A Case for Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Myanmar

Overview

A country’s budget can be a powerful lever for social transformation. A budget is the tool a government has to help it translate national resources into allocations which meet the needs and aspirations of its population, and set the country on a path to sustainable and equitable development. If a budget does not account for the different needs of women and men, it is ‘gender-blind’ – i.e., it perpetuates inequality through biased spending. More often than not, national budgets favour men and the groups, institutions and systems that are led by men.

In Myanmar, the budgetary process is largely male-led; few women participate in formal decision making. Consequently, budgetary allocations that target women’s practical and strategic gender needs remain low. This briefing paper – prepared by ActionAid, CARE, the Women’s Organisations’ Network (WON) and Oxfam – demonstrates just how important it is for Myanmar to adopt gender-responsive budgeting and provides recommendations to help achieve this.