Voicing women in budgetary governance

New Delhi: Gender budgeting cannot be seen in isolation from an overall political economy scenario. Any assessment of the impacts of budget on women has to be positioned in the context of how in general public policies are affecting crucial sectors –agriculture, employment generation and poverty alleviation.

To examine India’s public policies and budgets from the perspective of women and prepare a prioritised set of demands from the government, Delhi-based Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) in collaboration with Ministry of Women and Child Development organised a two-day National Consultation on Strengthening Women’s Voices in Budgets and Policies.

This consultation was also a part of the People’s Budget Initiative, an advocacy platform for highlighting people’s demand to fill critical gaps in public provisioning for important sectors. Women’s rights activists, national and international civil society organisations, policy makers, academics, lawyers and media representatives were among the participants in the consultation.

“If a county’s policymaking process and budgeting are gender neutral then it is ignoring the different socially determined roles and responsibilities of men and women,” said Yamini Mishra, Director, CBGA.

Engaging women’s movement

Gender budget does not imply a separate budget for women. It is rather an attempt at dissecting the budget for its gender-specific impact since gender-based differences are deeply entrenched in the socio-economic fabric of a society.

The demand for making the union budget through a gender lens is a rather nascent development and women’s activism needs to be given a due credit for bringing this to the fore.

Renowned women’s rights activist Kamla Bhasin remarked that governance and decision-making has historically been a male bastion.

“In the 1960s feminist researchers worldwide postulated that development was not reaching women. Today, the whole idea of globalisation is driven by profit-making while we need to orient it towards meeting peoples’ needs,” she asserted.

Engendering plans and policies

Gender budgeting exercise is based on certain unrealistic assumptions that weaken its relevance for women’s holistic development. For instance, the 2006-07 Union budget revealed that women were low in priority in resource allocation in many sectors like rural development, infrastructure, secondary and higher education, etc.

Also, the assumption that anything associated with integrated child development, contraception and family planning is for the exclusive benefit of women is clearly misleading. The eternal clubbing of women and children as a single category should end and specific needs of these two disadvantaged sections should be addressed distinctly.

Sayeda Hameed, Member of Planning Commission, pointed out that gender mainstreaming needed to be institutionalised in the planning process and the good practices at the grassroots should be emulated at the state and national levels.

“In a departure from the existing practices, we have incorporated a chapter on women’s agency and child rights in the 11th Five Year Plan, thus recognising them as distinct categories,” she said.

“We can’t talk about the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission in isolation unless we ensure our cities to be safe for women. It is therefore imperative to integrate women’s concerns in every aspect of policy making and governance and men are inextricably linked to this process,” she added.

Concerns of women can’t be addressed through the Ministry of Women and Child Development alone. It is important to universalise gender budgeting in all ministries and departments at various levels.

Locating women in macro-economic context

“Women are not just the object but also the subject of economic polices,” said Professor Jayati Ghosh, noted economist from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

“India’s economic boom has been completely reliant on the women workforce, which makes a significant contribution to production. Yet majority of these women have not benefited from the gains,” she rued.

She noted that the current economic slowdown has hit many sectors and would also cause a decline in the fiscal revenue in the coming year, thus also affecting gender budget.

A weakened public distribution system (PDS), ever deepening agrarian crisis and high inflation rates are affecting women adversely.

“The government was prompt enough to bring down the price of aviation fuel but the oil prices affecting a common man have not been reduced. Approaching elections provide a good opportunity for us to stay alert and see that promises are fulfilled regardless of the ongoing crisis,” she opined.

“We must intensify the demand for employment generation programmes so that the money is not given away for corporate bail-outs.”

Being equal

Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaisingh asked: “Almost every international law says that states should take appropriate measures within its capacity using the available resources. Then are we willing to buy the excuse that resources are limited?”

Presenting a human rights perspective to gender budgeting, she cited ample empirical and statistical evidence to show that women were much lower down the scale.

She explained that the doctrine of substantive equality demands for equality in quality and quantity of results and outcomes. “Gender budgeting therefore cannot be confined to the realm of policymaking only but should become a legal entitlement,” she added.

Participants at the gathering also expressed concerns over the hike in defence expenditure and the need to devise adequate strategies to address vulnerability of women in conflict zones and disaster-affected areas.