According to RADHIKA BALAKRISHNAN, PhD Professor of Economics and International Studies Marymount Manhattan College ‘An informed understanding of the ways in which progressive economic policies conducive to human development can be integrated with rights-based protections guaranteeing human economic and social security across developed and developing nations appears urgent and useful. A much more nuanced understanding of both the economic policy formulation and implementation processes seems particularly relevant to struggles for economic and social human rights. Struggles to secure economic and social human rights need to understand the degree to which the economic forces generating human rights problems are amenable to reshaping in the short and long term.’
Quote from Why MES (Macro Economic Strategies) with Human Rights? Integrating Macro Economic Strategies with Human Rights found at http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/policy_library/data/01189.
Gender budgets are increasingly being adopted by countries around the world. The government budget, which tends to be the main policy executing tool by governments, is a powerful instrument for change in any country, and can be used to cover the needs of the most unprotected or disadvantaged groups in society. However, when these budgets are “gender-blind” they tend to disadvantage women. Gender Budget Initiatives (GBIs) now exist in a number of countries all around the world, and aim to examine existing budgets for their differential effects on women and men, especially where budgets are characterized as gender-neutral.
Gender Budget Initiatives come in a variety of forms and are all quite diverse. They have been initiated by and have involved different players. Some GBIs are national-level projects, others also target local government. Local GBIs tend to be based on more participatory methods, engaging communities in their analysis and in changing budget priorities and allocations. The most powerful GBIs are frequently those which are citizen-led.
Below is a list of resources on Gender Budget Initiatives, including FAFIA’s report Canada’s Commitment to Equality: A Gender Analysis of the Last Ten Fenderal Budgets (1995-2004), which is the first gender budget analysis of its kind in Canada.
Agency Resources
Gender Responsive Budgeting website – a collaborative effort between UNIFEM, the Commonwealth Secretariat and Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
http://www.gender-budgets.org/
UNIFEM List of Gender Budgets Experts
http://www.gender-budgets.org/content/view/246/153/
United National Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Factsheet
http://www.unece.org/press/pr2004/04gen_n04e.htm
Commonwealth Secretariat - Gender Responsive Budgeting
http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/34005/34006/gender_responsive_budgeting/
NGO Resources
Canada:
FAFIA – Canada’s Commitment to Equality: A Gender Analysis of the Last Ten Federal Budgets (1995-2004)
http://www.fafia-afai.org/files/FINALREVISED_Canada’s_Commitment_to_Equality_fulltext_English.pdf
UNPAC – Gender Budget Project website
http://www.unpac.ca/gender/index.html
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Alternate Budget Reports
http://policyalternatives.ca/home/index.cfm
2007 Alternate Budget - http://www.fafia-afai.org/files/AFB2007_Strength_in_Numbers.pdf
United Kingdom:
Women’s Budget Group
http://www.wbg.org.uk/
India:
The Centre for Budget and Policy Studies
http://www.cbpsindia.org/
Global Overview of Budgets
Review of Gender Budget Initiatives, prepared by Debbie Budlender
For website:http://www.internationalbudget.org/resources/library/GenderBudget.pdf
To download:http://www.fafia-afai.org/files/GenderBudget[1].pdf
Women’s and gender budgets: an annotated resource list, prepared for the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) by Hazel Reeve and Heike Wach
http://www.fafia-afai.org/files/11281104961BRIDGE_Annotated_Resource_List[1].pdf
Country Specific Initiatives
Australia:
What the Australian Government is Doing for Women: Budget 2005-06
2007-2008 Budget Highlights for Women
http://www.fafia-afai.org/files/budget_issue0708australia[1].pdf
Australian Government - Office for Women
http://www.ofw.facsia.gov.au/index2.htm
India:
Building Budgets From Below
http://www.fafia-afai.org/files/Building_Budgets_from_BelowINDIA[1].pdf
Spain:
Gender Responsive Budgeting in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country
http://www.fafia-afai.org/files/basqueSPAINGBI[1].pdf
