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Case Study: Gender Analysis in Policy Planning and Budgeting

Author: H Hofbauer
Date: 2003
Size: 7 pages (43KB)

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Summary

Gender issues have taken a belated step forward in development thinking in recent years; indeed, 'mainstreaming gender' is one of the World Bank's stated goals. How is this done in practice and what challenges does the process face?

A case study used in World Bank training sessions describes the experience of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working on engendering budgetary policy in Mexico. It gives a brief roundup of recent Mexican political history and introduces the two NGOs studied. FUNDAR promotes civic participation in public spending issues, while Equidad de Género is a gender advocacy network of women's organisations. Both were concerned that the benefits for women claimed by some public policies were not backed up with specific targets or real resource allocations. Their investigation highlighted the problems of aggregated data, unreformed attitudes towards the role of women, and substantial inertia against real change. The methodology explained is not necessarily intended as an example of best practice, but aims to stimulate discussion.

• Political decentralisation during the 1990s has created opportunities for local officials and citizens to participate in the budgetary process.
• Federal spending earmarked for women in 2000 amounted to just 0.03 per cent of all spending.
• Women clearly benefit from more than this amount, but proper analysis of budgets is impossible without gender-disaggregated data; this is a necessary first step towards gender-informed policymaking.
• Programmes often assume or promote traditional mothering or care-giving roles without due consideration to the labour involved; one programme relied on a volunteer army of 46,521 women who contributed 39 unpaid hours per month on top of their other expected duties.
• Training sessions aimed at policymakers raised some awareness of gender issues, but concrete actions were elusive: despite the sessions' specific, practical content and their taking place early on in the budgetary process, officials stuck to 'tried and tested' methods.

Advocacy groups can build good collaborative relationships with government bodies in the process of analysing, training in and consulting on gender inequalities in public policy. Training should also include civil society members to extend public participation in budgetary analysis.

• Do non- targeted anti-poverty programmes address the different issues faced by women and men? For instance, does a healthcare programme consider their different epidemiological profiles?
• Are women's specific needs being covered and are their capacities being built up?
• What are the relevant gender issues in the context of international poverty alleviation, and what data are available on gender inequalities?
• How effectively do government policies use these data? Are they allocated sufficient resources? How successful are they in terms of measurable outcomes?
• Having established this information, the challenge will be: how can it be used effectively by civil society organisations, together with government agencies, to achieve real gender sensitivity in public policy?

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Source: Hofbauer, H., 2003, 'Case Study: Gender Analysis in Policy Planning and Budgeting' from training session on 'Gender Analysis in Policy Planning and Budgetary Processes', World Bank, Washington DC.