This presentation was made by Teresa CURRISTINE, IMF, at the Experts Meeting on Gender Budgeting held in Reykjaviik, Iceland, on 18-19 May 2017.

2. Background
• Presentation based on IMF Paper Gender Budgeting in G7 Countries.
• The G7 Italian Presidency requested this paper for the meeting of Finance
Ministers in Bari on May 11-13, 2017.
• Paper prepared by team led by Manal Fouad and Carolina Renteria,
comprising Virginia Alonso Albarran, Teresa Curristine, Johann Seiwald, and
Alberto Soler (all FAD), Richard Allen and Janet Stotsky (FAD visiting
scholars).
• Available on IMF website: www.imf.org/en/Publications/Policy-
Papers/Issues/2017/05/12/pp041917gender-budgeting-in-g7-countries
• Paper focuses on:
– Fiscal policy instruments for promoting gender equality
– Public Financial Management (PFM) integrated framework for enabling implementation of
gender responsive fiscal policies
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3. Overview of Presentation
1. Definition and Trends
2. Gender Responsive Fiscal Policy
3. Gender Responsive Public Financial Management
(PFM) Institutions and Practices
4. Gender Budgeting Practices in G7 Countries
5. Conclusion
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4. 1. Definition and Approaches
• Broad Definition of Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB)
– an approach that uses fiscal policy and public financial
management instruments to promote gender equality and girls’
and women’s development. (Stotsky 2016)
• It is not just about funding explicit gender equality initiatives.
• It entails analyzing fiscal policies and budgetary decisions to
understand their impact- intended and unintended- on gender
equality goals.
• And using this information to design and implement effective
gender equality policies.
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5. 1. G7 Countries have made Substantial Progress in
Improving Gender Equality but Important Gaps Remain
The gender pay gap is still high… and the main burden of unpaid
work is still on women
5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Canada Germany France United
Kingdom
Italy Japan United
States
G7 Non G7
Gender wage gap (male-female/male) (percent)
1994-1997 2002-2005 2014-2015
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Canada France Germany Italy Japan United
Kingdom
United
States
G7 Non G7
Distribution of unpaid work by gender, latest available
year (in percent of unpaid work)
Women Men

6. 2. Gender Responsive Fiscal Policy
• Budgets are key policy tools to implement gender-related
policies on expenditure or revenue side.
• Progress through a wide range of tax, expenditure,
regulatory and structural policies.
• Fiscal policies –even when gender is not their primary
objective - have implications for gender equality.
• G7 countries implement a wide range of fiscal policies to
support gender equality.
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7. 2. Fiscal Policies for Gender Equality – Taxation and
Spending
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Key Gender-Related Fiscal Policies Implemented by G7 Countries
Policy Measure Country Practices
1. Tax Policies
Individual income tax Canada, Italy, Japan, and UK
Tax relief for single or working parents Most or all G7
Targeted in-work tax credits or benefits France, Japan
2. Expenditure Policies
Gender-responsive public employment All G7
Quotas in managerial positions France, Germany
Public sector equal pay Canada, France, Germany-Laender, Italy
Work-life balance Canada, France, Italy, Japan
Women in low-income support France, Germany, Italy, Japan
Education, STEM, elimination of
stereotypes
All G7
Health prevention and age-related
issues
All G7
Child care support Canada, Japan, UK, Italy, Germany
Paid parental leave Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan
Pensions linked to the number of
children
Germany
Programs to counter domestic violence All G7
Gender-responsive foreign aid and
cooperation
Canada, France, Japan
Sources: Beijing reports, OECD (2016), recent developments.

8. 3. Gender Responsive PFM Institutions and Practices
• PFM institutions and practices operationalize gender-responsive fiscal
policies.
• Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is good budgeting
– Aligns strategic objectives with programs and initiatives and allocates
adequate resources within overall fiscal constraints
– Improves design of existing and new programs to make them more inclusive
– Provides medium-term orientation –especially important when looking at
education and health programs
– Focuses on results- can be combined with performance budgeting
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9. 3. Gender Responsive PFM Institutions and Practices
• Integration of gender responsiveness into the budget
process
–Not about developing a new budget process
–More about adjusting existing PFM procedures and
adding new tools
–Integration of gender approach into all stages of budget
cycle
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10. 3. Integrating Gender Responsiveness into Budget Process
New Tools and Processes
Legal
Framework
for GRB
Gender
Budget
Classification
and Statistics
Impact
Assessment
Methodology
Gender Statement
Budget circular and
coordination on GRB
Gender Impact
Assessment
Performance indicators
Budget documentation
Ex-post assessment
Auditing
Tools and ProcessesSupporting Institutions
and Data

11. 3. Integrating Gender Responsiveness into Budget Cycle
1. Fiscal
Framework
2. Budget
Preparation
3. Budget
Execution
4. Accounting and
Reporting
5. Control and
Audit
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Stages of the Budget Process

12. 3. Integrating Gender Responsiveness into Budget Cycle
Stage 1: Fiscal Framework
•National gender strategies: SDG or development plans can frame multi-
annual GRB efforts within overall fiscal framework
•Gender Statements: Strategic tool to allocate adequate resources to reach
strategic gender goals and measure results.
Stage 2: Budget Preparation: Many potential tools
•Budget circulars – Instructions to ministries on incorporating gender
objectives into budget submissions.
•Coordination mechanisms- Ensure discussions within government on
gender related polices and budget allocations are coordinated.
•Gender Impact Assessment an related tools: Ex–ante impact assessment
of new and existing fiscal policies on gender equality.
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13. 3. Integrating Gender Responsiveness into Budget Cycle
• Performance indicators: Focus on output/outcome/ indicators and
measuring programs contribution to gender quality goals.
• Budget documentation –Incorporate information on gender
objectives, performance indicators and impacts of fiscal policy.
Stage 3: Budget Execution
• In year and end of year budget execution reports with
information on gender related expenditures or tax policies.
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14. 3. Integrating Gender Responsiveness into Budget Cycle
Stage 4: Accounting and Reporting
•Annual Performance Report: Reports on gender impact of the budget
and annual performance assessment
•Tools for ex-post assessment- Different tools to modify the design of
gender policies according to the assessment and results.
•Fiscal reporting requirements: gender disaggregated statistics and a
budget classification and chart of accounts with gender information.
Stage 5: Audit and Control
•Audits and Ex-post evaluations: Assess impact and effectiveness of
gender policies.
•Spending Reviews: Identify ways to make gender policies more
efficient and effective.
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15. • Conducted Survey of G7 countries and selected advanced
economies on the adaptation of their PFM processes to
gender budgeting requirements.
• The survey included 12 questions, grouped into 3 sections:
institutional framework, budget preparation and budget
execution/control.
• In the following chart green denotes full implementation,
yellow partial implementation and pink no implementation.
4. Gender Budgeting Practices in G7 Countries

16. 4. Assessment of G7 Countries
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Canada France Germany Italy Japan
United
States
United
Kingdom
Austria Belgium Spain
Gender related provisions in public
finance and budget legal framework
Specific arrangements for coordinating
policy decisions on gender related issues
Gender Budget Statement
Gender Impact Assessments
Budget circular and statements include
Performance indicators with gender
perspective
Publication of gender related performance
indicators
Existence of fiscal data disaggregated by
gender
Publication of fiscal data dissaggregated
by gender
Budget classification according to gender
perspective
Budget execution reports, annual financial
statement including data on gender
Parliamentary control (ex ante /ex post)
Annual audit of the budget covers gender
related aspects
G7 Non G7
Summary Results of IMF Survey of Gender- Responsive PFM Institutions in G7 and Selected
Non G7 countries
Note: The information has been mostly drawn from surveys prepared by the staff, but also from other information sources (see references).
full application of the PFM
partial application
limited application
no information
Key:

17. • G7 countries have made less progress in developing PFM institutions
• Few G7 countries have a comprehensive legal GRB framework
• G7 Canada and France and non-G7 Austria and Spain publish GB statements.
• No G7 country prepares budget circulars with instructions on gender principles.
• Some G7 countries have adopted gender impact assessment (GIA), but their
methodologies vary.
– In France all ministries prepare gender impact assessment of new policies proposals
• Japan and France have made progress on collection of fiscal data
disaggregated by gender.
• However, incorporation of a gender perspective in budget classification is rare.
• Few G7 countries have performance based budgeting related to gender.
– Non G7 Austria has a comprehensive GRB and reporting framework integrated with
performance budgeting system
4. Survey Results: Fiscal Framework and Budget
Preparation

18. 4. Survey Results- Budget Execution, Monitoring and
Control
• Budget execution reports do not usually contain information
on taxes and expenditures by gender.
• Parliamentary involvement is more common: Many
countries report on gender impact of budget.
• Gender auditing is currently a rare practice
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19. 5. Conclusion
• Well-structured fiscal polices and sound PFM have potential to contribute to
gender equality.
• G7 countries have made good progress, moving ahead they can adopted fiscal
policy instruments tailored to their country’s specific gender gaps.
• More limited progress in embedding gender responsiveness into PFM institutions
and the annual budget processes.
• G7 Countries could explore integrating a gender-oriented approach throughout
the budget cycle by:
– Establishing clearer objectives and links between gender objectives and budget resources
– Improving data gathering
– Enhancing ex-ante and ex post gender impact analysis to help assess if resources are
adequately used to achieve goals.
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20. 5. Conclusion
• Ministries of finance could play a stronger leadership role
in institutionalizing gender within PFM frameworks.
• IMF plans to expand framework and survey to G20
countries.
• As part of IMF PFM technical assistance we are
increasingly advising countries on GRB.
• In cooperation with other IFIs we will continue to work on
GRB.
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