Gender budgeting and public policy: the challenges to operationalising gender justice in India

Abstract

In 2005, a gender budget statement was first presented as a part of India’s financial budget to reflect the exact budgetary expenditures on various gender related programmes. Despite being viewed as a progressive development by the transnational feminist movement it is currently seen as a promise half-fulfilled, primarily due to the failure of the governmental and non-governmental sector to take into account all the gender budget procedures that need to be implemented to achieve tangible gender equality outcomes. The article highlights that gender budgets should be further solidified within the administrative mechanisms to result in more gender sensitive approaches of governance.