Loading...
Expectations versus Realities in Gender
Budlender, Debbie
Budlender, Debbie
Author(s)
Author(s) (Additional)
Illustrator(s)
Producer(s)
Contributor(s)
Contributor(s) (Other)
Editor(s)
Advisor(s)
Contact(s)
Data Collector(s)
Collections
Files
Loading...
dbudlende.pdf
Adobe PDF, 444.9 KB
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Online Access
Abstract
"The key question addressed in this paper is: How does what gender-responsive budget (GRB) initiatives have done in practice compare with the claims and expectations about what they can achieve? In asking this question, the paper does not aim to detract from what has been achieved. Instead, it attempts to bring some realism into the discussion, planning and assessment of these initiatives. The paper also stresses that different initiatives have different objectives and different outcomes which depend on context, who is involved, and a host of other things. There is therefore no single “correct” approach. The paper does not explain in any detail what GRBs are. There are a range of other sources which provide such a description and discussion. The annotated bibliography produced by BRIDGE (Reeves & Sever, 2003) earlier this year provides a useful reference to what is currently available on the topic. In addition, Gender Budgets Makes Cents (Budlender et al, 2002) discusses some of the concepts underlying the initiatives as well as providing a brief summary of initiatives in over 20 countries as at early 2001. Gender Budget Makes More Cents (Budlender & Hewitt, 2003) provides longer descriptions of activities in ten different contexts (eight countries, one region, and one international organisations) written by central actors in the GRB initiatives concerned. This latter publication provides implicit support to one of the central contentions of this paper, namely the wide variety within what are classified as GRB initiatives, and thus the difficulty in making generalizations. The working definition of a GRB for this paper is that it involves an analysis of the government budget in terms of its reach and impact on women and men, girls and boys. A GRB is thus, in effect, a form of policy analysis from a gender perspective. GRBs do not focus only on the numbers contained in the budget. They focus as much – if not more – on the policy and programmes underlying those numbers. Ideally, they also focus on what happens when the policies and programmes are implemented. The ‘added value’ of GRBs in terms of policy analysis is that they recognise that any other government policy or programme will not be effective unless adequate resources are allocated to implement it."(pg 4)
Note(s)
Topic
Type
Preprint
Date
2005-03
Identifier
ISBN
DOI
Copyright/License
With permission of the license/copyright holder