Gender Equality Must Become A Lived Reality: Gender Budgeting, Our First Step Towards It

The term gender budgeting has become a catch phrase to describe various government initiatives that seek to address gender issues in the domain of public expenditure and policy. In India, the strategic framework for gender sensitivity in resource allocation has been earmarking a specific minimum quantum of funds/benefits for women in all women related sectors like health, education, microcredit, employment and training. In India, women who comprise half of the nation’s population are the worst hit in terms human development indicators. In such a situation the national government will need to prioritize the needs of women in order to work towards gender equality. For example, in the health sector, males and females have same needs in terms of general health. But women have greater needs than men in terms of reproductive health and maternal health issues. Women’s health needs are often viewed to be restricted only to reproduction.