Addressing Gender Responsive Budget Implementation

Budgets are not gender neutral. The way funds are allocated and distributed affects all genders differently. To achieve gender equity commitments, public finance systems must consistently incorporate a gender perspective throughout budget formulation, implementation, reporting and oversight. This approach, known as gender responsive budgeting (GRB), looks at the entire government budget from a gender perspective, assessing how it will address the gender-specific needs of the population. To date, a majority of GRB efforts focus on increasing the gender responsiveness of budget allocations. However, funds are often shifted between sectors and programs during budget implementation in ways that disadvantage women and girls. In 2022, an IMF survey found that “while all G20 countries have enacted gender focused fiscal policies, the budgetary tools to operationalize, evaluate, monitor and audit these policies remain more limited.”