GENDER RESPONSIVEBUDGETING
Benita SharmaWorkshop on Promoting Women’s
Empowerment through Gender Responsive Budgeting
and Planning in Public Sector Management in Malaysia,
8-9 November 2012
Presentation
Equity and equalityWhat is GRB?What GRB is not.Importance of GRBEngendering the BudgetHow to do GRB.
Equality vs EquityTreating Equally is treating the ‘same’ – giving 50:50Simple equality is equality of opportunityNeed EQUITY – OR EQUALITY OF OUTCOME – need to provide for people according to their situationSimple equality ensures equality at the starting line – equity attempts equality at the finishing line
“Gender cannot be ‘mainstreamed” if those who
have responsibility for mainstreaming gender are not given budget allocations with
this goal”
What is GRBGB is not merely an accounting exercise.It is an ongoing process of keeping a gender perspective in the formulation of policies, programs; its implementation and review.The unifying objective is to make more transparent, the connections between the country’s budget and its prevailing pattern of gender inequality and to bring together two sets of knowledge that have so far been kept separate; understanding about public money and public services on the one hand and awareness of the different and unequal lifeexperiences of women and men, girls and boys on the other
GRB refers to 1. Refers to the process of conceiving, planning,
approving, executing, monitoring, analyzing and auditing budgets in a gender-sensitive way.
2. Involves analysis of actual expenditure and revenue (usually of the Government) on women and girls as compared to on men and boys
3. Helps Governments to decide how policies need to be made, adjusted and reprioritized
4. Is a tool for effective policy implementation where one can check if the allocations are in line with policy commitments and are having the desired impact
GRB and unpaid care work“Unpaid care work” is a major contributing factor to gender inequality and women’s poverty. The assumption of traditional economists is that unpaid work is elastic and valueless ---which makes it important to do a thorough analysis of the implications of excluding unpaid work on women’s time, opportunities,economic growth and development in general. The care economy is one of the three components of a nation’s total economy.
Counting unpaid care work_In discussing ‘counting’, we note Diane Elson’s skilful use of the word ‘count’ to show the different ways in which women’s work can be ignored: Women have challenged conventional views [of economics] and proposed new visions of economic life in which women’s activities count, in several senses: counted in statistics, accounted for in representations of how economies work and taken into account when policy is made.
False Economies
Hence cuts in public expenditure & reforms in social services with the stated aim of increasing economic efficiency often simply shift part of the work load from the public sector to the private sphere and leads to waste of human resources and to loss of social well being& reinforcement of gender inequalities. Dr Diane Elson calls this transfer of burden through cuts in expenditure as “false economies”.
Gender and user feesIntroducing user fees in social services may increase revenue but has a social cost because Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Tanzania: Introduction of user fees was associated with decrease in hospital admissions of pregnant women, decline in use of Maternal and Child Health services and an increase in maternal deaths.In education ……….girl drop outs.
Source: Mackintosh and Tibandebage, 2004
GRB is notGender budgets are not separate budgets for men and womenGender budgeting (GB) is not about dividing the budget - 50% for women and 50% for men.GB does not always imply an increase in the allocations for women – it is about prioritising as well.GRB is not about focusing on women specific schemes…but Involves analysis and construction of general budgets from a gender perspective and involves analysis of actual Government expenditure and revenue on women and girls as compared to on men and boys
Why GRB?They help governments to target available money to those most in need.Tool for effective policy implementation where one can check if the allocations are in line with policy commitments madeTool for contributing to a public debate and to effective use of public funding It helps Governments to decide how policies need to be made, adjusted and reprioritized
What is a Budget?Not just an annual statement of receipts and expendituresIt is an instrument for fulfilling the obligations of the stateIt is a political statement of the priorities set by government in resource allocation.
“ The budget reflects the values of a country-who it values, whose work it values and who it rewards….and who and what it doesn’t”.
- Pregs Govender (member of South African Parliament)
Budgets The budget is the most important policy of government because, without money, govt cannot implement any other policy successfully.Looking at budgets through a gender lens shows clearly where the collection and distribution of public money is unequal & inefficient. It also shows how discrimination affects national developmentUS Women’s Budget Project initiated by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) in 1996 estimated that the money spent on funding the ‘Sea wolf’ attack submarine for one year ($1.7 billion) could have provided energy assistance for 5.6 million low income households.
Budgets Looking at three levels:
• Inputs: (a)financial appropriations vs. need (b)appropriations vs. actual expenditure (c)sector wise shares of expenditure (d)revenue side: Eg.shifts in incidence between
firms, individuals, households
• Activities: supported by appropriations: public services, delivery costs, income transfers
• Outcomes: expected from appropriations vs. actual outcomes including unintended ones: whether the money is being used in a manner that effectively achieves planned outcomes and where it is failing Gender impact of incidence of taxation and other revenue raising measures: looking at income effects, substitution effects, labour market changes, including time spent by women/men on unpaid work etc.
How to begin?Listing of schemesIdentification of budget allocated to women andgirls.Calculation of Percentage of budget allocated towomen/girls scheme-wise.Categorization of schemes in four heads A-B-C-Dbased on percentage allocationEnlisting of the categorized schemes as per formatsExplanatory note with each scheme, clarifying theassumptions, logics, reasoning used for allocatingthe specified budget to women and girls.
Cont:
Collating and consolidating the format received fromvarious departments.
– preparing Gender Budget Statement – category A-D
– identification of total fund allocated to women and girlsin comparison to men and boys – total and departmentwise
– Analysis of the Gender Budget Statement – to identifythe level of Gender sensitivity among departments interms of allocation of funds to women and girls. This willfurther enable us to identify gaps, lacks and mismatchesand to take measures to rectify the same in order to bemore gender pro.
Process to productThe process of gender budgeting eventually results in gender responsive budgets. The terms gender responsive budgets, gender-sensitive budgets, gender budgets and women's budgets are however often used inter-changeably
Imp of GRB for gender equalityPeople’s access to services and resources are determined by how budgets are formulated. Discrimination can either be reinforced or eliminated by budget policies.Gender responsive budgeting requires a participatory and transparent process, an equitable base and a nondiscriminatory rationale. It also requires that women are not regarded as a vulnerable group who are the beneficiaries of government assistance but rather as rights holders, whose governments are under obligation to empower and protect.
Aims of Gender budgetingClose gaps/improve links between policy pronouncements, resource allocation and outcomes on gender equalityKey tool for sensitization of various stakeholdersFor Governments - tool for effective policy implementationKey tool for assertion of rights, through participatory process of reshaping budgets
Gender Budgeting as tool for good governanceAccountability: Can monitor/measure accountability:budgetary allocations vs. actual expenditure
Efficiency: Gender inequality leads to major losses ineconomic efficiency and human development
Transparency: GB can contribute towardsdemystification of the budget and greater publicparticipation
Equality: Budgets unresponsive to the need of those inpoverty esp. women and children, will fail to lead toequality in distribution and equity in output and will failto address gender-specific discrimination
Important step in deepening democracy
Coverage– Whole budget– Expenditure of selected
departments or programmes– Expenditure on new programmes and
projects– Selected forms of revenue– Changes in tax system – New legislation
ONE KIND OF ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK
– Category i.Specifically targeted expenditure to women
– Category ii.Public Expenditure with pro-women allocation
– Category iii.Mainstream expenditure that make gender-differential impacts.
Framework-
(a) gender-targeted expenditure; (b) equal opportunity expenditurefor civil servants; and(c) mainstream expenditure (the rest) considered in terms of its gendered impact (Sharp 2003).
Framework- Gender and Fiscal Polices
(a) Relief policies, which are not aimed at solving any perennial or structural problems (e g, widows).(b) Gender reinforcing assistance, which supports womenbut strictly for their needs in accepted gender roles (e g, programmes that address women’s reproductive functions).(c) Empowering schemes, which focus on removing genderbased disadvantages of women (e g, schemes such as crèches to allow women to work and extra toilets for girls in schools).
Nepal experience_ mix of disaggregating expenditure by both – its incidence(on men and women) as well as its objective
The indicators used in this case are (with an equal weight of 20% each):(a) women’s capacity development; (b) women’s participation in programme formulation and implementation; (c) benefit incidence of public expenditures on women; (d) support to women’s employment and income generation; (e) positive impacton women’s time use and care work.
Building Budgets from BelowElected women representatives of two Gram Panchayats were asked to prepare an ‘Ought’or ‘Dream’ Budget. Their priorities were:
- Drinking water- Drainage system, toilets- Public infrastructure (laying of roads)- Bus stand- Security – street lights- Hospital (maternity)- Self-employment for women (e.g.
handicrafts)
As compared to elected men representatives who opted for Community centres
Lessons LearntInvolve as many stakeholders as possible –Government, researchers, civil societyPolitical will a key factor Government’s buy-in most crucialCapacity building across the board from the start essential – later need to create pool of trainers and manualsNeed for data and research essential, but not for sake of research, but for advocacy and to base our demands/statements on factsMUST BE INSTITUTIONALISED – once in the system, chances are it will stay
Institutionalizing GRBTraining and Orientation to the concept, tools and strategies: Government & Non- Government StakeholdersGender Budget Cell/GFP/GMAG: Composition and FunctionsSex-Disaggregated Data Base Gender Budget StatementGender Based profile of Public ExpenditureGender AuditOutcome Budget
