• UGI USER
  • Oct 07, 2023
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Q.What is gender budgeting? Discuss the challenges associated with it in the Indian context.

 

Approach

  • Write a short note on the concept of gender budgeting.
  • Highlight the challenges related to it.
  • Briefly mention the steps that need to be taken to address these challenges.
  • Conclude accordingly.

Answer

Gender budgeting means incorporating a gender perspective at all levels of the budgetary process and restructuring revenues and expenditures in order to promote gender equality through gender-specific allocations.

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 the budget preparation.
  • To advance gender equality and women’s rights.
  • In an effort to integrate gender responsive budgeting in India’s budgeting process, the Government of India introduced the Gender Budget Statement (GBS) in the Union Budget in 2005-06.

However, various challenges still remain in implementing gender budgeting in India, including:

  • Insufficient resources: The overall quantum of the gender budget is still less than 1% of the GDP. For instance, the gender budget was, on average, about 0.7% of the GDP, over the 2008-09 to 2019-20 period.
  • Concentration of funds in a few sectors: Over the last decades, four ministries – Rural Development, Education, Health and MWCD have received between 85-90% of the Gender Budget expenditure. This pattern of allocation suggests a concentration of funds in a few sectors, as opposed to a widespread gender balanced budget.
  • Methodological inaccuracies: There are methodological inaccuracies noted in the Gender Budget Statement (GBS). Although, sex-disaggregated data is available, there is a need to generate more information particularly regarding access to resources and opportunities, without which it is not possible to integrate a gender perspective in the budget process.
  • Accountability mechanisms: Though it is mandatory to release the GBS, there are no effective accountability mechanisms mandating the impact assessment of allocations for female beneficiaries. Also, there are limitations of Parliamentary interventions as the role of the Legislatures in the budget process is often confined to budgetary approval and oversight and not in formulation and execution.
  • Lack of political will to institutionalise gender budgeting: Gender budgeting requires political will to support a process of transforming the traditional budget-making and policy processes by removing long-standing, in-built biases.

The government has taken certain steps like constitution of Gender Budgeting Cell (GBCs) , creation of Gender Data Bank etc., but more effort is required in this regard to achieve the objectives of gender budgeting. These include:

  • Create a ranking for state level gender budgeting to incentivize the states in taking further steps to improve the efficacy of these measures.
  • Capacity building and technical support should be provided to the state-level Gender Budgeting Cells.
  • Gender audits of centrally sponsored schemes and flagship programmes should be undertaken to measure impacts.
  • Deviation between budgetary allocation and actual spending needs to be addressed through proper monitoring of outcomes.

Despite the challenges, gender budgeting is an institutionalized tool that has allowed policymakers to assess how much the government spends on women’s empowerment, and is a reflection of India’s sincere efforts towards achieving its gender equality goals. In this context, India needs to revisit its approach from time to time, and tailor budgeting practices to suit the emergent needs and trends.