India's Gender Budget Challenges: Breaking Barriers for Equality

A report highlights the limited effectiveness of India's Gender Responsive Budgeting due to key program exclusions and insufficient sex-disaggregated data. To address gaps, the report suggests enhancing monitoring mechanisms and encouraging subnational adoption of GRB, aiming to include vulnerable women's participation in decision-making processes.

India is grappling with the limited effectiveness of its Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB), according to a new report unveiled at the UN Ministerial Conference on Women Empowerment. The report, analyzing regional standings on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set 30 years ago in Beijing, points out the exclusion of key women's programs and inadequate sex-disaggregated data as significant challenges.

The report, titled 'Charting New Paths for Gender Equality and Empowerment: Asia-Pacific Regional Report on Beijing + 30 Review,' suggests that the Indian government should enhance the Gender Budget Statement and establish robust monitoring mechanisms through the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Finance to bolster the quality of GRB.

On a broader note, it highlights the importance of integrating GRB in budget prioritization and encouraging local governments to adopt GRB practices. The Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference, bringing together over 1,200 delegates, was organized by the United Nations ESCAP and UN-Women as a platform to discuss gender equality progress.

(With inputs from agencies.)