Gender Viewpoints In Budgetary Process: Achieving The Gender Equality And Women Empowerment In India

Abstract

The paper seeks to examine the importance of gender responsive budgeting and its effectiveness on different gender development indicators in India (particularly on female drop-out rate in education, gender parity index, maternal mortality rate, GDI and HDI etc.). The study also assesses the trends of gender responsive budgeting in India from 2005-06 to 2019-20 within the fiscal perspective. The study has classified gender budgeting expenditure into two parts i.e., women-specific allocation (WSA) and pro-women allocation (PWA) as well. The study used a simple linear regression model to examine the effectiveness of gender budgeting on women development. To work out the link between fiscal policy and gender development the bivariate and multivariate regression models have been estimated. Gender budgeting found highly significant in improving girl’s enrolment ratio and in reducing the drop-out rate among of girls students. The study indicates that only 20 per cent of share approximately covers women specific allocation however pro women allocation consist of 80 per cent of share, reflecting a significant share in gender budgeting. This paper concludes that the gender budgeting is highly correlated with the development of female HDI, GDI, female drop-out rate and gender parity index and maternal mortality rate also. The study also indicates that with a robust gender analysis and ensuring a well gender balance in policies the inequalities within gender can be reduced which is further socially and economically appropriate for the nation. The future study on the outcome and impact of gender budgeting should focus on actual allocations, economic impacts, improvement and change in gender performance indicators and supportive among administration and citizens.