GENDER BIAS
  • Gender Budgeting has become an integral part of the development     policy as it needs a special focused attention, for the reason that     the women are oppressed from womb to tomb.

  • Gender budgeting is an important instrument to tackle the growing     violence against women.

  • India is one of the first countries to give women the right to vote.

  • The Indian Constitution is one of the most progressive in the world,     and guarantees equal rights to women .

  • Surely, all this evidence supports the contention that Indian women     are not oppressed. But when we look at the Human Development     Index women gain only two third share of development. This is due     to certain Gender Issues in development. People often use Gender     as synonym to women and as a Western concept.

  • Gender issues crop up when opportunities of development are     denied and prevented to one sex.

  • In order to achieve positive response to development the ability to     assess, analyze, plan, monitor, and evaluate from a gender     perspective is very essential.

  • This can be understood by analyzing at some critical social and     economic indicators such as demographic indicators including     population, health, nutrition and mortality. Thus, there is need to     find out and understand gender issues in development as given     below:

    Decision-Making Economic life Family and household
  • Economic decision     making
    		• . Segmentation of the    labour market-    Women's wage    structures are lower    than the male wage. . Household    leadership
  • Public decision-    making/ political    participation
    		•  . Poverty. . Household size    and composition
    . Salaries and career    opportunities. . Domestic    violence
    . Social and cultural    barriers.  
    . Occupational barriers:    Unemployment and    underemployment  
    . Infrastructure    barriers: access to    credit, technology,    land, information, etc  
      . Lack of skills to use    new technology  
    Education Violence and Crime Health
    . Illiteracy . Victims of violence   and crime . Life expectancy
    . Drop-out . Offenders . Diseases
    .Reasons for school   drop-outs: Poverty;   Distance of schools   from home; School   related factors like   toilet facilities, female   teachers, etc. School   Timings; . Forced prostitution   and trafficking . Causes of death
    . Social- Cultural   practices such as to   take care of siblings   at home, to force the   girl children into   unskilled professions   to supplement the   family income. Early   marriage, etc. . Female foeticide . Gender-bias in    the allocation of    life enhancing    resources within    the family (where    son preference is    more)
        . Facilities for    education are    not provided.
        . Considered as a    Social burden.
    GENDER ANALYSIS
  • A tool that makes it possible for analyzing gender differences,     nature of relationships between women and men, different social     realities, life expectations and economic circumstances
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    . A tool for understanding social processes and the response of    women and men with informed and distinct options.
    . A process that assesses the different impacts of proposed    development projects on women of different castes, races, etc.
    . It challenges the assumption that everyone is affected by research    in the same way regardless of their gender status in the society.
    A gender-responsive budget would have :
    . Targeted expenditures to address women's needs (e.g. women's    health/ education/credit programmes)
    . Expenditures directed to address gender inequality issues
    . Expenditure on programmes for women's empowerment (eg    training for women members of PRIs, economic programmes for    grassroots women)
    . Equitable distribution of direct income transfers through equal    employment opportunities for women and men (eg mandatory    reservation for women in government jobs and food-for work    programmes)
    . Enhanced support to public services that meet women's practical    needs (eg drinking water, fuel, fodder, public health)
    Budgeting for gender equity
  • The budgetary policy of the Government has a major role to play     in achieving objectives of gender equality and growth through     content and direction of Fiscal and Monetary Policies.

  • Women stand apart as one segment of the population that     warrants special attention due to their vulnerability and lack of     access to resources.

  • The purpose of gender budgeting is to assess quantum and     adequacy of allocation of resources for women and establish the     extent to which gender commitments are translated into     budgetary commitments.

  • The Department is converging with other departments of Punjab     State for Women-Specific schemes.

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