Focus Areas > Gender
Responsive Budgeting
Gender budgeting refers to the practice of analyzing government
budgets according to their impact on men and women separately.
It does not create a separate budget for women but rather
provides the affirmative action necessary for addressing
the specific needs of women while at the same time translating
gender policy commitments into sound budgetary commitments.
Gender budgeting not only requires an analysis of the allocation
of resources for women, but it also covers the tracking
of the utilization of allocated resources. Additional components
include impact analysis and beneficiary incidence analysis
of public expenditure and policy from a gender perspective.
Gender Budgeting restructures administrative processes
and actions in a manner that truly enhances the positions
of women. Gender budgeting is not simply an accounting
exercise as is commonly misunderstood. It is the incorporation
of a gender perspective and sensitivity at all levels of
developmental planning, programs, schemes, processes and
implementation.
Over time, the Indian woman presence has been established
in her own space through policies and gender budgeting.
The commitment to gender equity is outlined in the country’s
most supreme policy - the Constitution. Furthermore, the
National Policy for the Empowerment of Women (2001) envisioned
an enabled environment for women through economic and social
policies. The National Policy presented the notion of a
gender perspective in the budgeting process as an operational
strategy. Provisions like those within the Constitution
and the National Policy have been supplemented by women
specific legislations such as the Immoral Traffic (Prevention)
Act (1956), the Maternity Benefit Act (1961), the Dowry
Prohibition Act (1961), the Equal Remuneration Act (1976),
and most recently the Domestic Violence Act (2005).
India’s plan documents over the years have reflected
the evolving trends in gender matters. Though formal earmarking
of funds for women began with the Women’s Component
Plan, gender sensitivity in allocation of resources existed
as early as India’s Seventh Plan. The Eighth Plan,
then, highlighted for the first time the need for a gender
perspective and the need to ensure a definite flow of funds
from the general developmental sectors to women. The Ninth
Plan adopted the ‘Women’s Component Plan’ as
one of its major strategies. The Ninth Plan directed both
the Central and State Governments to ensure “not
less than 30 percent of the funds/benefits be earmarked
for all the women’s related sectors”. The Tenth
Plan reinforced this formal commitment to gender budgeting
by establishing gender-differential impacts and continuing
to translate gender commitments into budgetary commitments.
Today, gender budget cells (agencies that serve as nodes
for gender-responsive budgeting initiatives) have been
formed in 52 ministries and departments.
WPC has actively lobbied for the adoption of gender responsive
budgeting (GRB) at all levels of government. WPC’s
initiatives on this issue include the following:
WPC is regularly in touch with the Finance Ministry and has lobbied successfully for engendering of Eleventh Plan. WPC has strategized its lobbying of ministerial and state governments for effective implementation of important centrally sponsored schemes on engendering state budgets. WPC has trained others as well in strategically using tools to lobby governments and holding them accountable to fulfilling their commitments to gender equality.
WPC was invited by the Government of Madhya Pradesh (GoMP) to train the state’s senior officials in analyzing budgetary allocations and preparing a gender responsive budget. Through this, the WPC team became involved in preparing the budget for 2007-2008 the financial year. It is notable to mention that the GoMP incorporated all recommendations submitted by the WPC team, including recommendations for the allocation of money for the proper implementation of PWDV Act and the introduction of new schemes for women in various departments for women. The entire initiative received extensive media coverage when the Chief Minister and Revenue Minister included in their budget speeches the state’s appreciation of WPC’s contribution.
WPC was invited by the Government of Haryana to train senior officials on gender budgeting in January of 2007 at Chandigarh. The Chief Secretary, the Director General, representatives from the Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA), the Planning Secretary and secretaries an additional 12 departments attended the programme. It was the first time that a workshop of this kind had taken place in Haryana. Upon its completion, the Chief Secretary promised to set up a gender budget cell within the Finance Department.
WPC was enlisted in the Committee, which is responsible for the formation of a gender budget cell in the Ministry of Housing and Poverty Alleviation.
WPC congratulated the government of Bihar for introducing Gender Budget, which the government committed to the women’s group at the WPC regional meeting held in Patna on 23 Jan 2008
A media consultation was held by WPC on February 25, 2008 to discuss work done by the Government on gender budgeting. Journalists from print and electronic media sources were briefed on the nature and purpose of gender budgeting and the need to spread awareness on the issue.
A state level meeting on gender budgeting was held on March 18, 2008 in Mumbai to generate awareness on gender budgeting and to explore techniques used by grassroots organizations, activists and Panchayat members.
WPC held six gender sensitization-training programmes for Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in September and October 2008 for facilitating discussion on gender issues and the incorporation of gender concerns in the micro credit/micro finance sector. The training programmes devised methods for institutionalizing gender at all levels and produced a roadmap for taking the initiative forward.
A training of trainers (TOT) on gender budgeting was organized by WPC with financial support from Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) and held on November 10 and 11, 2008.
WPC had sent a letter to Shri Pranab Mukerjee, Finance Minister, on the gender perspectives of Budget released in 2009.
National level advocacy workshop on ‘Gender Budgeting With Special Reference to the Implementation of Protection of Women against Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA)’ on 18 November, 2009.
|
