Gender Responsive Budgeting in Fragile States

Monica Costa is a former international gender adviser to the government of Timor-Leste and holds a doctorate on gender equality and policy in Timor-Leste from the University of South Australia, Australia.

• 1.Introduction 2. The Emergence of Gender-Responsive Budgeting: Gender Machinery and the State3. The Influence of Parliamentary Gender-Focused Institutions in Gender-Responsive Budgeting4. The Contribution of the Women’s Movement to Making Economic Policy More Gender Responsive5. The Role of Parliamentary Bodies in Supporting Gender-Responsive Budgeting6. Administrative Data and its Potential for Gender Analysis in the Education Sector7. The Potential of Gender Analysis to Improve Policy and Budgeting8. Conclusion

"This book makes a unique contribution by focusing on gender responsive budgeting in Timor Leste, a fragile state, recently emerged from years of conflict. It shows how GRB can make a positive contribution to both gender equality and state resilience. It is highly original in its reflection on how knowledge is produced and communicated; and in identifying the contexts and actors that enable effective translation of gender analysis into improvements in opportunities for women and girls. Essential reading for scholars and students of feminist economics and gender and development; and for development practitioners in international NGOs, aid agencies, and international financial institutions." — Diane Elson, Emeritus Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Essex"While women’s gender equality claims can be slim in fragile states, Timor-Leste’s engagement with gender responsive budgeting offers hope. This book demonstrates the critical role of women’s participation in civil society and state institutions in establishing an agenda for integrating a gender perspective in the spending and revenue raising activities of government. Its untangling of complex relationships between researchers and policy actors increases our understanding of how policy and budgetary change is affected." — Rhonda Sharp, Professor of Economics, University of South Australia, and former President of the International Association for Feminist Economics"Despite the progress made in women’s political participation in Timor-Leste, gender inequality still persists, due to a lack of investment in the social and economic factors that impact on the status of women and girls. In 2016, Timor-Leste confirmed its commitment to leave no one behind by adopting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – with gender equality being recognized as key to the success of global development. Gender responsive budgeting is an important mechanism to help the Timor-Leste government understand how to allocate and reallocate resources to more efficiently achieve their priorities including gender equality. This book shows that the participation of policy actors and civil society in engendering budgets, is a concrete action for greater accountability to women’s rights, that can improve women, girls, men and boys access to resources and opportunities in a fragile state like Timor-Leste." — Alita Verdial former CEO of Alola Foundation Timor-Leste