Gender mainstreaming: gender budgeting

Abstract

"Gender budgeting is not a special approach to budgeting or even an add-on to budgeting. Rather, gender budgeting is an approach to budgeting that can improve it, when fiscal policies and administrative procedures are structured to address gender inequality and women’s development needs. When properly done, one can say that gender budgeting is good budgeting" (Stotsky, 2016)

The Council of Europe defines gender budgeting as a ‘gender- based assessment of budgets incorporating a gender perspective at all levels of the budgetary process and restructuring revenues and expenditures in order to promote gender equality’.

The purpose of gender budgeting is threefold:

to promote accountability and transparency in fiscal planning; to increase gender responsive participation in the budget process, for example by undertaking steps to involve women and men equally in budget preparation; to advance gender equality and women’s rights.