Mains Practice Questions

Introduction

Gender budgeting is a fiscal innovation aimed at integrating gender perspectives into budgetary allocations to promote women's empowerment and address gender disparities. Introduced in India in 2005-06, it ensures targeted spending on schemes benefiting women and girls.

Body

Effectiveness of Gender Budgeting in Addressing Gender Disparities:

• Advantages of Gender Budgeting:
  • Enhanced Educational Access: Schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya have increased girls' enrollment, reducing the gender gap in literacy.
    • Female literacy rate improved from 65.5% (2011 Census) to 72% (NFHS-5, 2019-21).
  • Improvement in Health Outcomes: Gender-focused programs like Janani Suraksha Yojana and Poshan Abhiyan have reduced maternal and infant mortality.
    • Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) declined from 130 (2014-16) to 97 (2018-20) per 100,000 live births.
  • Women’s Economic Empowerment: As on June, 2022, about 8.39 crore rural poor women have been mobilized into more than 76.94 lakh SHGs.
    • MGNREGA mandates at least one-third of its workforce to be women, increasing their financial independence.
  • Improved Safety and Legal Support: Initiatives like One Stop Centers, SEWA, and Nirbhaya Fund address violence against women and provide institutional support.
    • Strengthening laws like the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 and Vishakha Guidelines has enhanced legal protections.
  • Gender-Responsive Infrastructure Development: Swachh Bharat Mission promoted sanitation facilities for women, improving hygiene and school retention rates for girls.
    • PM Awas Yojana prioritizes house ownership for women, ensuring financial security.
• Challenges in Implementation:
  • Gaps in Fund Utilization: CAG report highlights underutilization of women's budget allocation due to lack of Gender Budget Cells in key departments.
  • State-Level Variations: Only a few states like Karnataka, Kerala, and Maharashtra have robust gender budgeting frameworks, while others lag in implementation.
  • Weak Monitoring and Accountability Mechanisms: Absence of impact assessment mechanisms leads to inefficiencies in fund allocation and policy execution.
  • Lack of Gender-Disaggregated Data: Insufficient data on women’s economic participation and access to public resources hinders evidence-based policymaking.

Measures to Enhance Effectiveness of Gender Budgeting:

• Strengthening Institutional Mechanisms: Empowering the Ministry of Women and Child Development to coordinate and monitor gender-responsive budgeting at all levels.
• Improved Fund Allocation and Utilization: Ensure need-based rather than population-based allocation, particularly in rural and marginalized areas.
• Expanding Gender Budgeting Beyond Social Sectors: Integrate gender perspectives into infrastructure, energy, digital economy, and skill development policies.
• Capacity Building for Government Officials: Training policymakers and bureaucrats on gender-sensitive budgeting for effective implementation.
• Enhancing Public Accountability and Transparency: Establish independent monitoring bodies and conduct gender audits to assess the impact of policies.

Conclusion

Gender budgeting has played a crucial role in advancing women's empowerment. By aligning these initiatives with SDG 5, India can further promote gender equality and inclusive development, in accordance with the principles outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).