Rashim Deepika
Gender Responsive Budgeting is a gender mainstreaming strategy that directs attention to economic policy focusing an Government budgets. Analyzing the impact of Government expenditure and revenue on women and girls, as compared to men and boys, is fast becoming a global movement to build accountability for National Policy Commitments to women. Through development and application of various tools and techniques, women’s budgets can make a number of crucial contributions. These include efforts to
* recognize, reclaim and revalue contributions and leaderships that women make in the market economy, and in the reproductive or domestic (Invisible and undervalue) spheres of the care economy, the latter observing the impact of macroeconomic choices leading to cuts in health ,welfare and education expenditure.
•promote women’s leadership in the Public and productive spheres of politics, economy and society, in parliament business, media ,culture ,religion institutions trade Union and civil society institutions
•engage in process of transformation to take into account the needs of the poorest and the powerless; and
*build advocacy capacity among women’s organization on macroeconomic issues.
(a.) Gender responsive budgeting (GRB) is Government planning, programming and budgeting that contributes to the advancement of gender equality and the fulfillment of women’s rights it entails identifying and reflecting needed interventions to address gender gaps in sector and local government policies, plans and budgets Gender responsive budgeting also aims to analyze the gender differentiated impact of revenue –raising policies and the allocation of domestic resources and official development assistance.
Gender responsive budgeting initiatives seek to create enabling policy frame works, build capacity and strengthen monitoring mechanisms to support accountability to women. The gender budget analysis must be participatory. Officers of the concerned departments must work closely with experts from UNIFEM, UNFRA,IFES to brainstorm and put together these reports.
(.b) We now, however, need to move forward from only analyzing budgetary allocations and outputs for boys and men on the one hand and girls and women on the other, for more concrete results and for better outcome.
Women’s reproductive rights
Gender Responsive approaches facilitate into reproductive health programmes, the inclusion of specific aspects of gender inequality. It focuses primarily on health, particularly reproductive health, on HIV/AIDS, and on violence against women as it relates to health services. Gender Responsive Budgeting can be used to direct attention to those who are most in need and those who are disadvantaged by their gender, economic status, location and other characteristics.
Gender responsive budget in social welfare department.
Gender responsive budgeting in social welfare department serves to assess haw effectively the services of the Government are meeting the needs of women and girl, in relation to the men, on much the policies are focused towards women, and how much of the expenditure of the state in the department is reaching the women.
a. Educational Development
The department provides hostel facilities for boys and girls from S.C,S.T.,O.B.C. number of girls enrolled and %age of the budget spent on girls viz a viz the outcome of this expenditure needs to be analyzed
b. Social upliftment and protection
Number of cases of atrocities against S.C’s and S.T to be addressed of which number of cases against women and the expenditure under such scheme to be analyzed
c. Welfare of women
Facility availed by women from the hostels for working women who have to stay away from their homes to earn their daily living
Gender specific allocation in Public Works Department
The allocation in Public Works Department is intended to provide Roads Connectivity, Bridges, Building, School building Hospital etc. Allocation is to provide Gender friendly infrastructure facilities in public offices like toilet facilities. It is also mentioned that steps will be taken to make the public building women friendly for which proper architectural plan and design of building be ensured by avoiding narrow passage, stair etc, Training may be given to the Engineers and Architect of the PWD for a Gender Friendly Construction. Ramps may also be provided for physically Handy capped persons in major Public office building.
The Public Works Department Jammu has seriously initiated the Gender budgeting process and is focusing directly as well indirectly to wards the welfare of the Genders e.g. The funding under various schemes is done for the construction of Roads, Bridges In construction of such projects both male as well as female labourer are making their earnings. The road is used by men, women, boys girls, which has made the life much easier for women, girls. The school building constructed by Public Works Department has equally benefited girls education as well as boys. Earlier in far-flung areas without the road facilities the facility of schooling was very difficult to provide education to girls. The Public Works Department constructs hospitals at every block level, which has reduced the mortality rate especially mother child mortality rate.
Women Empower through Gender Budgeting
Gender Budgeting can be recognized as a tool for empowering women. In gender sensitive budgets, focus has been a auditing government budgets but not for their impact on women and girls. This separate budget for women, or for men initiative analyze how government raise and spend public money, with the aim of securing gender equality in decision making absent public resource allocation, and gender equality in the distribution of the impact of government budget both in their benefits and in their burdens.
Strong advocacy by women’s group is necessary to influence budget in favour of women in the following areas.
*Increase in budget allocations
*Introduction and increase in gender –specific allocations
*Changes in the distribution of benefits among beneficiary for e.g tax concession when land is written in the name of women.
Development must be engendered otherwise it will be endangered. There is need to strengthen the management information systems and respecting formals to ensure result oriented outcome of all programmes.
(The author is Chief Accounts Officer, PW (R&B) Department Jammu)
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