Nexus PFM Consulting Inc.

What is Gender Budgeting?

Gender budgeting refers to the practice of considering the impacts of expenditure and revenue decisions on both women and men. Gender budgeting is a strategy that promotes equitable decision-making throughout the stages of the budget cycle, from gender impact analyses and gender-responsive budget circulars in the formulation phase through to evaluations of gender impacts and external audits on gender outcomes in the audit/oversight phase.

Why is gender budgeting important?

Historically, the development of spending and revenue policies has not always included the consideration of policy impacts and outcomes for women and vulnerable population groups. Similarly, unique needs are sometimes missed for policy decisions that are made at a general population in mind. Gender budgeting is important because it highlights the differential and gendered impacts of state programs and draws attention to policy impacts and outcomes on women and vulnerable population groups from the beginning of the policy development process.. For example, following layoffs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, some nations saw men’s workplace participation rates recover faster than women’s employment. Generally speaking, austerity and fiscal consolidation measures tend to disproportionately impact the lives of women and exacerbate existing inequalities in terms of economic participation, human rights, and quality of life.

What is parliament’s role in gender budgeting?

Parliament can promote the inclusion of gender budgeting principles throughout the budget cycle. In the formulation phase, this can take the form of pointing to priority policy areas for action to address gender inequality or debating gender-related documentation accompanying the Pre-Budget Statement. When considering the Executive Budget Proposal during the approval phase, parliament can scrutinize the funding commitments in the budget vis-à-vis stated policy goals for gender outcomes. If the government submits a Gender Budget Statement as part of its supporting documentation for the budget bill, parliamentary committees can review those commitments in detail. While the execution phase is largely the purview of the executive branch, parliament can still help keep gender on the radar by reviewing the gender implications of updates received through in-year and mid-year reports, and to question the gender impacts of supplementary appropriations proposed by the government. The audit and oversight phase offers a number of opportunities for parliaments to assess the compliance and performance of the government on gender-related matters, including through reports of the Supreme Audit Institution or external gender auditors. Parliament can promote the inclusion of gender budgeting principles throughout the budget cycle. In the formulation phase, this can take the form of pointing to priority policy areas for action to address gender inequality or debating gender-related documentation accompanying the Pre-Budget Statement. When considering the Executive Budget Proposal during the approval phase, parliament can scrutinize the funding commitments in the budget vis-à-vis stated policy goals for gender outcomes. If the government submits a Gender Budget Statement as part of its supporting documentation for the budget bill, parliamentary committees can review those commitments in detail. While the execution phase is largely the purview of the executive branch, parliament can still help keep gender on the radar by reviewing the gender implications of updates received through in-year and mid-year reports, and to question the gender impacts of supplementary appropriations proposed by the government. The audit and oversight phase offers a number of opportunities for parliaments to assess the compliance and performance of the government on gender-related matters, including through reports of the Supreme Audit Institution or external gender auditors. 

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