Skip to main content

Are Gender Budgets Useful for Reducing Gender Inequalities? An Exploratory Study with a Focus on India

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Transforming Unequal Gender Relations in India and Beyond

Part of the book series: Sustainable Development Goals Series ((SDGS))

Abstract

There has been a move toward gender-based budgeting and gender-responsive budgeting globally, aimed at bridging the various gender-based disparities that continue to exist in countries in varying degrees. The available evidence on approaches, strategies, effectiveness, and challenges of gender budgeting globally is examined with specific country examples. The authors take a closer look at how India has addressed the issue at the national and sub-national levels, the volume and composition of finances for interventions that are aimed at reducing gender disparities, the effectiveness of such interventions, and the limitations of existing strategies and mechanisms that may have prevented a faster closing down of the gender gap.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. United Nations. Gender equality: why it matters. United Nations. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/5_Why-It-Matters-2020.pdf

  2. Sharp R, Broomhill R. A case study of gender responsive budgeting in Australia. Commonwealth Secretariat. 2013. https://www.unisa.edu.au/siteassets/episerver-6-files/global/eass/hri/grb_papers_australia_comm-sec-updf_final-copy-.pdf

  3. Stotsky JG. Gender budgeting. IMF working paper. 2006 Oct. https://www.imf.org/External/pubs/ft/wp/2006/wp06232.pdf

  4. United Nations Women. Beijing declaration and platform for action, Beijing +5 political declaration and outcome. United Nations Women. 2021: p. 269. https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2015/01/beijing-declaration

  5. Council of Europe. Council of Europe final report of group of specialists on gender budgeting. Strasbourg: Directorate of Human Rights 48. Council of Europe. 2005. https://rm.coe.int/1680596143

  6. Polzer T, Nolte IM, Seiwald J. Gender budgeting in public financial management: a literature review and research agenda. Int Rev Adm Sci. 2021 Jul 26. https://doi.org/10.1177/00208523211031796

  7. World Economic Forum. Global gender gap report 2021. World Economic Forum. 2021 Mar 31. https://www.weforum.org/reports/ab6795a1-960c-42b2-b3d5-587eccda6023/

  8. Hossain T, Rabbani A, Rifat TH. Gender responsive climate change budgeting in Bangladesh. International budget. 2021 Apr. https://internationalbudget.org/wp-content/uploads/gender-climate-budgeting-bangladesh-april-2021.pdf

  9. Siddique DK. A case study of gender responsive budgeting in Bangladesh. Common Wealth Secretariat. 2013. https://consultations.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/consultation-template/update-world-bank-group-gender-strategy-consultations/submissions/grb_papers_bangladesh_updf_final.pdf

  10. Ratho A. Gender-responsive budgeting in India, Bangladesh and Rwanda: a comparison. Observer Research Foundation. 2020 Jul. https://consultations.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/consultation-template/update-world-bank-group-gender-strategy-consultations/submissions/grb_papers_bangladesh_updf_final.pdf

  11. Jamil I, Aminuzzaman SM, Kabir SL, Haque MM. Gender mainstreaming in politics, administration and development in South Asia. SpringerLink. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36012-2

  12. Asadullah M, Savoia A, Mahmud W. Paths to development: is there a Bangladesh surprise? World Dev. 2014;62(C):138–154. https://econpapers.repec.org/article/eeewdevel/v_3a62_3ay_3a2014_3ai_3ac_3ap_3a138-154.htm

  13. Hossain N. The SDGs and the empowerment of Bangladeshi women. In: Chaturvedi S, Janus H, Klingebiel S, Li X, de Mello e Souza A, Sidiropoulos E, et al., editors. The palgrave handbook of development cooperation for achieving the 2030 agenda: contested collaboration. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2020. pp. 453–474. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57938-8_21

  14. Thomson S. How Rwanda beats the United States and France in gender equality. World Economic Forum. 2017 May 02. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/05/how-rwanda-beats-almost-every-other-country-in-gender-equality/

  15. Ortiz E. The transformative potential of high-level gender equality: the relationship between gendered laws and perceptions in Rwanda. Cornell Int Aff Rev. 2020;13(2):5–38. https://journals.library.cornell.edu/index.php/ciar/article/view/550

  16. Stotsky JG, Kolovich LL, Kebhaj S. Sub-Saharan Africa: a survey of gender budgeting efforts. International Monetary Fund. 2016 Jul 28. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2016/12/31/Sub-Saharan-Africa-A-Survey-of-Gender-Budgeting-Efforts-44145

  17. Binagwaho A, Scott KW. Improving the world’s health through the post-2015 development agenda: perspectives from Rwanda. Int J Health Policy Manage. 2015;4(4):203–205. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4380561/

  18. Redifer L, Alper E, Meads N, Gursoy T, Newiak M, Thomas AH, Kwalingana S. The development path less traveled: the experience of Rwanda in departmental papers. International Monetary Fund. 2020 Aug 18;2020(010). https://www.elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/087/2020/010/article-A001-en.xml

  19. Budlender D, Hewitt G. Gender budgets make more cents: country studies and good practice. London: Gender Section, Commonwealth Secretariat. 2002 Aug. https://www.iknowpolitics.org/sites/default/files/budlender_hewitt-gender_budgets_make_more_cents.pdf

  20. Fragoso LP, Corina RE. Western hemisphere: a survey of gender budgeting efforts. International Monetary Fund. 2016 Jul 28. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2016/12/31/Western-Hemisphere-A-Survey-of-Gender-Budgeting-Efforts-44146

  21. Sugiyama NB. Gendered budget work in the Americas selected country experiences. University of Texas at Austin Department of Government. 2002 Oct. https://internationalbudget.org/wp-content/uploads/Gendered-Budget-Work-in-the-Americas-Selected-Country-Experiences.pdf

  22. Budlender D. A global assessment of gender responsive budget initiatives. 2002. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265121176_A_Global_Assessment_of_Gender_Responsive_Budget_Initiatives

  23. Guzman S. Integrating gender and climate change in public budgeting: the case of Mexico. International Budget Partnership. 2021 Apr 6. https://internationalbudget.org/publications/integrating-gender-and-climate-change-in-public-budgeting-the-case-of-mexico/

  24. Turrent GB. Gender parity in the public sector and human development: a comparative analysis in federal states of Mexico. Social Science Research Network. 2020 Dec 21. https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3752514

  25. Beer C. Womens policy agencies and federalism: INMUJERES in Mexico. In Vickers J, Grace J, Collier CN, editors. Handbook on gender diversity and federalism. International Handbooks on Gender Series. 2020 Jun 10. https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781788119290/9781788119290.00030.xml

  26. Commonwealth Secretariat. Gender budget initiative: a commonwealth initiative to integrate gender into national budgetary processes. United Nations Women: Financing for Gender Equality. 1999. https://www.eldis.org/document/A52048

  27. University of South Australia. Gender-responsive budgeting in the Asia-Pacific region. University of South Australia. https://www.unisa.edu.au/genderbudgets

  28. Chakraborty L. Budgetary allocations and gender in Sri Lanka: a categorization of financial inputs. Research Gate. 2003 Apr 1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228704159_Budgetary_Allocations_and_Gender_in_Sri_Lanka_A_Categorization_of_Financial_Inputs

  29. Herath HMWA. Gender responsive budgeting and women in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka J Popul Stud. 2018;6(1):1–29. https://doi.org/10.4038/sljer.v6i1.24

  30. Budlender D. Gender responsive budgets in the commonwealth: progress report 2005–2007. University of South Australia. 2007. http://www.gender-budgets.org/content/view/472/153/

  31. Nelson T. 5 Facts about women’s rights in Sri Lanka. The Borgen Project. 2020 Dec 17. https://borgenproject.org/womens-rights-in-sri-lanka/

  32. United Nations Women Asia and the Pacific. UN Women Sri Lanka. United Nations Women Asia and the Pacific. https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/countries/sri-lanka

  33. World Economic Forum. The global gender gap report: 2020. World Economic Forum. 2020. https://www.weforum.org/reports/ab6795a1-960c-42b2-b3d5-587eccda6023/

  34. Costa M, Sharp R. People’s republic of China. Gender Responsive Budgeting in the Asia Pacific Region. 2011. www.unisa.edu.au/genderbudgets

  35. Xiajuan G. Women’s participation in China’s budgeting process. Singapore: East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore. 2014 Aug 21. https://research.nus.edu.sg/eai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/11/BB946.pdf

  36. United Nations Women Asia and the Pacific. About UN Women China. United Nations Women Asia and the Pacific. https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/countries/china/about-un-women-china

  37. Veronika M. Women’s empowerment in labor market in Taiwan and China. Oмcкий гocyдapcтвeнный тexничecкий yнивepcитeт. 2020. pp. 68–77. https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=44094964

  38. Patel V. Gender budgeting in India. J Gend Stud. 2010 Dec. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.3821.8645

  39. Ministry of Women and Child Development. Annual report 2001–2002 of the Ministry of WCD, Department of Women and Child Development—an overview. Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India. 2002. https://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/AR2001-02.pdf

  40. Chakraborty L. A case study of gender responsive budgeting in India. Commonwealth Secretariat. 2013. https://consultations.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/consultation-template/update-world-bank-group-gender-strategy-consultations/submissions/grb_papers_india_updf_final.pdf

  41. Ministry of Women and Child Development. Gender budgeting. Ministry of Women and Child Development. https://wcd.nic.in/gender-budgeting

  42. National Institution for Transforming India Aayog. Sustainable development goals index. National Institution for Transforming India Aayog. 2019 Nov. https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/SDG-India-Index-2.0_27-Dec.pdf

  43. Sample Registration System. Special bulletin on maternal mortality in India. Census India. 2020 Jul. https://censusindia.gov.in/vital_statistics/SRS_Bulletins/MMR%20Bulletin%202016-18.pdf

  44. Kerela State Planning Board. The economic review 2020. Kerela State Planning Board: Government of Kerela. 2021 Jan. p. 1. https://spb.kerala.gov.in/sites/default/files/2021-01/English-Vol-1_0

  45. National Institution for Transforming India. Sustainable Development Goals India Index and Dashboard, 2020, State Scores, India. National Institution for Transforming India. 2020. https://sdgindiaindex.niti.gov.in/#/ranking

  46. Stotsky J, Zaman A. The influence of gender budgeting in Indian states on gender inequality and fiscal spending. Int Monetary Fund Work Paper. 2016 Nov;16(227):1. https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2016/wp16227.pdf

  47. Hooda DS. Gender inequality in India: status and determinants. Int J Soc Sci Econ Res. 2021;6(3):1054–70. http://ijsser.org/more2021.php?id=66

  48. Chakraborty L. Asia: a survey of gender budgeting efforts. Int Monetary Fund Working Paper. 2016 Jul;16(150). https://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2016/150/001.2016.issue-150-en.xml

  49. Sinha N, Mishra Y. Gender responsive budgeting in India: what has gone wrong? Econ Polit Wkly. 2012;47(17). https://www.epw.in/journal/2012/17/review-womens-studies-review-issues-specials/gender-responsive-budgeting-india-what

  50. Lahiri A. Fifteen years of gender budgeting in India: a retrospective. Ideas For India. 2019 Oct 29. https://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/social-identity/fifteen-years-of-gender-budgeting-in-india-a-retrospective.html

  51. Mehta AK. Union Budget 2020–21: a critical analysis from the gender perspective. Econ Polit Wkly. 2020 Apr 18;55(16). https://www.epw.in/engage/article/union-budget-2020-21-from-gender-perspective

  52. Nikore M, Singh L. An analytical view of gender responsive budgeting in post-COVID-19 India. Policy Rev. 2021 Mar 22. https://policyreview.in/an-analytical-view-of-gender-responsive-budgeting-in-post-covid-19-india/

  53. Dalal A. Role of gender budgeting in development of women. Int J Adv Manage Econ. 2018 Jan 10. https://www.managementjournal.info/index.php/IJAME/article/view/92

  54. Singh AK. Gender budgeting in urban local bodies. Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies Lucknow University. http://rcueslucknow.org/publication/TrainingModules/Dr.A.K.Singh/GenderBudgeting.pdf

  55. Rashid AP. Gender responsive budgeting: a case study on Kerala. Research Gate. 2016 May 16. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303222806_Gender_Responsive_Budgeting_A_case_study_on_Kerala

  56. Ministry of Finance Department of Economic Affairs. Budget circular 2021–2022. Ministry of Finance Department of Economic Affairs. 2020 Oct. https://dea.gov.in/sites/default/files/Budget%20Circular%202021-2022.pdf

  57. Government of India, Ministry of Women and Child Development. Gender budgeting handbook. Government of India, Ministry of Women and Child Development. Oct 2015. https://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/GB%20-%20Handbook%20October%202015.pdf

  58. Raman S. India’s gender budget was almost same for 13 years; here’s what it achieved. Business Standard India. 2021 Jan 25. https://www.business-standard.com/budget/article/what-india-s-gender-budgets-have-achieved-121012500149_1.html

  59. Ministry of Women and Child Development. Initiatives by government for reducing gender gap in all aspects of social, economic and political life. Press Information Bureau. 2021 Mar 25. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1707475

  60. Money Control. Economic survey 2018: more women than men take benefit of MNREGA, still remain ‘most disadvantaged’. Money Control. 2018 Jan 29. https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/economy/economic-survey-2018-more-women-than-men-take-benefit-of-mnrega-still-remain-most-disadvantaged-2493781.html

  61. Sharma YS. Women participation in MGNREGA declines to five-year low in 2020–21: rural development ministry. The Economic Times. 2021 Mar 23. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/women-participation-in-mgnrega-declines-to-five-year-low-in-2020-21-rural-development-ministry/articleshow/81648633.cms?from=mdr

  62. Desai S. Do public works programs increase women’s economic empowerment? evidence from rural India. India Human Development Survey. 2018 Oct. https://idl-bnc-idrc.dspacedirect.org/bitstream/handle/10625/59137/IDL-59137.pdf?sequence=2

  63. de Mattos FB, Dasgupta S. MGNREGA, paid work and women’s empowerment. International Labour office, Geneva. 2017. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_613735.pdf

  64. Annual Status of Education Report. The thirteenth annual status of education report (ASER 2018). Annual status of education report. 2019 Jan 15. https://img.asercentre.org/docs/ASER%202018/Release%20Material/aser2018pressreleaseenglish.pdf

  65. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Institute for Statistics. Primary completion rate, female (% of relevant age group)—India. The World Bank. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.PRM.CMPT.FE.ZS

  66. Soni A. Gender budgeting: powerful tool for women empowerment. J Adv Sch Res Allied Educ. http://ignited.in/a/58477

  67. Deininger K, Nagarajan HK, Singh SK. Women’s political leadership and economic empowerment: evidence from public works in India. J Comp Econ. 2020;48(2):277–91. https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jcecon/v48y2020i2p277-291.html

  68. Banerjee BS. Women and political empowerment in India. Academia: Letters. 2021 Jun. https://www.academia.edu/49277488/Women_and_Political_Empowerment_in_India

  69. Verma S. Feminist jurisprudence in India manifestation of judicial will to create gender neutral legal regime in India. Law Colloquy. 2021 Jan 26. https://lawcolloquy.com/journals/feminist-jurisprudence-in-india-manifestation-of-judicial-will-to-create-a-gender-neutral-legal-regime-in-india-shivani.pdf

  70. Mehta AK. Union Budget 2020–21: contrasting states and the centre’s approach to gender budgeting. Econ Polit Wkly. 2020 Apr 18;55(16). https://www.epw.in/engage/article/union-budget-2020-21-contrasting-states-and-centres-approach

  71. Halder A. View: assessing India’s gender budget. The Economic Times. 2021 Feb 14. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/view-assessing-indias-gender-budget/articleshow/80906668.cms?from=mdr

  72. Gupta I, Barman K. Health, development, and HIV in India in: Oxford research encyclopedia of Asian history. Oxford University Press. 2021 Mar 25.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Indrani Gupta .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Gupta, I., Barman, K., Ranjan, A. (2023). Are Gender Budgets Useful for Reducing Gender Inequalities? An Exploratory Study with a Focus on India. In: Pachauri, S., Verma, R.K. (eds) Transforming Unequal Gender Relations in India and Beyond. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4086-8_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4086-8_9

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-99-4085-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-99-4086-8

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics