This document grew out of the experience of developing gender-sensitive budgets in several countries, drawing data from countries with such budgets already in place. Its aim is to inform governments considering undertaking gender-sensitive budget exercises, by showing a diversity of approach.

This book analyzes the practice of local-level participatory planning and budgeting and its impact on gender responsive budgeting (GRB) in Bangladesh. The book offers a conceptual framework that brings into focus the contribution of successful participatory budgeting practice to ensure GRB – the examination of whether men and women fall under existing income and expenditure patterns differently. It suggests that the ideas of participatory budgeting and GRB should be evolving together to provide a concrete idea to address gender needs. The book provides a theoretical explanation that contributes to the consolidation of the practice of GRB at the local government level through participatory budgeting. Conceptualizing the process of participatory budgeting and GRB in the context of Bangladesh, the book will be of interest to researchers in the field of Development Studies, Political Science, Public Administration, and Gender, as well as Asian Studies, in particular, South Asian Studies.

This unique book focuses on the hybridization of grassroots participation in planning, implementing, and developing gender-responsive budgeting. It explores the possibilities for gender sensitive budgeting when implemented using techniques that have been popularized by participatory governance activists. A combination of the two allows for a whole new way of ensuring public budgets are used equitably.

In the twenty-first century, gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) has emerged as a development tool that explores if and how gender equality goals and targets are being effectively supported through government funding. Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Practice: Lessons from Nigeria and Selected Developing Countries argues that, although justified by the high costs of gender inequality to economic growth and development, the use of GRB as a tool to achieve global and regional gender equality goals has seen little progress in the twenty-first century, especially in developing countries. Through analyses of government budgets and the budgeting process, and gender equality outcomes in Nigeria and the selected countries from 2000 to 2020, the contributors show that GRB has failed to gain traction or thrive in developing countries. Using these analyses, the contributors identify critical success factors that are missing in policy-making and planning in the developing world and must be integrated in order to further facilitate inclusive growth and sustainable development.

A growing number of governments have made commitments to achieving gender equality and women's rights, with many using gender responsive budgeting (GRB) to allocate resources for the delivery of economic policy and governance that benefit men and women equally. At a time when GRB is growing in global traction, this book investigates what it can deliver for gender equality and state resilience in contexts where the state is weak or prone to violence, such as in Timor-Leste. Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Fragile States: The Case of Timor-Leste uses the Timor-Leste case to investigate whether gender equality reform can be adopted at the same time as establishing economic and institutional fundamentals. While some may have thought that the adoption of GRB strategy in 2008 was premature, Monica Costa argues that GRB initiatives have contributed to budget accountability and transparency, and ultimately improved policy and budget processes and decisions. This multi-disciplinary analysis of a decade of GRB demonstrates why GRB is important to inform the debate on state fragility-resilience and argues that fragile states cannot defer gender equality in the name of getting the economic and institutional basics right. While a growing number of fragile states have taken steps to make their budget more gender responsive, questions remain for economists and policy makers about what can be achieved, and how. Gender Responsive Budgeting in Fragile States is the first international publication on GRB in fragile state contexts and will be of interest to researchers, upper level students, policy makers and NGOs with an interest in policy, economics, gender and development.

This book investigates gender equality and women’s empowerment in Sierra Leone, focusing especially on women’s interactions with the state and its development partners. In particular, it highlights women’s increasing agency in acquiring knowledge, diffusing power, engaging in grassroots politics, and compelling the government to adopt more gender-responsive policies. Exploiting extensive fieldwork and original multidisciplinary research methods (including econometric and statistical models), the book first sets out the history and impact of inequality in Sierra Leone, and then goes on to shed light on the constructive and collaborative engagement of women and the state on a variety of local and external strategies for promoting gender equality. Drawing throughout on insights from across gender studies, sociology, anthropology, economics, and political science, the book highlights how women are succeeding in transforming marginality into agency in order to build a platform for influencing change. By qualifying and quantifying the challenges of gender inequality in Sierra Leone, and the progress that is being made, this book provides important insights that will be relevant to other fragile, post-conflict states within Africa. The book will be of interest to students and researchers studying women and gender studies, African studies, economics, international development, sociology, and political science and international relations. It will also deepen policymakers’ and practitioners’ understanding of women’s diverse trajectories and experiences, and how the typology of government affects the patterns of inequality and equality.

[The role of women in entrepreneurship, management and corporate governance is regarded as central to the development and welfare of economies. Since the early 1980s, there has been increased interest in women managers and entrepreneurs, often from an interdisciplinary approach, combining, for example, sociology, psychology, management and organisational studies and economics. Nowadays, research on women in management and organisations is continuously and rapidly evolving (Paoloni and Demartini, 2016). Research on how women face new business challenges within organisations—as entrepreneurs, owners, managers, as well as workers—can contribute to understanding the new drivers affecting value creation dynamics in our knowledge-based society (Cesaroni, Demartini and Paoloni, 2017). Accordingly, this book tries to offer some insights on how women create, process and share knowledge in their business activity through the application and exploitation of novel creative ideas and solutions]

Historically, women around the world have had fewer opportunities than men in education, employment, health care, and politics. The moral argument for gender equality is clear, and the economic evidence is mounting. The International Monetary Fund and other international institutions have worked to help whittle away at the barriers that prevent girls and women from achieving their full economic potential. This book is based on a joint research project between the IMF and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development on gender budgeting around the world. The book summarizes prominent gender budgeting initiatives in more than 80 countries. Gender budgeting allows fiscal authorities to ensure that tax spending and policies address inequality and the advancement of women. Gender budgeting goals include increasing access to education, childcare, and health services; raising female labor force participation; and eradicating violence against women.

Gender budgeting is an approach to budgeting that uses fiscal policy and administration to promote gender equality and girls and women’s development. This paper posits that, properly designed, gender budgeting improves budgeting, and it places budgeting for this purpose in the context of sound budgeting principles and practices. The paper provides an overview of the policies and practices associated with gender budgeting as they have emerged across the world, as well as examples of the most prominent initiatives in every region of the world. Finally, it suggests what can be learned from these initiatives.