New development: Gender (responsive) budgeting—a reflection on critical issues and future challenges

ABSTRACT

Gender budgeting needs to become institutionalized more strongly in our societies and public policies. The article suggests some of the possible challenges to be taken into consideration to make it ‘work’, including availability of technical capacities and data, securing support in the political agenda, involving stakeholders, balancing spontaneity and standardization, and considering wider sources of inequality.

IMPACT

Gender budgeting has an important unexploited potential. However, much more needs to be done for it to become institutionalized. A stronger commitment by practitioners, policy-maker and scholars is needed. This article suggests possible conditions to make it work.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender budgeting
• gender gap
• gender-responsive policies
• inequality
• public budgeting

Call for papers

PMM 2020 theme on ‘Experiences and challenges with gender budgeting and accounting. Moving towards gender-responsive forms of accountability?’

Guest editors: Giovanna Galizzi (University of Bergamo), Elina Meliou (Newcastle University London), and Ileana Steccolini (Newcastle University London)

‘Gender budgeting’ or ‘gender-responsive budgeting’ are umbrella terms used to refer to a variety of tools, techniques and systems to incorporate a gender perspective in budgeting processes, ultimately promoting an effective mainstreaming of gender in policy-making.

Ample evidence has shown that ensuring a better gender balance in policies, organizations and society is not only right and fair, but also economically desirable. Without a robust gender analysis, budgets tend to reproduce gender inequalities and favour a return to traditional gender roles, overlooking the concerns of those most affected by that, a group that disproportionately includes women across the globe.

There appears to be strong support on the positive effects of gender-responsive policies, and particularly of gender budgeting. Arguably, in some national contexts, the adoption of gender policies has improved both gender equality of opportunities and resources, and gender equality of economic policies outcomes. For example, reducing gender inequality has been shown to be associated with an increase in the efficiency and the profitability of certain sectors, such as agriculture. More generally, the implementation of gender budgeting has increased awareness on gender issues, and highlighted governments’ accountability for the ways in which they approach gender (in)equality. Despite these positive effects, however, the processes through which policy-makers decide to adopt, implement and maintain gender budgeting over time are invariably influenced (and, sometimes, hampered) by numerous contextual, cultural, institutional and political factors. As a result, evidence suggests that gender budgeting remains less widespread than might be expected and, while some impacts have been pointed out (for example changes in policies), its full potential is probably far from being achieved.

Interestingly, while some accounts of experiences of gender budgeting exists, gender budgeting appears to have attracted only limited scholarly attention. This call aims at starting to correct this imbalance by inviting submissions of papers which, among other things:

• Highlight and contrast current experiences with gender budgeting and relevant lessons for policy and practice.

• Explore the variety of gender budgeting approaches.

• Explore the factors fostering or hampering the adoption and implementation of gender budgeting.

• Explore the conditions or contexts under which gender budgeting come into being or fail to operate, including, among others, austerity.

• Investigate the consequences and (expected and unexpected) effects of gender budgeting, at the individual, organizational, societal, or economic level.

• Look at the intertwining of governance, political, organizational variables in gender budgeting processes.

• Explore the processes of moving or maintaining gender budgeting onto the policy agenda.

• Explore the role of various stakeholders in mobilizing government resources to achieve the implementation of gender budgeting policies, including women’s representation in parliament and government, activist and community associations.

• Explore the ways in which budgeting and accounting can play a role in redressing current gender-related inequalities.

We expect articles to explore diverse organizational societal, and international contexts. Papers may be conceptual, theoretical and/or empirical in nature. Qualitative and quantitative empirical research that supports new theoretical, policy and practice directions and critical perspectives is welcome.

As well as research papers (up to 8000 words including references), the theme will include a debate articles (up to 1000 words) and new development articles (up to 2500 words). All submissions must be suitable for both academic and reflective practitioner readers. Debate and new development articles will be reviewed by the theme’s editorial team and research papers will double-blind refereed by both an academic and a practitioner. See www.tandfonline.com/toc/rpmm for information on preparing a submission.

The editors will be pleased to answer any questions from prospective authors. Contact Giovanna Galizzi ([email protected]).

Submissions should be submitted via PMM’s website by 30 November 2019. Select ‘Special issue article’ under ‘Type’ and ‘Experiences and challenges with gender budgeting and accounting’ in the drop-down menu after ‘Abstract’.

Notes

* This subheading was inspired by Luigi Pirandello’s 1926 novel Uno, nessuno e centomila.