A gender-responsive budget simply means applying a "gender lens" when designing a budget so that no group or segment of society is left behind.Photo: 123rf.com
A Budget that works for everyone – that is what everyone demands when the country's Budget is tabled in parliament every year. And that's exactly what a gender-responsive budget promises: an equitable distribution of funds that ensures equal opportunities for all.
A gender-responsive budget simply means applying a "gender lens" when designing a budget – assessing the needs of both men and women, girls and boys and addressing these needs via gender-equitable allocation of resources.
"A gender-responsive budget is designed to be sensitive to the needs of the population by looking at how the money reaches the ground and the people it is supposed to reach. It looks at the budget’s impact on girls, boys, men and women. Gender budgeting notes the differences in situations, roles, contributions, and needs of different communities and strata of society. "This is important as it allows governments to better represent their constituencies as programmes will focus on data and efficiency of the funds used," explains Robert Hii, vice president of the Society for Equality, Respect and Trust for All (Serata), based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.An example of gender-responsive budgeting was seen in the first iteration of Budget 2023 that was tabled by the previous government, he says.
Hii says that a gender-responsive budget looks at how the money reaches the ground and all the people it is supposed to reach. - ROBERT HII "A budget can also recognise that childcare support has to be made available to men as well, as a gender lens will point out that families are not reliant on just a mother to look after their children," says Hii.
Using a gendered lens to inform policy will ensure programmes can have the biggest impact on society, he points out.
"A gender lens requires us to analyse data, such as looking at male/female demographics to better understand who we are reaching. This way, programmes can be more responsive to everyone.
"Employing a gender-responsive approach would also indicate that, for example, Malaysia’s poorest state, Sabah, has a larger percentage of people who fall outside of tax exemption policies. This disproportionately affects women, who are commonly outside of regular employment, indicating a need to move towards other financial programmes that may be accessible to those who fall through the cracks," he adds.
The media, too, has a substantial role to play in mainstreaming gender and countering narratives of gender stereotypes, says Women's Aid Organisation's director of advocacy, Abinaya Mohan.
"Reporting with a gender lens does not mean reporting solely on women’s issues," she points out. "Much like gender- responsive budgeting it requires the media to report in a manner that considers women, men, boys and girls. Media reporting is such an important tool to improve society’s understanding of gender needs and equality.
"For example, every budget, there is a lot of talk on the allocations for the various sectors but coverage is often gender blind and limited to how the budget affects us individually and as a society.
"However, the experiences and needs of a single mother or female-headed household with unemployment is very different from that of a male-headed, double-income household," she says.
Both she and Hii are members of the Gender Budget Group, which comprises 21 civil society organisations.
Abinaya says that the media has a huge role to play in mainstreaming gender. - ABINAYA MOHANAbinaya offers another example of how the media can apply a gender lens.
"Budget 2023 announced in October had allocated 5.1% of healthcare expenditure (RM336mil) towards mental health. But how much of this is targeted towards mental healthcare for children or women? Malaysia has a shortage of psychiatrists and sexual and gender-based violence trauma response professionals – how does the Budget address these shortages?
"Do we have sufficient community support for girl and boy survivors of trauma and violence? Their needs would be drastically different and applying a gender lens would help recognise that. It would also address issues that impact people from across the gender spectrum," she says.
"When there is no gender-sensitive reporting, it perpetuates existing cultural and structural barriers to equality," she says.
"The Gender Budget Group welcomed the previous government’s commitment to a gender-responsive budget and hopes this will follow through in this Budget too. Allocations for sex and gender disaggregated data is much needed to improve policies, programmes and government responses to issues/crisis.
"Key allocations must be made, across ministries, for gender sensitivity training too. This would mean medical frontliners, the police, social protection services and even teachers. As we have seen in recent cases of women being turned away from help, targeted allocations would drastically improve access to help for all in Malaysia, including non-citizens," she concludes.
