RIGHTS: Women's Groups Push for Gender-Sensitive Budgets

As women's groups and political activists intensify their global campaign for gender empowerment, there is a growing trend towards "gender budgeting" both among developed and developing nations.

Rawwida Baksh, team leader of Women's Rights and Citizenship at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada, told IPS the concept of "gender-responsive budgeting" has been in currency since the mid-1980s.

The Australian government was the first to introduce gender budgeting in 1984, followed by Canada in 1993 and South Africa in 1994. Since then, some 50 countries worldwide have adopted some form of gender-responsive budgeting, she said.

According to some estimates, the figure may be over 60 to 70 countries which have specifically earmarked gender-related funds in their respective national budgets.