EMN
Dimapur, July 17
A meeting of stakeholders focusing on strengthening gender responsive budgeting was held in Nagaland Civil Secretariat’s conference hall on July 16. The event was organized by the United Nations’ Women Office for India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka in collaboration with Planning Department, Government of Nagaland.
The meeting was attended by administrative heads of departments, heads of departments, departmental “gender nodal officers” and members of gender group. Yamini Mishra, GRB Specialist of the UN Women Office, highlighted the rationale and objectives of the consultation besides the topic ‘understanding GRB’.
Mishra said that the work of the UN Women Office included working for political empowerment of women, violence against women and role of women in peace building. She said that the UN Women Office has started partnering with state governments to move things forward in their endeavor to accomplish gender responsive budgeting. According to Mishra, the involvement of active civil society was essential for gender-responsive budgeting as they can take up advocacy programs on a ‘better footing.’
Mishra also stated that in India, gender budgeting has been seen as an effective tool for women empowerment. Explaining the concept, she said that the UN Women Office is trying to bring together the terms ‘budget’ and ‘gender’, adding that if budgets are not meaningful to half of the population, ‘then they are not meaningful.’
Citing the example of the laws on Protection of Women against Domestic Violence, the UN official said that it cannot be effectively implemented unless there was sufficient budget to back it. Mishra said the need for gender-budgeting arises as budgets impact women and men differently because of different socially-determined roles they play in the society. Government budgets might inadvertently reinforce gender based disadvantages faced by women unless special measures are taken, she said.
Making the point clear, she said the concept was not a separate budget for women; it was not about spending the same amount on men and women nor was it about assessing programs targeted specially at women and girls. Gender-budgeting initiatives are diverse efforts aimed at making government planning, budgeting and accounting contribute to gender equality, she explained.
Budgeting analyzes differential impacts of policies and budgets on men and women as well as other axes of social discrimination. She also stressed on the need to address gender budgeting at planning stage.
Project Officer of Gender-responsive Budgeting, Dr. Bhumika Jhamb traced the progress of the concept in the Union Government and state governments. She said that for the concept to succeed, official acceptance as well as political commitments are essential. Nagaland was fortunate to have both, she said.
Commissioner & Secretary Menukhol John gave a presentation on the topic ‘Gender Mainstreaming- Good practices in Nagaland with special reference to practices adopted by Eleutheros Christian Society, Tuensang/Challenges’. A short documentary titled ‘Equal Half’ produced by UN Women Office was also screened at the meeting. The participants also undertook a group exercise as a part of the session. The meeting also adopted a resolution which would be presented to the government for formulation and plan.
