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Enabling environment

 

SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTION

  • Is there an effective institutional framework for gender budgeting? Who is leading the gender budgeting efforts?
  • Are the roles and responsibilities of different ministries set out? Do they have the capacity to undertake this work? 
  • Is there sufficient gender-disaggregated data and stakeholder engagement to facilitate effective gender budgeting practices and accountability for results and impacts?

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?


The quality of gender budgeting practices can be improved by creating a supportive, enabling environment. Clear leadership, together with co-ordination mechanisms, ensure that gender budgeting practices and procedures are aligned across government. The collection of gender-disaggregated data allows more accurate gender assessments and more targeted policies. Similarly, citizen engagement can also ensure that gender-sensitive policy making better reflects the needs of the population. Parliamentary engagement ensures that there is oversight of the government’s gender budgeting practices and that the government is held to account for its stated objectives. “Gender tagging” of budget lines also improves accountability, as stakeholders can track resource allocation towards gender goals.

ACTIONS TO CONSIDER

  • Ensure clear leadership and strong co-ordination mechanisms for gender budgeting: Government efforts in relation to gender budgeting need to be underpinned by a strong leadership model where the roles and responsibilities of different ministries are clearly set out. In addition, there should be coordination mechanisms in place to ensure that gender budgeting practices and procedures are aligned across government. It is also useful to provide guidance (through budget circulars and other instruction documents) and training across government to help ensure that there is sufficient capacity to deliver gender budgeting goals.

  • Systematically collect gender-disaggregated data: Gender-disaggregated data supports gender assessments and is pivotal in enabling governments to develop effective gender-sensitive and evidence-based policies. The government should collect gender-disaggregated data on how government services are used. This should be augmented by other data collecting institutions, such as the national statistics bureau, also collecting gender-disaggregated data.

  • Engage with stakeholders on gender budgeting issues: Facilitating the engagement of parliaments, citizens and civil society organisations allows for more inclusive, participative and responsive gender budgeting practices.

  • Tag gender budget lines: Tagging budget information which relates to gender equality, i.e. systematically assigning distinct functional classifications or codes to the relevant budget lines, programmes or performance indicators, can be useful for highlighting and monitoring over time how money disbursed through the budget contributes to achieving gender goals.

 

PITFALLS TO AVOID

  • Institutional roles and responsibilities are not clear and line ministries do not have sufficient guidance or capacity to deliver gender budgeting.
  • Insufficient gender-disaggregated data to allow for rigorous gender assessments and audits to be undertaken.
  • Insufficient engagement with civil society to enable evidence-based policies which promote gender equality.
  • Parliament cannot or does not hold government to account for stated objectives relating to gender equality.
  • Budget managers lack guidance or resources in order to be able to tag expenditure allocated for gender equality.

COUNTRY EXAMPLES

 

Israel

In Israel, in 2008 the Statistics Law was amended to require every data collecting institution to analyse and publish statistics by gender.


Mexico

Mexico systematically tags budget allocations for gender equality and makes this information available to the public. Allocations are tracked as they are approved, modified and spent and this information is presented to Congress in quarterly reports and annual public accounts and is available to the public. .
A number of OECD countries undertake structured dialogue with civil society to assess the impact of gender budgeting (Mexico, Netherlands, Israel). Similarly, some OECD countries ask stakeholders for their perception of the impact of gender-related policies (Austria, Netherlands, Iceland). From outside the OECD, Morocco is an example of a country which regularly communicates with civil society and stakeholders in relation to gender budgeting. Inter-agency groups exchange good practices, expert groups are asked for their advice, and there is a structured dialogue with civil society and other stakeholders.


Sweden

In Sweden, each year the Swedish Women’s Lobby analyse the state budget bill from a gender equality perspective. The aim is to see how resources are divided between women and men, and to examine if the government lives up to its commitments on gender equality.