The Impact of Gender Budgeting on Women’s Equality, Empowerment, and Well-being

• In Event: Gender and Public Sector Organizations

Abstract

The United Nations’ fifth Sustainable Development Goal calls for gender equality, empowerment, and well-being. One possible mechanism for bolstering human development and reducing disparities is gender budgeting, which considers the impact of public spending on various groups. Despite growing in popularity and extending to over eighty countries since the first initiative in the 1980s, we still know little about its outcomes. Although implementation varies across countries, we simplify gender budgeting into a single treatment and test whether it has led to tangible improvements in women’s equality, empowerment, and well-being. Using an event study approach with staggered adoption, we analyze data from the last 24 years (2000–2023) in a total of 47 nations from Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Both comprehensive and subgroup analyses reveal promising short- and long-term effects, such as significant reductions in adolescent pregnancies and gains in political empowerment.

Authors

• Marjorie De la Cruz, Florida International University
  Presenting Author

• Milena I Neshkova, Florida International University
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Yoon-Jung Choi, Florida International University
  Non-Presenting Co-Author