GENDER BASED BUDGETING FOR HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT
Last month I
was attending a meeting arranged by a NGO which focuses on the issues
concerning women and is involved in advocating the cause of women
empowerment. They have also been involved
in conducting research and disseminating it before the stakeholders and
providing a platform to civil society members, policy makers, academicians, and
alike. They have played a crucial role
in mustering and garnering public opinion of people in the north east India. I
am sharing my learning in the meeting and my prescription for formulating
effective policies to deal with issues concerning women.
The United
Nations general assembly adopted international bill of rights for women on 18th December 1979 which is popularly known
as the Convention on the
Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This international
treaty came into force on 3rd Sept
1981. CEDAW document consists of a preamble and 30 articles narrating different
components of discrimination against women and provides guidelines for actions
to be taken by the respective national governments so as to end such
discrimination. As of today there are 187 countries including India which
are party to this instrument.
The
provisions in the Indian constitution protect women rights as citizens.
However there have been initiatives by different state governments at different
levels to make sure that any kind of discrimination against women is tackled by
the government machinery on top priority basis. As public policy of a
state targets the well being of its citizens it is also required that the
resources are used and shared among the citizens without any gender bias.
In this line the faminisation of financial budget has been initiated at the
government level which ideally should lead to ensure appropriate focus on budgetary
allocation for female population. It is not separate budgeting provisions
for women rather within the framework of the budget an allocation is required
to be earmarked for females so that it results in equitable distribution of
resources vis-à-vis overall development of society. These whole
provisions are called Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) which needs to be
reflected at all levels of government planning.
The general
observation is that GRB has not been followed in the spirit in which it was initiated
in India. There could be several reasons for this. I feel that
following are some of them:
A.
lack of proper representation of
women in the planning system of India;
B.
absence of consistent and uniform
requirement across regions;
C.
absence of commitment from the side
of the policy makers towards appropriate allocation;
D.
lack of legal provisions as to
accountability of decision makers in this line;
E.
considering it merely as a formal
requirement; and
F.
lack of political will towards
making GRB an effective tool.
The planning
commission and the ministry of finance are two highly important
institutions/agencies at the national level which have to devise better ways to
address issues related to women and earmark allocation for inclusive
development and through dedicated funds for initiatives towards removal of all
forms of discrimination towards women folk. I would like to suggest
following macro measures for making GRB and CEDAW an effective instrument.
i.
POWER PARITY FOR WOMEN THROUGH 5Es:
It is
extremely difficult to assess the gender based contribution of citizens for the
development of a nation. However ideally it is said that men and women
have to work together to take decision for their family and country wherever
relevant and appropriate. When we look at the census data (2011) in India
it is visible that there is big gap between female (65.46%) and male (82.14%)
literacy level. Further the National Sample Survey (NSS) data shows that the
size of females in the labor force (both in urban and rural India) has sizable
gap and difference. Though number of females in schools has gone up over
time in the last 40 years, still a gap is observed when we compare it with
number of males (especially in rural India). These common indicators call for
serious concern towards educating the girl child and announcing schemes to
encourage their protection.
The future
is going to be led by people and nations who enjoy better and more knowledge
power. The efforts to develop strong knowledge platform and initiate measures
to ensure better education for all citizens are required to be taken at the
government as well as individual level. This is more serious a concern
for women as there is a visible gap in male female literacy levels. The
trend of the recent past indicates the participation of private partners in
this direction which is a welcome sign. Education as such is a major
differentiator which plays an important role in developing a mindset towards
fighting against atrocities and to help built discrimination-free society.
In this light I would like to propose 5E framework which should ideally guide
towards having power parity for female population.
a. Education
b. Entitlements
(ownerships)
c. Engagement
(beyond unpaid work)
d. Entrepreneurship
e. Empowerment
It is
expected that if the initiatives are taken in this direction it shall lead
towards gender based distributive justice which shall ensure power parity among
all citizens.
ii.
PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN 4As:
It is
observed that for the decision making on women related issues and for budgetary
allocation, the participation of women is negligent. One such example is
when we look at the composition of the planning commission of India where there
is only one women member. I am sure conditions at the finance ministry may
not be much different. Steps are required to be taken to make sure that
women are nominated as members of different decision making bodies so that they
can assert their position and take proper decisions. It is required that
women are allowed/nominated to participate in the following areas:
a. Allocation
(Budget)
b. Action
(Implementation)
c. Assessment
(Evaluation)
d. Audit
(Control)
It is
expected that once the focus is given on the participation of women in decision
making and assessing the implementation, it shall lead towards having more
uniform understanding and serious gender based budgeting, spending and positive
expected outcomes.
Apart from
these suggestions it is equally important to give emphasis on outcomes rather
than outputs; long-term results rather than short-term; inclusive development
rather than exclusive; capacity building rather than disbursements; and
effective implementation of existing instruments by existing institutions
rather than increasing institutions and instruments.
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