; audit and impact assessment of programmes and schemes; and follow-up corrective action to address gender disparities.

• It is a powerful tool for achieving gender mainstreaming so as to ensure that benefits of development reach women as much as men.

• It does not seek to create a separate budget but seeks affirmative action to address specific needs of women.

• It Monitors expenditure and public service delivery from a gender perspective.

• It entails dissection of the Government budgets to establish its gender differential impacts and to ensure that gender commitments are translated in to budgetary commitments.

Debbie Budlender’s Five-Step Framework for Gender Budgeting

Step 1: An analysis of the situation for women and men and girls and boys (and the different sub-groups) in a given sector.

Step 2: An assessment of the extent to which the sector’s policy addresses the gender issues and gaps described in the first step.

Step 3: An assessment of the adequacy of budget allocations to implement the gender-sensitive policies and programmes identified in step 2.

Step 4: Monitoring whether the money was spent as planned, what was delivered and to whom.

Step 5: An assessment of the impact of the policy/ programme/scheme and the extent to which the situation described in step 1 has changed.

Rationale Behind Gender Budgeting

• According to the 2011 census, women account for 48 per cent of the total population of the country.

• Women face disparities in access to and control over services and resources.

• Bulk of the public expenditure and policy concerns are in ‘‘gender neutral sectors”.

• Implications on women in the above sectors are not recognised or identified.

• Gender responsive budgets policies can contribute to achieving the objectives of gender equality, human development and economic efficiency.

Gender Budgeting in India

Gender Budget Statement (GBS) was first introduced in the Indian Budget in 2005-06. This GB Statement comprises two parts–

• Part Areflects Women Specific Schemes,e. those which have 100% allocation for women.

• Part Breflects Pro Women Schemes,e. those where at least 30% of the allocation is for women.

India’s gender budgeting efforts stand out globally because they have not only influenced expenditure but also revenue policies (like differential rates for men and women in property tax rates and reconsideration of income tax structure) and have extended to state government levels.

Gender budgeting efforts in India have encompassed four sequential phases: (i) knowledge building and networking, (ii) institutionalizing the process, (iii) capacity building, and (iv) enhancing accountability.

Gender budgeting in India is not confined to an accounting exercise. The gender budgeting framework has helped the gender-neutral ministries to design new programs for women. Gender Budgeting Cells (GBC) as an institutional mechanism have been mandated to be set up in all Ministries/Departments.

GBCs conduct gender based impact analysis, beneficiary needs assessment and beneficiary incidence analysis to identify scope for re-prioritization of public expenditure and improve implementation etc.

Limitations

Hence, the first step to improving the effectiveness of GRB is to take a need-based approach. Accordingly, priority areas where gender inequalities are the most severe need to be identified for targeted spending. Complementary to defining targets is monitoring the outcomes. To that end, accountability systems need to be set up to conduct gender auditing of centrally sponsored schemes and programmes for women for measuring progress.

Additionally, a closer look at the components of India’s gender budget raises the question of whether they can indeed be counted among efforts towards correcting gender imbalances in modern times. Funds directed towards research projects on home science, assistance for marriage, LPG connection to poor households and other such programmes that reinforce the traditional gender roles of women do benefit women who are conforming to their gender roles, but the inclusion of these components in a in a gender budget could become contentious as ideas of women empowerment evolve. The adoption of GRB by the GoI has indisputably been a landmark move towards achieving gender equality, but at the same, it is beneficial for the approach to evolve in line with the evolution of feminist theories.

According to economist Nirmala Banerjee, “we need to push for policies that not merely assist women to fulfil their traditional roles, but also to promote them in roles that will change existing gender positions.” In order to ensure that programmes do substantially lead to better outcomes for women, Banerjee proposes categorizing expenditures on public schemes for women under three heads: Relief policies that do not address structural problems; Gender reinforcing assistance, which simply assist women for their needs in accepted gender roles; and lastly, Empowering schemes, which serve to alleviate gender-based disadvantages faced by women.

There are also methodological inaccuracies noted in the GBS since its inception. For instance, certain schemes that are reported in part A of the statement are not exactly schemes targeted at women or have women as 100% of the beneficiaries. For example, expenditure on Research Studies by ICMR under the Department of Health Research is featured in part A of the FY22 Gender Budget even though there is no clarity as to how it has 100% women beneficiaries or how it contributes to women empowerment and correcting gender imbalances. In the previous iterations of the budget, the erstwhile Indira Awas Yojana used to feature in part A, even though its beneficiaries are both men and women. The fact that this inaccuracy has been rectified now gives hope that India’s Gender Budget would continue to evolve in line with new learnings and recommendations.

Road ahead

Despite some of its shortcomings, GBS is still an institutionalised tool that has allowed policymakers to assess how much the government spends on women’s empowerment, and is a reflection of India’s sincere efforts towards achieving its gender equality goals. It is because of a tool like GBS that civil society organisations and women’s rights activists are able to pitch for greater expenditure for women. At the same time, there is also a need to revisit our approach from time to time, and tailor our budgeting practices to suit the emergent needs and trends.