Exploring Gender Budgeting and Women’s Economic Empowerment in South Sudan

Abstract

The conflict in South Sudan has exacerbated women’s economic marginalization, although policies exist to support their economic empowerment. For example, due to the war in South Sudan, women may have less access to finances, goods, and training to protect themselves. Furthermore, recent research indicates that South Sudan ranks number one in corruption globally, which is likely to have a dire impact on women’s economic empowerment and gender budgeting. In addition, scholars have debated that women’s rights are far from being recognized in South Sudan despite its efforts to include women’s rights in the transitional constitution after it attained independence from Sudan in 2011. Hence, the Government of South Sudan needs to draw attention to the gendered impact of economic policies.

This chapter used an exploratory qualitative research approach to explore the implementation of gender budgeting in South Sudan regarding women’s empowerment and emancipation. The findings suggest that women’s political-economic empowerment in South Sudan has been considered through the participation of women in the peace process although with no consideration of gender budgeting specifically for women in peace processes and decision-making. However, through effective gender budgeting, economic empowerment remains weak despite the national, regional, and local policies supporting the initiative. The study recommends that the Government of South Sudan prioritize women’s economic rights through adequate data collection on the financial status of women and ensuring gender budgeting implementation. The chapter concludes that the South Sudan Government still has opportunities to advance women’s economic rights if there is political will and commitment to do so.