Introducing Gender Perspectives in the Budgetary Process at the Central Government Level

Figures & data

Figure 1. Implementation of gender equality into the budget system

Table 1. Typology of gender budgeting initiatives, see Holvoet (2007), Bamanyaki (2016)

Criteria	Features
Political location and actors	▪ Inside government: Executive arm of government Legislative arm of government ▪ Outside government: Civil society, non-governmental organizations Academic institutions ▪ Combined: Government with international organizations Government with civil society organizations Government with citizens (in participatory budgeting initiatives)
Goals	▪ Adhering to international commitments (gender equality) ▪ Distributive justice and equity Challenging economic and social policies, macroeconomic policy frameworks Challenging and correcting for gender bias in policies, programmes, and budgets ▪ Efficiency and effectiveness of government policy and implementation ▪ Transparency and accountability ▪ Enhanced citizen participation and advocacy ▪ Empowerment of specific groups (girls, women, marginalized groups) ▪ Enhanced democracy and good governance
Focus/coverage	▪ Themes Single theme (gender, poverty) Multiple themes (gender, poverty, social inequalities, health, environment, etc.) ▪ Coverage Entire budget (all revenues and expenditures, across sectors/entities) Specific items (sectors, programmes, categories of revenue and expenditure) Budgetary processes
Phase of the budget cycle	▪ Planning and appraisal phase (priority-setting, formulation and enactment of budget) ▪ Implementation and monitoring phase ▪ Audit and evaluation phase
Approaches, processes and tools	▪Approaches Three-way categorization framework Five-step approach Budget cycle framework ▪ Processes Participatory approaches (involving citizens, interest groups) Technical (analysis conducted by professionals within the administration and legislature, or by experts on behalf of the latter) ▪ Tools Gender-aware policy appraisal Gender-disaggregated beneficiary assessments Gender-disaggregated public expenditure incidence analysis Gender-disaggregated revenue incidence analysis Gender-disaggregated time use studies Gender-aware medium-term expenditure framework
Outputs	▪ Social impact analyses ▪ Gender aware budget statement ▪ Gender responsive budget guidelines or call circular ▪ Public sector performance audit reports ▪ Alternative (gender-sensitive) budgets

Table 2. Overview of the quantitative document analysis of plenary speeches during budget readings

	2005	2006	2007/08	2009/10	2011	2012	2013	2014/15	2016	2017	2018/19	Total
No. of speeches addressing gender budgeting, gender aspects and gender equality outcome targets	19	5	13	11	5	8	17	8	11	12	2	111
No. of speakers	13	4	12	9	5	8	12	7	6	12	2	90
Frequency of mention of gender budgeting	30	8	10	30	10	11	26	16	14	1	0	156
Frequency of mention of gender equality outcome targets and gender aspects	11	5	13	0	1	1	5	4	9	8	0	57

Table 3. Overview of the focus of the budget speeches

	2005	2006	2007/08	2009/10	2011	2012	2013	2014/15	2016	2017	2018/19	Total
Total no. of speeches	19	5	13	11	5	8	17	8	11	12	2	111
Focus on gender budgeting	4	1	3	8	1	2	7	1	2	0	0	29
Focus on the information yielded from the gender budgeting system	10	3	9	2	2	6	5	4	5	11	2	59
Focus on both	5	1	1	1	2	0	4	3	4	0	0	21
Non-discernible	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	2

Table 4. Overview of speakers’ attitude toward gender budgeting, per speech

	2005	2006	2007/08	2009/10	2011	2012	2013	2014/15	2016	2017	2018/19	Total
Total no. of speeches	19	5	13	11	5	8	17	8	11	12	2	111
Positive attitude	18	5	10	8	4	7	13	8	11	7	2	93
Negative attitude	0	0	2	2	1	0	3	0	0	2	0	10
Non-discernible	1	0	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	3	0	8

Table 5. Overview of the speakers referring to gender budgeting related information

	Total	Positive Attitude	Negative Attitude	Non-discernible
Female	99	86	8	5
Male	12	7	2	3
Member of the committee for equal treatment	89	76	7	6
Non-member of the committee for equal treatment	22	17	3	2
Governing party	54	50	1	3
Opposition party	57	43	9	5

Holvoet, N. (2007). Gender budgeting in Belgium: Findings from a pilot project. European Societies, 9(2), 275–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616690601002665

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Bamanyaki, P. A. (2016). Evaluating effects of local-level outside government gender budgeting initiatives in maternal health [Unpublished doctoral dissertation] University of Antwerp.

 Google Scholar