1GzuFGC

policy and reinforce global dependencies. Theimposition of structural adjustment programmesduring the Latin American debt crisis in the1980s is just one example of these dynamics. Theausterity programmes adopted as a result ofthe European sovereign debt crisis following the2008 global financial crisis reflect similar powerrelations. 82Towards gender-responsive publicspendingIf economic policies are to support theachievement of substantive equality, they must benon-discriminatory in both design and effect.To comply with principles of non-discrimination,public spending should not be allocated inways that reinforce existing inequalities orfail to deliver benefits to vulnerable andmarginalized populations. 83 This requires anauditing of budgets in terms of their distributiveconsequences in addition to specific areasof spending. Resources can be mobilized forgender equality by re-prioritizing spending toensure better outcomes in this regard.Gender-responsive budgeting is a widely appliedapproach that aims to guide the formulationof fiscal and budgetary policies to enhancegender equality outcomes. It can also beused to assess compliance with human rightsobligations such as those found in CEDAW. 84Gender-responsive budgeting involves analysisof the gender-specific impacts of the allocationof public spending, taxation and public servicedelivery using sex-disaggregated data on thebeneficiaries of different categories of spendingor service provision and on the incidence oftaxation. 85 It has also been used to assess OfficialDevelopment Assistance (ODA). 86 A genderanalysis of national budgets should also, ideally,examine fiscal policy at the aggregate level: totalspending, total revenues and deficit financing.Given the key role of paid employment inimproving gender equality, it is important not tolimit budget analysis to social expenditures suchas health, education and social security but toalso include consideration of public investments ineconomic sectors such as infrastructure.For example, the Government of Nepalintroduced gender-responsive budgeting infiscal year 2007/2008 by integrating a genderperspective into the country’s development policyframework. Specific measures included genderaudits of line ministries, gender assessments,awareness-raising and the establishment ofa Gender Responsive Budget Committee. TheMinistry of Finance developed a budget trackingsystem to measure the gender responsivenessof public spending and donor aid. As a resultof these changes, gender-responsive budgetallocations in Nepal increased steadily from 11per cent in 2007 to almost 22 per cent in 2014.This has contributed to better public servicesfor women and girls. The Government has nowcommitted to conducting a comprehensiveimpact evaluation to assess how and to whatextent the increase in allocations has contributedto changes in the lives of women. 87RecommendationsMaking women’s rights real requires raisingsufficient resources and allocating them in waysthat honour the principles of non-discriminationand equality. In designing and implementingfiscal policies governments should:• Improve the efficiency of tax collectionthrough addressing institutional and capacityconstraints, which can mobilize additionalresources even if the tax mix and tax rates donot change• Increase tax revenues by introducingnew taxes and tax policies that generateresources from under-taxed areas, suchas the financial sector or natural resourceexports• Reprioritize expenditures towards areas thatadvance gender equality and support therealization of rights• Design tax systems to redistribute incomeand to redress socio-economic disadvantageby ensuring that women and marginalizedgroups are not disproportionately burdened