Adopting gender budgeting has heightened awareness of gender-related issues and underscored governments' responsibility for addressing gender (in)equality in their approaches. Despite these positive outcomes, the decision-making processes surrounding the adoption, implementation, and sustainability of gender budgeting are consistently influenced and, at times, hindered by various contextual, cultural, institutional, and political factors.

 

Currently, the Union and State Governments in India are executing various schemes within ministries and departments to tackle gender disparities. Consequently, the Union and several State Governments are issuing gender budget statements that depict the allocation of budget categories with anticipated impacts on women. Despite the perception of policies and public budgets as gender-neutral and their expected design and implementation within gender-blind frameworks, scholars and practitioners advocate for integrating gender equality into the budgeting process to address gender-related inequities.

 

A series of workshops were organised by FICCI and Karmannya Counsel were organized across 5 locations in India with the support of the Ministry of Women & Child Development, GoI, to further refine gender budgeting systems and systematic evaluations to develop an analytical framework primarily focusing on inputs-outputs-outcomes to assess gender budgeting in India.

 

In this context, the final workshop is being organised on 28 February 2024 at FICCI Federation House, New Delhi from 4pm onwards with the theme “Developing Analytical Approach For Assessment Of Gender Budgeting In India”.

 

Ms. Smriti Zubin Irani, Hon'ble Union Minister for Women & Child Development and Minister for Minority Affairs, GoI has agreed to grace the workshop and release the draft report.