Effectiveness of gender budgeting on gender equality: Evidence from selected sub-Saharan countries.
Abstract
This paper studied and analyzed the effect, if any, of gender budgeting on gender
equality. Studies have been done on the importance of gender equality to governments
through growth and development but there is still research needed on whether gender
budgeting can lead to gender equality or at least lead to a reduction of gender
inequality. Gender budgeting is a strategy to use public spending and collection to
reduce the inequality between genders. Government budgets and fiscal measures such
as gender budgeting can be key measures to enhance women's development and
gender equality. The paper used GDI and Gil scores as proxies for gender equality
and use an Ordinary Least Squares fixed effect econometric model to model the effect
of gender budgeting on variables such GDP, labor force participation, education and
health. These scores were tested to find their effect on gender budgeting. The study
found that gender budgeting reduces the Gil index but has an increasing effect on GDI.
The study also concluded then gender budgeting has no effect on GDP which shows
that gender budgeting is more significant in increasing the gender equality indexes
compared to economic growth. Furthern1ore, public spending on education and health
will lead to an increase in GDI and Gil