Introduction

Women's role in economic development has undergone various transitions through the years. Making up approximately 50 per cent of the total population (UNDESA, 2022), it has been well established in the literature that women's empowerment plays a significant role in shaping economic development. Despite a lot of advancements in terms of health, education, and labour-force participation, women lack in many of these indicators compared to men creating inequitable growth. Thus, gender equality has become one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to the 2022 SDG Report, except for Argentina, Namibia, Norway, and Sweden, all the other countries have yet to accomplish the SDG 5 of gender equality. Many countries fall behind the targeted progress in gender equality indicators such as mean years of education received, labour force participation rate, family planning by modern methods and seats held by women in the national parliament. Achieving gender equality by 2030 is possible through the government's concerted efforts through specific policies designed for equitable growth and distribution. The implementation of a gender responsive budgeting is considered as an important policy response for achieving gender equality. GRB or GB (gender budget) is a fiscal innovation that administers a 'gender lens' to translate gender-equality objectives into fiscal commitments for the promotion of economic growth and equitable development (Chakraborty, 2014; 2019). These are not separate budgets for women but are a tool ensuring that gender mainstreaming happens in the planning of national and departmental budgets (Mehta, 2007).

India first implemented its gender budget in the year 2005-06. Since then, the discussions on the importance of such a budget have brought the problem of gender inequality to the forefront and have attempted to unite the Ministries of the Indian Government to partake in working towards equitable growth. Regardless, there still exists gender disparities in the various aspects of life, such as equal access to education, health, political representation, and employment (Sachs et al, 2022). These are reflected in India's low ranking (135th) of the Global Gender Gap Index 2022 compared to that of its developing contemporaries such as Bangladesh (71st), Nepal (96th) and Sri Lanka (110th) (World Economic Forum, 2022).

The COVID-19 pandemic further aggravated the gender gap, as women have been disproportionately affected, and their recovery from the pandemic has been slower (De Paz et al., 2020). In this context, it is important to scale up the allocations for women-specific schemes to ensure gender equality. In the latest budget presentation, the theme of inclusive development and a 'women-led' development was highlighted by the Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman. This study analyses gender budgeting allocations for the last seven years. An attempt has been made to compare the Union governments gender budgeting allocations with that of Kerala. Among the states, Kerala was one of the first to implement gender budgeting, even before the Union government. It began at the local government level in the year 1998 and from 2008-09 the state budget began reflecting a gender budgeting process (Nishanti, 2020). Kerala has also ranked first in the SDG India Index 2020-21 and can be deemed a state that frequently leads in various human development goals amongst the other Indian States (NITI Aayog, 2021). Such a comparison would help in learning from each other’s strategies for efficient allocation of resources. Further, this study juxtaposes gender budgeting allocations with the broader analytical approaches (Women in Development (WID), Women and Development (WAD), Gender and Development (GAD)) used in gender economics to reflect on the efficacy of allocations for achieving gender equality.

This paper is divided into six sections. Section 1 provides the background and the objective of the paper. Section 2 discusses the three main approaches to gender economics. Section 3 begins with a broad overview of the latest Gender Budget 2023-24 with key highlights. Section 4 includes the comparison of the expenditure pattern analysis of GB between the Union and Kerala. In Section 5, the analysis is focused on the role of GB during the pandemic and Section 6 provides the conclusion.

 

Analytical framework

Women's role in the process of economic development is thought to have evolved from 'not being considered' to 'being involved in the decision making'. Their involvement has undergone various transitions since the 1970s. Initially, women were considered in the process by merely integrating them into the existing framework of development, which was mainly patriarchal. Such an approach did not question the conventional system and integrated women only through income-generating activities. They were merely added to the mixture without much consideration. This is defined as the 'Women in Development' (WID) approach. The 'Women and Development' (WAD) approach that came subsequently did not differ much from its predecessor. Women were encouraged to participate in income-generating activities as a means of cheap labour in the market and were many times organised into self-help groups. An improvement from the previous two approaches is that of the 'Gender and Development' (GAD) approach that was propounded around the 1980s. It aims at a more holistic perspective of development and identifies socially constructed notions as the cause of women's subsidiary status (Roberts, 1979; Rathgeber, 1990; Benería, Berik, & Floro, 2016). The three approaches can be juxtaposed with the structure that the government has adopted for the GB and find whether it really has embodied a 'women-led' development. Although GAD has not been fully achieved, it is the ideal framework to promote women-led development if applied to GB.

Gender budgeting comprises of two parts (A and B), and it is required that the Ministries and departments highlight the amount of expenditure appropriated for each of the parts. Part A includes programmes with 100 per cent provisioning for women (mainly women-specific schemes), and Part B includes programmes with at least 30 per cent provisioning for women (pro-women schemes). The proportion of allocation of the two parts forms the composition of GB and can reveal the inclination of public expenditure. The proportions of Part A and B can have three cases (Table 1A & 1B).

Table 1A: Classification of GB composition into WID, WAD and GAD
Case no:	Composition of GB	Corresponding Framework
1	Part A < Part B (lower proportional allocation on Part A)	WID
2	Part A = Part B (balanced proportional allocation)	WAD
3	Part A > Part B (higher proportional allocation on Part A)	GAD

 

Table 1B: Classification of change in GB % of TB into WID, WAD and GAD
Case no:	Change in GB % of TB	Corresponding Framework
1.1	Decreasing GB %	WID
2.1	No change in GB %	WAD
3.1	Increasing GB %	GAD

 

Each case corresponds to one of the three major frameworks in gender economics, as shown in Table 1A. This classification has been done based on the extent of including women in the gender budgeting process. Cases 2 and 3 are favourable towards public expenditure on Part A and indicate that government is supportive of women specific programmes and schemes. Case 1 depicts lesser favourability shown by the government towards such programmes and schemes. Similarly, the proportion of GB out of the total budgetary expenditure can also be discussed with this framework. Table 1B shows the change in the percentage of GB out of TB with its corresponding framework. Therefore, the goal of eradicating gender inequality through the implementation of an impactful and robust GB could be achieved if the government is able to increase their expenditure on programmes and schemes that greatly benefit women.

Gender budget 2023-24: Key highlights

The union

The Union Budget 2023-24 has aimed at empowering women economically. This comes as a part of the inclusive development goal which is one of the Saptarishis or seven principles that India's Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, has endorsed in the budget. In her budget speech, she has emphasised on the importance of women power for a 'women-led development' (Khullar, 2023). Some of the key highlights for the allocations for gender budget are as follows. The success of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) launched by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). It has made possible to mobilise rural women into 81 lakh self-help groups. The next step of advancement is the formation of large producer enterprises or collectives with several thousands of members each. Another highlight is new Mahila Samman Saving Scheme, a one-time small saving scheme for women that will be available till March 2025 and offer a fixed rate of interest at 7.5 per cent. All the deposits can be made in the name of a woman or a girl child. The maximum deposit amount is kept at Rs 2 lakhs with partial drawing facility.

A lot of attention has gone on DAY-NRLM, and this shows extensive participation of the MoRD towards Gender Budgeting which is translated as a higher allocation of funds for the same. The highest allocation was made by the MoRD of about Rs 0.89 lakh crore and some of the other major allocations were made by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare followed by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and finally the Ministry of Women and Child Development (Rs 0.20 lakh crore). The allocation for the latter has been planned mainly for Mission Shakti (Part A) with 'Sambal' and 'Samarthya' as the two sub-schemes that work for women's safety and security and women empowerment respectively. Other allocation towards women-specific programmes have been planned towards National Commission for Women and other schemes funded from Nirbhaya Fund etc. The Part B of the contribution focuses on Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, an Integrated Nutrition Support Programme and Mission Vatsalya that provides a monthly grant of Rs 4000 per child for a family-based non-institutional care.

The state of Kerala

A Department-wise analysis of Kerala's Gender Budget shows that the highest planned allocation was made towards the development of various social communities in the state. Much of the allocation was made towards the development of the Scheduled Caste (Rs 29489 lakhs) community followed by the Scheduled Tribe (Rs 6626 lakhs). These also include the allocations set aside for DAY-NRLM. The next big allocation was towards rural development within which Rs 26000 lakhs has been allocated for Kudumbashree followed by MGNREGP (Rs 23010 lakhs) and Rs 6500 lakhs for DAY-NRLM. Both the State and the Union Budget have attempted to direct the funds allocated for Gender Budget towards rural development and empowering women in the rural areas. Expenditure on Medical & Public Health and Education was also found to be prominent. Although they are not as large as compared to the previously mentioned agendas.

Analysis of gender budgeting expenditure: Union vs Kerala

A primary question this article raises is whether India has indeed shifted to a women-led approach which is important for more equitable growth and inclusive development. To help answer this, an analysis of the GB expenditure of the Union government is performed in comparison with Kerala. For comparison, Table 2 and Table 3 have been shown that provide necessary information on GB allocations made by the Union and the state of Kerala. The analysis is divided into four themes where the amount of allocation for GB, the percentage of GB out of the TB and Total State Plan Outlay (TSPO), the composition of GB and lastly, a comparison of the growth rates of GB and TB is done for the Union and Kerala government.

Table 2:  Summary of expenditure- Gender budget and total budget (Union)
Item	Part A (100% funds for women)	Part B (At least 30% funds for women)	Total Gender Budget (A+B)	Total Budgetary Expenditure
In Lakh Crore
2017-18 Actuals	0.29	0.64	0.93	21.42
2018-19 Actuals	0.24	0.91	1.15	23.15
2019-20 Actuals	0.27	0.99	1.25	26.86
2020-21 Actuals	0.23	1.29	1.52	35.1
2021-22 Actuals	0.96	1.13	2.1	37.94
2022-23 Revised Estimates	0.91	1.28	2.18	41.87
2023-24 Budget Estimates	0.88	1.35	2.23	45.03
Growth Rates
2018-19 Actuals	-17.24	42.19	23.66	8.08
2019-20 Actuals	12.5	8.79	8.7	16.03
2020-21 Actuals	-14.81	30.3	21.6	30.68
2021-22 Actuals	317.39	-12.4	38.16	8.09
2022-23 Revised Estimates	-5.21	13.27	3.81	10.36
2023-24 Budget Estimates	-3.3	5.47	2.29	7.55
Pre-pandemic	-6.52	27.09	17.98	18.26
Post- pandemic	102.96	2.11	14.75	8.67
Total Period	48.22	14.6	16.37	13.46
Ratio of total GB growth
rate and total Budget		1.22
Expenditure growth rate
Source:  Ministry of Finance, Government of India

 

 

Table 3:  Summary of expenditure- Gender budget and total budget (Kerala)
Item	Part A (100% funds for women)	Part B (At least 30% funds for women)	Total Gender Budget (A+B)	Reference Benería, L., Berik, G., & Floro, M. (2015). Gender, Development and Globalization: Economics as if all people mattered. Routledge. Chakraborty, L. (2014). Gender-Responsive Budgeting as Fiscal Innovation: Evidence from India on Processes. Levy Economics Institute, Working Paper, (797). Chakraborty, L., Ingrams, M., & Singh, Y. (2019). Macroeconomic policy effectiveness and inequality: Efficacy of gender budgeting in Asia Pacific. Levy Economics Institute, Working Papers Series, 920. De Paz, C., Muller, M., Munoz Boudet, A. M., & Gaddis, I. (2020). Gender dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Engage, E. P. W. (2020). COVID-19, domestic abuse and violence: Where do Indian women stand. EPW Engage. ET Bureau. (2023, March 11). India now in women-led development phase: PM Narendra Modi. The Economic Times. Gender Budget (2022-23). Part A and Part B & Child Budget 2022-23 Plan Schemes, Finance Department, Government of Kerala. Gender Budget (2023-24). Part A and Part B & Child Budget 2023-24 Plan Schemes, Finance Department, Government of Kerala. Khan, H. U. R., Khan, A., Zaman, K., Nabi, A. A., Hishan, S. S., & Islam, T. (2017). Gender discrimination in education, health, and labour market: a voice for equality. Quality & Quantity, 51, 2245-2266. Khullar, A. (2023, February 11). India's Gender Budget 2023-24: Moving towards women-Led Development. ORF. https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/indias-gender-budget-2023-24/ Mehta, A. K. (2007). Gender budgeting. Chapter in Alternative Survey Group, Alternative Economic Survey India, 8.